Open Mike LIVE

This collection chronicles over 7 years of live-streaming video posts I’ve recorded.

This raw format is a move from static text to video, facilitating a more immediate and direct connection with others. They are unscripted and unpolished slices in my life, documenting my travels and adventures across various locations in North America.

A man with dark hair and a bandana around his neck stands in front of red and white striped fabric and a blue section with white stars, reminiscent of the American flag.
Skip to Videos
  • Reflecting on Natchez
    3/5/23

    Reflecting on Natchez

    Mike reflects fondly on his past month marooned in Natchez, Mississippi, and expresses gratitude to the distant friends, recent acquaintances throughout Natchez, and even small businesses who have provided aid to Mike in the form of monetary donations, loans, and/or in-kind assistance.

  • Finding Home
    3/4/23

    Finding Home

    After having the opportunity to live in seven distinct parts of North America, Mike grows weary of the nomadic transience of moving and reestablishing his social life every few years, now longing for the very thing he used to dread when in his twenties - to β€œsettle down” in his home state of Ohio to focus on building something more everlasting and impactful for the communities and people he cares most about.

  • Grooving in Mississippi
    2/28/23

    Grooving in Mississippi

    Mike highlights some of the projects he’s been working to develop while in Natchez, as he shows off his latest incarnation of WANDA and discusses a mobile app he’s working to develop.

  • Be There
    2/21/23

    Be There

    Despite living in an age in which everyone has a cellphone (with a clock), folks cannot be bothered to respect each other’s time and show up.

  • Reflections on Houses & Home
    2/19/23

    Reflections on Houses & Home

    Mike contrasts between his times of being broke/unhoused versus those of financial abundance with a roof over his head.

  • Mardi Gras in Natchez
    2/18/23

    Mardi Gras in Natchez

    As the people of Natchez gather along Commerce Street for its Mardi Gras celebration, Mike reflects on the comeback of numerous small and mid-sized towns throughout America.

  • Riverboat Calliope
    2/17/23

    Riverboat Calliope

    A riverboat serenades Mike with its onboard calliope, as it travels up the Mississippi River from its former port in Natchez.

  • Presidential Suite
    2/12/23

    Presidential Suite

    Finding an unlocked door to the presidential suite of the flagship hotel in Natchez, Mike steps inside…

  • Sidewalk Cafe
    2/10/23

    Sidewalk Cafe

    Mike describes his first impressions of Natchez, Mississippi, from its downtown cafe.

  • 2/3/23

    The Police Department is Closed...

    Mike visits the Natchez police department in a vain attempt to retrieve his belongings, after his hotel inexplicably turns them over to the police instead of returning them to their rightful owner.

  • Natchez Bluff
    2/1/23

    Natchez Bluff

    A Grindr date abruptly goes awry during a short roadtrip to the lad’s hometown of Natchez, Mississippi, resulting in the lad speeding off in his vehicle alone, leaving Mike in a hotel parking lot near the Mississippi River in an unfamiliar area with nearly no money, accommodations, or friends.

    Welcome to Natchez, y’all!

  • Underbelly of the Bridge
    1/30/23

    Underbelly of the Bridge

    Mike seeks refuge from the rain beneath the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge spanning the Mississippi River.

  • Crossing the Mississippi
    1/29/23

    Crossing the Mississippi

    After spending 2 years in Louisiana for his last utility/engineering job, Mike finally manages to return to the proper side of the Mississippi River to discover the cute little town of Natchez, sitting atop a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.

Featured Episodes

Journals & Musings

  • A hand-drawn graph on white paper shows the relationship between boredom and the tendency to write a blog. The graph has two lines, one in pink labeled "intensity of opinion" and one in orange. The pink line increases more steeply than the orange line. The title at the top reads "Figuring things out..." in green. The pink line and text indicate that as the intensity of opinion increases, so does the tendency to write a blog, especially at higher levels of opinion intensity.

    Figuring Things Out

    2013-2020

    Graphics are colorful, they invite a myriad of differing interpretations, they portray trends, etc.  Plus, they're less prone to language barriers.

    Figures make complicated concepts easier to understand, simplify, and organize. Plus, I was too lazy to write longwinded essays anymore.

  • Close-up of a person's face with blue lighting, showing a serious expression.

    My Little Corner of Semi-Reality

    2004-2013

    My life is an open book. Please don't burn it.