Hello! My name is Jeff Paine. Welcome to my website.

No, I am not selling anything. But you're welcome to look around!

And to clarify, because there are other Jeff Paine's out there, I'm the one originally from Decatur, Illinois, and still lives in Central Illinois. As far as I know, this description applies only to me.

With this site, I am sharing something of myself: especially, some of my photography, some of my poetry,  and some of my fiction and nonfiction writings.

And, I am sharing a discussion of my way of approaching, well, everything.

I am an animist. What I mean by that is most probably not what you think that means. It doesn't mean simply "Belief in spirit beings," which is what most dictionary definitions seem to say. Instead, I see the universe as being alive, permeated with our kin, even the ones that aren't anything like us humans. And just as we'd like to be treated with respect by everyone else, we ought to treat all the rest of our kin with respect.

Please, look around. Maybe what you find will be pleasing...or at least informative or enjoyable!

Thank you for your interest! And please, come and visit again...it's a work in progress, so over time there will be more things here...