a brief profile of @Scoresby

To my delight, I had the opportunity to work alongside @scoresby recently. Until now, I have known Scoresby the person in the same way I have known Scoresby the online persona, from afar with curiosity. But with my new knowledge, I present a brief profile of Scoresby the person, someone you will find worthy of note.

origins

Scoresby can be spotted selling his art in the wild, and by that I mean at the back of a bitcoin meetup. He takes vintage pop culture templates, like greeting cards or movie posters, and envisions a new spin on them, their context and their language, to promote a message aligned with bitcoin ethos. What I admire and respect about Scoresby in this is that he creates this purely, because he wants to. There is no outcome he desires from his expression. He persists to create because it feeds a piece of him, and he offers his art for sale because others have expressed an interest in it along with him. When you meet Scoresby, you do not get a pitch. He’s more likely to shrug his shoulders than to explain himself, and that takes a strength of character that does not go unnoticed. In Scoresby’s selfless act of creation, he is strong.

writerly

I asked him if he considers himself an artist. I asked him because I was beginning to sense how our approaches to art were alike, which is to get close enough to it that we receive its gifts, but we share those gifts with no one. When I asked the question, he paused and his look was indifferent. Yep, I get that. So I amended my question, “do you consider yourself a writer?” He said, “A writer, definitely. I spend more time writing for sure. The art I do, it’s just something I think is cool.”
I challenge you to take this approach to things that you’re driving yourself toward. Hold them away from you enough to remain curious about them. Scoresby has an attitude of a learner. He does not command things to fall together in neat explanations, but allows himself to be led by what he does not yet know or possess. He strikes me as someone who is willing to try.
I learned that Scoresby has written a book series. He is experimenting with different ways of releasing these works. He does not worry over the life that his books will live beyond him. He is dilligent to the whisper in himself that the book could exist, that the story is possible, and the creation of the book is the result of his response. You may be able to understand why I so enjoyed getting to know him, because if you’ve been reading me, maybe you’ve picked up on this thread.

whaling

Scoresby is really into famous whalers. I was studying a few of the posters he creates when he mentioned that William Scoresby was a famous whaler, the real life person that inspired his pseudonym. Something about whaling is amusing to him, and it was amusing to me to discover this. I hope he’ll share more about why whaling is so compelling, since I know next to nothing about it.
People like Scoresby, the artists, writers and creators in the bitcoin space, stand apart from the businessmen/women and developers. At least I see it this way. I see us as expressing the profundity of bitcoin’s significance in a different way. It motivates us to continue are lives closer to truth, closer to the native creative drive each of us has. And that creative drive is a little chaotic, and we do not necessarily have an interest in rigidly directing it one way or another. It is not focused at progress, but channeled into expression. And I am looking forward to discovering more of what Scoresby has within him to express.
Thanks for talking with me Scoresby, it’s a real pleasure to learn from you. Apologies if there are assumptions I've made that you would correct, and if there are corrections you would make, I welcome them.
British food is awful. They developed one of the most powerful naval forces in history because all the flavorful food was not near them. Sailing all the way around the southern tip of Africa or South America to get lunch got old, and so they came up with the idea of sailing over the top of Canada. Obviously, only the British would solve a problem this way.
Whaling captains had already been sailing into the North (because of another British idea: let's burn whale brains to light our homes) and pretty much knew that a sea-route over the top of Canada was never going to be a cost-effective way to get to good food. However, none of the people in the British navy listened to the whalers because they thought they were blue-collar rednecks. Thus began two centuries of arctic disaster culminating in the woeful search for the lackluster hero Sir John Franklin and the dubious claim that he completed the first circuit of the Northwest Passage (even if it was as a frozen corpse).
Should have listened to the whalers.
Also: thanks for the kind words. It's a rare mirror that shows you the hard to see sides yourself.
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128 sats \ 3 replies \ @siggy47 7 May
Thanks very much for this portrait! Scoresby has contributed so much to this territory since the beginning, and so have you. I have a terrible memory so I don't recall the details, but I believe Scoresby posted some artwork either in the Daily Saloon or in a post that really impressed me with its wit. I mentioned it, and he immediately posted another, which was just as good. I was struck by his matter of fact humility. We are all fortunate that both of you post on SN.
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I'm curious if there's a another stacker you'd want to read more about?
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17 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 7 May
Do you mean that you've met others? I'm sure we'd all enjoy reading about them.
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cool!
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Speaking as someone who also has cetological aspirations, I'll amend Mr Greeley's phrase and say: Go north, young man!
Speaking as someone who is also not a businessman, I'll bet Scoresby wishes he didn't stand quite so far from the that particular population.
Speaking as someone who writes a lot but also refrains from taking up the mantle of artist, I'll point out that art is often something that nobody asks you to do (they only occasionally realize they wanted you to do it after you have already done it) and so it can feel self-indulgent.
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This was delightful, and I always love good nym origin stories. Outside of one nineteenth-century novel, my knowledge of whaling and whalers is nil. Looking forward to more posts from both of you.
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is it Moby Dick you're referring to?
I really enjoy reading your writing! I've always wanted to go whaling.
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appreciate you saying so!
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54 sats \ 1 reply \ @Taft 7 May
This post was a great idea!
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thanks! is there another stacker you'd be interested to read more about?
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Incredible! I haven't interacted with @Scoresby but I really liked this exhibition about him, maybe I should dig more into his art, so many good relationships are formed in SN, and I love it.
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