Bastardising the good Father Niemöller for a sec:

First they came for the yaoi artists
and I did not speak out
Then they came for people doing parodies
and I did not speak out
Then they came for people who critised the decision to allow theft (as opposed to parodies)
and I did not speak out
Then they came for critics of the site administration
and I did not speak out
And by the time they came for me
there was nobody left to speak out.

For those who may be unaware:

°jark, whom is one of the two original founders of DeviantArt, was apparently removed from his staff position (possibly along with another staff member, °matteo; it's uncertain if °matteo was removed earlier or at the same time). There is very little definitively (and nothing from DeviantArt itself) but from what little is known indications point to essentially a coup d'etat of the management (because °jark did not agree with the present management's decisions which he felt compromised artist integrity).

Reportedly a sizable number of the managers and staff at DeviantArt have resigned in protest of the purge. (And that is what it is, a *purge*; the two founders of the community and site have in fact apparently been purged by the more corporate members of management who care less about community and more about coin.)

Speaking as an artist who has watched DeviantArt slowly become less friendly to a number of artists (to the point that no less than *three* alternative communities have sprung up: Sheezyart (for general, non-mature-subjects art), Y-Gallery (for mature-themed male art) and FurAffinity (for furry/anthro arts) as artists have left, or often been *forced* to leave, DeviantArt)...I am sadly *not* entirely surprised at this development.

I also will keep plans to mirror this as it has become apparent that DeviantArt may be removing journal comments or DeviantArt submissions relating to this affair.

Anyways, here's what you can do to help/protest, as well as sites with more info:

~JusticeForJark
Passion of the Jark

Jark's blog--he is providing updates
Yellow Art Day
Petition for Jark (as side note, owner of petition actually seems to have been banninated, supporting allegations of removal of posts and occasionally users critical of the present site administration)

Further info and links as well as a plan for action
Another planned protest in support of Jark
Updated news and info regarding the Jark situation

I do realise I stand a real risk of being banninated myself as a result of this--I would encourage those of you who read this to mirror as widely as possible, not just on DeviantArt but on your own blogs and other arts sites (including Sheezy/Y-Gallery/FurAffinity, if you are on those sites).

If any of you who follow this journal are in the UK, please post either on this journal entry or notify your friends you are ok. If you do not have Internet access, please relay this to someone who does.

If you are reading this, and have contacts in the UK (especially around the London area) PLEASE perform a health/welfare check and forward it either here or to someone who can relay.

(For those unaware: There has been a major bombing attack (at appx. 8:45am London time) on the Tube and bus systems in London. Per CNN and BBC America news, at least ten are confirmed dead in one Tube station alone )

(Last time I had to do this was on 11 September 2001. I am starting to get rather sick of having to do this )

1) Got back from ACen (working as staff). Met lots of wonderful folks in Artist Alley, and met a few old friends to boot. And was very very bad and talked myself into a commission which is going to be rather expensive when it is done but will be worth it :3

2) Have found no less than three sources of Turkish meer. (Turkish meer, for the record, is an absolute *bastard* to get hold of Stateside. One of the sources is from Denmark, one is from Turkey itself, and one is from a dealer on Ebay that sells materials largely for pipe repairs. Me happy.)

For the record, Turkish meer *does* tend to work differently than massa (pressed meerschaum) or Utahn meer, but all in all, the more varied sources for my filthy pipemaking habit, the better :3

3) IK Meerschaum is now selling churchwarden stems for meers. Joy of joys.

4) I have found a cheap source of briar and churchwarden stems for briars, and DO have a briar pipe I'm working on...may start playing about more in carving briar, though of course it takes longer than meer (and most people who work briar apparently use lathes. I can't afford a damned lathe )

Many of the hints/kinks/sources I've gotten from the fine folks at the tylerlanepipes.com forums (thank you all, those of you what are from there and are reading this).

5) Part of me is considering doing a pipe that is simultaneously fanart, and there are about five or six different ideas. Someone, convince me this is a Bad Idea. Please. *laughs*

6) If I can keep getting a regular source of good meer and can keep up at the job paying for my filthy pipemaking habit, I may well start selling a few of my creations on Ebay. (Firstly, multiple people telling me I need to sell these things have finally convinced me of this. Secondly, I need some way to pay for other things like buying more supplies and buying...other things like nifty anime stuff on Ebay *laughs*)

Expect me to foist pics of my latest carvings shortly :3

a) Will be shipping off the tengu pipe soon so I figured I'd get a few last pics of Tengu-sama before he goes off to his new home *laughs*

b) I found a source for meerschaum--actually, *MULTIPLE* sources:

i) Altinok Pipes apparently sells meerschaum blanks for big pipes out of real Turkish meer (with stems attached and roughed in the round so as not to fall afoul of the Turkish export laws). However, it IS expensive ($55 for a blank)...at least I DO have an option for real honest-to-Eskesehir Turkish meer if I want *laughs*

(For those of you who are NOT pipesmiths, which is most of you--real Turkish block meerschaum is pretty much *impossible* to get if you are not Turkish and in Turkey. To protect their own meerschaum carving industries, Turkey prohibits shipping out block meer in the raw state--it has to at least have a stem fitted and borehole finished. (Most of what comes out is pressed meerschaum, too, which is basically labformed meer)

b) For *American* sourced meer (which is nearly as good, and far easier to get in block form and less expensive!), Greatrough.com sells block meer from Utah. (Yes, I have used the block meer from them and am happy with it; I do want to order some of the larger chunks that are 7-8 inches by 4-5 inches by 2 inches (which will make a fair number of pipes, or a nice long churchwarden) from there that are around $20-30 :3

By the way, yes, I will be posting more pics of my newest meer up. Give me a few days--I'm starting a new job :3

I'm also working on a fu-dog/fu-lion pipe which is going to be a longstemmed pipe in clay...I will post pics of it, I promise :3

Things I have to be thankful for:

a) Having very good friends and folks I consider True Family *hugs you all*

b) Employment, finally *laughs* (Your Fer *just* got employed at ASUS which is a *huge* motherboard manufacturer...as it turns out, their major North American facility is in Louisville. I do QA for repaired motherboards. Yay me.) I can support my arts habit now, LOL

c) Having sources for arts supplies and, surprisingly, people who are willing to commission me. :3

d) That none of my friends so far have been drafted.

e) That you all are here and (relatively) safe. *hugs again*