Lifestyle artist John ‘Halcyon’ Styn delivers an inspirational talk about how a special relationship with his ‘Grandpa Caleb’ inspired his life work. Rather than sniffing around for crap all the time, he asks the audience to focus and share the contents of their cone. Through sharing experiences with his grandpa, at Burning man and with starting his own non-profit called ’1st Saturdays’ he presents a New Year’s Resolution challenge for us to hug more, share more and love more. With the world conspiring for us and not against us what could we would be capable in the New Year?

John has found fame in everything from winning a webby award as ‘cockybastard.com’ to hosting a special weekly web broadcast called HUGNATION.

You can find out more about John at http://www.johnstyn.com

My name is John “Halcyon” Styn.

I am a Lifestyle Artist.

My path is my work.

WORK:
entertainment: Host of HugNation

consulting:   Owner of Royal Pink Productions, a Creative Services Agency.

PASSION:

Hug Nation, Burning Man, my nephews, pink, Video

WEB:

• Bought first URL in 1996, prehensile.com, to migrate my xeroxed “zine” to this new worldwide publishing system I heard about. Published a new funny story every Monday.
• Worked as the very first Webmaster for Sony’s E-commerce Mall before they took it in house.
• Sued by Fruit of the Loom for a parody piece called “Meat of the Loom.” I won.
• Launched cockybastard.com to publicly explore inward using this new medium.
• Won the 2000 Webby for best personal website, cockybastard.com.
• Was Spokesperson and Community Voice for the 2 million member CollegeClub.com web community from 1999-2001
• Shot a TV Pilot “Hot Tub TV”
• Coined term, “digital intimacy” to explain the real connections people have over the net
• Explored webcams as a tool for connecting via the web. After developing CClive at collegeclub, created and ran CitizenX.com, an experimental webcam community.
• Hosted and ran “live audience” interactive webcam events like Virtual Grace, HugNation, and the Feel The Love call-in show.
• Lived for 2.5 years in a 24/7 webcam house with night vision and audio.
• Subject of an MTV documentary about living publicly.
• Sam Donaldson said “Get a load of that guy! What an ego!” about me on the air at the 2001 Webby Awards.
• I MC’d The SXSW web awards (live event) from1999-2003.
• Won a second Webby Award with my grandpa in 2007 for our video podcast, HugNation.
• Did the first ever “Hug Tour” in honor of Grandpa Caleb in a 24 foot pink RV.
• cruise my neighborhood regularly on a pink fur bike.
• host of the NBC.com experimental project “FEARS. REGRETS. DESIRES.”

MISC:

• I cut off my long hair on a TV makeover show.
• Had my first “real” date on the Gameshow STUDS.
• Burning Man is a central part of my spiritual practice. (participant since 1998)
• Pierced my right nipple in 1991 and my left in 2001.
• I have no tattoos.
• My best friend is my brother.
• I tend to be very good at being in the moment. But much worse at remembering moments.
• I forget everyone’s names.
• Sometimes when people are explaining things to me in a warm way, I get a blissful tingling sensation. I’ve called it “the feeling” since I was a kid. Sometimes an interesting accent can trigger it. Sometimes a cold chill, or foreign accent helps maintain it.
• My skin complexion is my weakness. I pick at my face and then get depressed when my face is a mess.
• My personal mantra is, “love more, fear less. float more, steer less.”
• I had a spiritual experience on a mountaintop in Turkey in 1991 and have been changed ever since.
• I have walked on hot coals, sky dived, And naked bungee-jumped.
• I hosted a weekly call-in radio show for almost 2 years.
• I’ve had the personal licence plates: DEF MANE, C*CKY, HUGABLE, and HUG NATN
• Lost my virginity or Prom night, right before my 18th birthday. Neither one of us climaxed.
• I wore turtle necks every day for a year (10th grade) because I thought it made my ears smaller and my ‘pencil neck’ not-so-noticeable.
• I wore makeup (foundation) during jr high and high school because of my complexion. Occasionally, I still do.
• I was heavily into underground rap in 1988-89. I saw NWA and Public Enemy live. My rap name was “Def Mane.” I also saw Farrakhan speak.
• My first car was a beige Volvo Station Wagon.
• I Helped start a fraternity while in college.

SPIRIT:

• I am ordained in the Universal Life Church.
• I have performed several unorthadox marriages.
• I do not consider myself a Christian, but do consider Jesus to be one of my valued teachers.
• I consider Buddha, Gandhi, Eckart Tolle, Mr. Rogers and MANY others valuable teachers, too.
• I believe that a spiritual path is deeply personal. And whatever works for you is perfect.
• I distrust anyone who knows “the true way.”
• I do a weekly “Belief Buffet” broadcast before HugNation each week where I share ways that work for me.
• I tend to believe what my grandpa believed, summed up in the title of a book he gave me: “All Religions Are True” by Gandhi.
• I consider myself a spiritual infant.
• I believe in love.
• I love you.

INSPIRATIONS:

Teachers/places/things that enrich my journey.

• Jacob Glass
• Grandpa Caleb
• Byron Katie
• Eckart Tolle
• Thich Nhat Hanh
• Gandhi
• Viktor Frankl
• Mr. Rogers
• Alan Watts
• Martha Beck
• Mom & Dad

Films:

• Gandhi
• Jesus Christ Superstar
• The Big Lebowski
• Gifting It

Schools of Thought

• A Course In Miracles