"Miles with Micro"
Welcome to Miles with Micro! I’m beyond excited to have you join me on this adventure across the U.S., where my IRL self, Jared, and my online persona, Micro, come together to explore, learn, and grow. This journey is about connecting with friends, new faces, and communities, all while bridging the gap between the creative technologist behind the screen and the gamer in the Minecraft world. Whether you know me as Micro or Jared, you’ll get to see both sides in action as we dive into new experiences.
From bustling cities to remote towns, from casual meetups to creative projects, this trip is about discovery—of people, places, perspectives, and connections. Let’s set off together, exploring all the things that make life (and the online world) exciting. Ready for the ride? Let’s make some memories, and don’t forget to check back for stories, photos, and more along the way!
Showing Up: The Cat Who Crossed the World
Most cats get one house. Hobbes got the world — a shelter outside Melbourne, an ocean crossing, two continents, eight crossings of America, and people on both sides of the planet who knew him by name. He died this week, while I was still days from home. This is his tribute: the fullest life I’ve ever watched a cat live, and the hardest essay I’ve ever had to write.
Showing Up: You Drove!?
Eight crossings of the country and I still get something wrong every time. Here’s the whole manual anyway: the cooler that becomes a refrigerator, the sandwich worth stopping for, the emergency gear that isn’t for you, what it actually costs, and how to do it without hotels at all. Written by a man who has personally field-tested every error in it. Part three of Showing Up.
Showing Up: Most People Didn’t
The lights came up at SIGGRAPH’s biggest screening, and the couple who just won an award stood at the front of the theater while a thousand people left through the back. I walked up. Most people didn’t. A dispatch about networking — and why nothing that actually worked this week looked anything like it. Part two, from inside SIGGRAPH 2026.
Showing Up: Miles to SIGGRAPH
The convention center is built, lit, and empty. Tomorrow, SIGGRAPH — the biggest computer graphics conference in the world — fills it with thousands of people. I’m here a day early with a camera, boxes of the conference’s own history I drove from Ohio, and a badge that didn’t exist four months ago. All of it started with one message. The first dispatch in a new series: Showing Up.
Main Crew: An Animator’s Letter on Who Counts in Animation
When the next wave of AI in animation hits, whose names will we know? The US conversation has a number — 118,500 jobs at risk by 2026, built from a survey of 300 US executives. The global animation workforce is over a million people. Most of them are not in that number, the headlines, or the room where the next AI model is being designed. Essay 3 in Losing Each Other.
I Have Seen This Film: An Animator’s Letter on Platform AI
The second letter in the ‘Losing Each Other’ series. An animator who curated thirty years of computer-graphics film for SIGGRAPH on the shape of the AI wave, the platform that is about to inherit it, and the fight the artist coalition is currently missing.