2025 09 01

Industry. Lemont, Illinois. June, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Today was one of those days I got my ass handed to me. Rejection after rejection. Every single job I was bidding on myself and every hold on the studio had on the calendar evaporated into thin air as the world reminded me I am mortal and shit is hard. Then, as icing on the shit sandwich, the bank alerted me that our brand new Realm bookshop credit card had been stolen from my mailbox (along with a few new shirts I was excited to wear) and used at Target to try and purchase $2,000 worth of stuff.

With all this crap happening, my only response can be to take a deep breath or two and refocus my energies back onto myself and the work I’m excited to make. I’m at the studio working on a personal zine and, as I type this, my watch has alerted me that Marine Layer has refunded me for my stolen clothing. Deep breath. Deep breath.

One good thing that happened was this video (below) popped into my feed. It’s a glorious video, insanely well made, and a nice reminder on this difficult day about how dedication to a craft tends to pay off in the long run.

-Clayton