2022 — Winding Down & Winding Up Things are changing — Here’s some hints as to how….

As 2022 accelerates towards an end, it’s astounding to me to look back on the ups and downs of this year. It has been a year of massive ups and downs in markets, in life, in platforms and politics as well. It’s been, to summarize a concisely as possible, one hell of a year. I think it’s safe to say that none of us will forget 2022.

You and I, together, we’ve ridden through a lot together in 2022. Vagobond Magazine began this year. Wepublished nine issues with dozens of amazing contributors and stories that ranged from fiction to crytpo news to NFT project reviews to looking at the philosophies and ethics of Web3 and the entire decentralized space. We slaughtered some sacred cows together and we created some sacred ideas.

I brought you with me on a trip around the world. You joined me on my journey to many countries and to different states of mind. You let me share my year of living within the new religious philosophy of Baldism (formerly Bald Jesusism) and participated in the launch of a couple of new NFT collections, the Izita Bears and the Balds.xyz as they minted out and then largely died.

Together we’ve watched, thanks to our friend DJ Kupo, the crypto, NFT, and Defi markets rise and crash. We’ve lived through it — even if some of us have felt at times like it was killing us. We watched together as Elon and Tesla go from a greenish-left to a brownish-right — we are still watching as Elon and Twitter implode. It’s not pretty.

Through it all, we’ve shared this journey. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you’ve chosen to be on this trip around the sun with me. This was my 50th year. For some of you, that’s really old and for others, I’m still a pup. For me, it feels like somewhere in between. A nice midpoint.

I started this with ‘first of all’ and a thank you for joining me in this journey which leads me to the inevitable ‘next’ and here we are.

I know a little bit of what comes next. Here are some teasers:

• My review of ‘living’ the philosophy of Baldism (Bald Jesusism) for a year is about to wrap up.
• The Council of Aiea has wrapped up the next iteration of the Holy Bjble and it is going to blow your mind. It will be coming to you as an e-book, NFT books, and if you choose you will be able to get it in paperback or hardback.
• I am going to take my focus off of narrowly building and writing in Web3 and NFT platforms — which has been the case since 2020 and re-broaden to look at the Pre-Web, Web1, Web2, Web3, and Post-Web platforms and options. What does that mean? It means that I will be focused on going where readers are instead of bringing readers.
• Vagobond Magazine is going to continue, but instead of a Web3 Media property, it will be a trans-media property. What does that mean? Well, we’ll find that out together.
• Storytelling. There will be a lot more storytelling in 2023 from Vagobond Magazine and from me, CD Damitio. In 2023, what I began doing — differentiating Vagobond the platform from CD Damitio, the creator of that platform, will continue. There will be things from Vagobond Magazine — the platform for creatives and travelers, and there will be things from me — the storyteller CD. I hope that makes sense. Suffice to say that for more than a decade, in some sense, I was Vagobond and Vagobond was me — but that is no longer the case.
• Books, books, books. As this year winds down, I am recognizing how ineffective and lazy I’ve been in terms of publishing my own work. That is changing. You will start seeing and hearing about my books, my stories, and the books and stories of other people in our community.

So, that’s a little bit of what I know is coming. Of course, there will be things that we don’t know are coming as well.

Finally, I want to wish you happy holidays no matter what tradition you celebrate in. This is a powerful season and my hope is that it is a joyful one for you, but I also want to point out that for many — especially after the year we had — this is a time of suffering, loss, pain, and sadness. Remembering that can only make the world a better place — so take some time to think on those who are less fortunate than yourself (there is always someone less fortunate — which could easily become a very deep thought).

I know it may sound sort of trite and silly to say, but I love you. I mean that. You’re here, reading my words. You read this far down the page. How could I not love you? Thank you.

Bald Jesus is your bro,

CD Damitio

Creative Director for

Vagobond Magazine

Vagobond Books

Vagobond Everything Else.