2022 PS 12

This card might seem like the “end” of Penguin Santa. Well, who can say? Every Christmas is Last Christmas for something or someone. But really, Penguin Santa reminds us all that *we* are the “reason for the season.” Be the best Penguin Santa you can be, as often as you can. Open your door, your heart, your house, your community to those in need. Spread joy and compassion for its own sake. Be the glimmer of light persisting in a world too full of shadows. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

#xmas2022 #christmas2022 #santa #penguin #penguinsanta #santaclaus #santapenguin #service #community #compassion #kindness (at Makanda, Illinois)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmmS_L7L01M/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

2022 PS 11

Penguin Santa embraces simplicity. The gift is in the giving. Perfection is context and connection. Be in the sphere together.

#penguin #santa #penguinsanta #santaclaus #christmas2022 #christmas #xmas2022 #xmas #xmaseve #christmaseve #gift #present
(at Makanda, Illinois)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmjwkLPrUjw/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

2022 PS 10

Penguin Santa is still waiting for somebody to abide by his dang poll!

#penguin #santa #penguinsanta #christmas2022 #xmas2022 #yule2022 #xmas #christmas #Twitter #musky (at Makanda, Illinois)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmhlEV_pHlu/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

2022 PS 09

Flight is not the essential, defining characteristic of ”bird.” See a penguin in the ocean or leaping out of the ocean, and you see how a species defies with delight the expectations of “flight.” Confirmation over disconfirmation every time! Work with what you’ve got to work with and don’t let anyone tell you you aren’t who you are. Penguin Santa gives you the gift of this analogy to apply to other issues of identity.

#christmas2022 #xmas2022 #yule2022 #penguin #penguinlove #penguinsanta #santa #santaclaus #Christmas #xmas #flight #gender (at Makanda, Illinois)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmejBf4Lsi4/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

2022 PS 08

The South Pole Santa reminds you, however, that for half the planet this is the longest DAY of the year. Still, Happy Solstice and Blessed Yule!

#penguin #santa #santaclaus #xmas #xmas2022 #christmas #christmas2022 #yule2022 #yule #solstice2022 #Solstice
(at Makanda, Illinois)
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cmb4nSaLBGc/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

2022 PS 07

Penguin Santa reminds you there have been 141 (and counting!) assaults on drag-themed events this year in the United States. There’s legislation being considered in at least four states that would prohibit public drag in the presence of anyone under the age of 18. Only the truly joyless and hateful are afraid of a little dress-up and healthy gender play. Forcing kids to conform to restrictive and retrograde gender roles is the real “grooming.”

https://tinyurl.com/35xe7zwh

#penguin #santa #penguinsanta #xmas #xmas2022 #christmas #christmas2022 #santaclaus #drag #dragqueenstoryhour #dragqueen
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmZXg-ip0hm/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

2022 PS 06

Probably a controversial one today. This one was made in collaboration with the Artist[dot]AI app during a three day free trial. I entered the words, in many different combinations. I picked the image I liked out of the many options the app provided. I heavily modified and added to the one I liked in other apps. I acknowledge that process here.

AI technology isn’t going away. Like the digital filters (some of them AI driven, too) I’ve used on many PS images over the last 10 years, it’s probably more realistic to figure out how to work with the technologies than to imagine we can protest them away. I’ve learned a lot of my skills by studying and imitating other artists over the years; I don’t begrudge an AI’s enhanced ability to do the same. And at the end of the day, my creative eye (such as it is) is making the decision about what I share online. Which, when you think about it, is how we got here in the first place.

(For what it is worth, I didn’t keep the app after the free trial. And that, too, is part of the technology, art, and the marketplace dynamic.)

#penguin #santa #santaclaus #penguinsanta #xmas2022 #christmas2022 #xmas #christmas #AI #art #filter #app (at Makanda, Illinois)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmW1m3DJVAw/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

2022 PS 05

Penguin Santa also knows that the slogan “parental choice” so popular in recent legislation ignores the myriad ways ”parents” and “families” form, that “groomer” is tossed about as a way to stigmatize those differences, and that the greater harm to children is done by fear and judgement than love and acceptance.

#penguin #santa #penguinsanta #santaclaus #christmas2022 #christmas #xmas2022 #xmas #queer #family #loveislove (at Makanda, Illinois)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmUQTTvJEdz/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

2022 PS 04

Never let them tell you otherwise! Joy is joy is joy!

#santa #penguin #penguinsanta #xmas2022 #christmas2022 #xmas #Christmas #dance

(at Makanda, Illinois)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmRqRljrtu6/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=