Jackson Bird
Jack spent the first half of his life creating art on stage and the second half creating art on social media. He could say something here about the authenticity and falsity of each, but mostly he’s wondering what happens in the future if two halves make a whole and the two halves have now been defined.
Jack was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, but grew up in the Christmas Capital of Texas. If you have ever had a layover at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, congrats! You’ve been to Jack’s hometown!
In high school, he fell in love with video editing and how it’s like writing a story with moving images––a feeling that was validated by film professors he’d encounter years later when coming one credit shy of minoring in Documentary at NYU. His favorite piece he’s ever edited was a real trailer for a fake documentary about a real sandwich based on a fake sport, using all real archival footage to tell a fake story.
Here’s a real story: As a child, Jack memorized all of the US presidents in order because the 2001 Lance Bass movie On the Line led him to believe this would be a much more relevant dating and relationship skill as an adult than it has turned out to be. He memorized all the vice presidents too, just for good measure. He no longer remembers any of them. But one time Jimmy Carter ruffled Jack’s hair on a plane and gendered him correctly before he was out so he is now Jack’s favorite president.
Other favorites include: pumpkins, s’mores, Back to the Future, summer nights spent staring up at the stars, escaping to the woods, collective effervescence, liquid effervescence, naps.
