5 years ago this month I began publishing The Nonist. It’s been a very gratifying stretch. I’ve come in contact with some terrific people. I’ve grown as a writer and completed a 10-ton truckload of illustrations. I’ve learned a lot. For the most part I’ve successfully distracted myself from the terrifying void at the center of human existence and had fun while doing it. After 5 years of diligently searching out or concocting content I managed to achieve a level of discipline I’d never managed before. For all this I am grateful to you. After all, it is in large part the knowledge that you, my readers, lurk out there like a shadowy star chamber which has kept me on the path and working so hard. It is the thrill and immediacy of being able to craft posts and share ideas with like-minded individuals which transforms a largely purposeless enterprise like (ad-free, non-topical, stubbornly eclectic) “blogging” into a pleasurable and addictive pursuit. Though it may sound counterintuitive, from my point of view it was not the content provider who in this case was the “pusher man” but you, the readership. Every week I’d tap my arm and say, “C’mon baby, I need it!” and there you were to indulge me. So thanks.

That said, after some deliberation I have decided the time has come to retire The Nonist as a brand. Really and truly and finally. No crying wolf. No turning back. I feel an overwhelming need to move forward, start fresh, and as an old friend has said “allow for the possibility of change in my life.” In as much, from this point forward The Nonist, and its offshoots, will no longer be updated. I will no longer answer to the name on the street or while hunched on the last stool in a subterranean dive bar, but instead will stick with the more humble name which my parents gave to me, Jaime Morrison.

The Nonist is dead. I, however, am not. So as for the future…

I intend on leaving the archives in place so all of you content providers out there who have linked in will not be penalized for your impeccable taste. I am already in the preliminary stages of mapping out a new online entity of some sort. It will be different, as I feel I’ve wrung all I can from the linear call-and-response blogging style, but what exactly it is and when it will be loosed I can’t yet say. I will also be perusing a couple “real world” projects having nothing to do with pixels. In the meantime I wish to let it be known that I am perfectly open to the idea of taking on outside projects in the service of others. If you are a content provider (of any sort, blogger, editor, designer, art director, etc) who has enjoyed my work here and feel you might have a project, be it writing, illustrating, or a collaboration of some kind which might appeal to me, please do not hesitate to contact me and fill me in. I am free now and looking to get involved in new things.

When I have a project going live or new outlet for my work that’s launching I will post an announcement here, so RSS subscribers- feel free to leave The Nonist in your feed reader. Alternately, if you would like me to drop you a line to announce my post-Nonist whereabouts just click here to email me and I’ll respond when a new project goes live. Lastly, though it’s hit-or-miss, my AIM screen name is jaimesmorrison.

So, thanks again, sincerely, to you my readers and fellow bloggers. You’ve made these past 5 years a terrificly gratifying experience for me. I hope that when I resurface, wherever it may be, that you will see fit to come and visit me again. Until then I encourage you to print out the image above, fold it carefully, and place it in your purse or wallet, so if you happen upon me on the street you can positively ID me, and shout something like, “back to work you lousy sloth!”

That or invite me out for a pint. Xoxo.