tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55889345768233198292024-03-05T04:41:12.720-08:00Deckles and DragonsLibraries, genre fiction, and the Past (both real and imagined)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5588934576823319829.post-66289908084407838432012-07-10T09:47:00.001-07:002012-07-10T09:51:08.715-07:00I Want to be an Eccentric Scientist When I Grow up<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYO6R7SQVS-Na-gB_pIh8s94o8ftegQCQ1d4klCXqdbxhX3Nly-oireAW-SJVkoly6jTokIN7kV0sxdk47ULPl_u8gdhqFyM18Bsp0gvBHLjPYQYiWERGzP5ONge0abK8U0LVYYXSTVLQ/s1600/P1020788.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYO6R7SQVS-Na-gB_pIh8s94o8ftegQCQ1d4klCXqdbxhX3Nly-oireAW-SJVkoly6jTokIN7kV0sxdk47ULPl_u8gdhqFyM18Bsp0gvBHLjPYQYiWERGzP5ONge0abK8U0LVYYXSTVLQ/s320/P1020788.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
When I was young--when I first learned about magma and subduction zones and the tectonics that inch-by-inch rend our continents into new shapes--I wanted to be a geologist. My fascination led to the gradual acquisition of a rock collection.
Some purchased, some picked up on the sidewalk, and some given to me by
my eccentric but wonderful Uncle Roger out in California. I learned
words like "sedentary" and "igneous" and "metamorphic."<br />
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Crack-your-own geodes were a favorite gift at Christmas. I remember
stuffing the bland, baseball-sized rocks into old socks and (with
daddy's supervision, of course) smashing the cotton-covered lumps with a
large hammer. Ta da! Treasures! The spheres cracked open to reveal fantastical miniature landscapes of crystal caverns.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_lVJCORbAFJl5XuBN93CDYsy_DtG_oQS2O5j3spJ0zsWgEGo9MYQEpTh-MwMWlh-ur7qBEmWCSYjAsG5GKnHIR2zDiSPpD1i2-5AM_ZNl-MfdrEYMFC3nJO1RQdIcdC6QsNHs4O6lW7Q/s1600/P1020794.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_lVJCORbAFJl5XuBN93CDYsy_DtG_oQS2O5j3spJ0zsWgEGo9MYQEpTh-MwMWlh-ur7qBEmWCSYjAsG5GKnHIR2zDiSPpD1i2-5AM_ZNl-MfdrEYMFC3nJO1RQdIcdC6QsNHs4O6lW7Q/s200/P1020794.JPG" width="150" /></a>My
recent volunteer work at the <a href="http://www.porterhousemuseum.org/" target="_blank">Porter House Museum</a> (the website has beautiful photography, though is still under construction) has inspired me to
unearth (no pun intended?) my collection from the depths of basement
storage. Adelbert Porter, the man for whom the house is named, was a
naturalist and collector. Butterflies were his passion, but rocks were
also a specialty, leading to a six-year project to construct possibly
the most unique wall ever to circle a property. The house is filled
with drawers and cabinets crowded with diverse collected objects--rocks,
taxidermy, South American beaded necklaces, Chinese foot-binding shoes,
sea coral, glass vials containing unidentifiable objects.<br />
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In an attempt to create my own cabinet of eccentricities, I divided up my rock collection into the drawers of an antique, small library card catalog for which I'd yet to find a purpose. My new succulent garden (still living, despite several weeks in my care) in quirky glass containers completes the vignette.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7_gu3Pn_PTvOeDvmA-3bn7fCYC2JojNVfSIjzGS_ybmpVDFO_yk_IgiHdDNb8KwCn40b1hUgT0huUV5Sc5b56tBl2ZZY6gqm1c9gAL-9C2Z-Hov_NXC4jjGQ2yuox7h4Np9rET9zSTAA/s1600/P1020783.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7_gu3Pn_PTvOeDvmA-3bn7fCYC2JojNVfSIjzGS_ybmpVDFO_yk_IgiHdDNb8KwCn40b1hUgT0huUV5Sc5b56tBl2ZZY6gqm1c9gAL-9C2Z-Hov_NXC4jjGQ2yuox7h4Np9rET9zSTAA/s320/P1020783.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5588934576823319829.post-9086169776163156972012-05-19T08:13:00.001-07:002012-05-19T08:26:40.359-07:00Reading Tolkien Out LoudIn the olden days of oral culture, literature was spoken. Stories were transmitted to their "readers" vocally or musically. Those were the days of the minstrel, the <i>scop</i>, the <i>skald</i>.<br />
<br />
Nowadays, most of our stories are consumed quietly, silently, individually. We do so much silent reading that I think we forget--<i>good</i> writing is designed to be read aloud. Why else would students be encouraged to read their own writing aloud when revising and proofreading? Read-aloudability is essential for poetry, but is an important characteristic in all writing. Living vocal chords breathe energy into the hollow bones of texts. <br />
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Read-aloudability is one of the reasons I love Tolkien so very much.<br />
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<a name='more'></a> As anyone who knows me well can attest, I adore <i>Lord of the Rings</i> for a great many reasons. But read-aloudability is up there on the list. Sometimes, when reading alone, I'll find myself quietly mouthing the words of the text as I read--as if the music of the text is too powerful to keep contained by silence. In Peter Jackson's film trilogy, you can <i>always tell</i> when he, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens are lifting text directly from the source. There is a lyricism in Tolkien's passages that is absent from the rest, no matter how well written it might be.<br />
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<i>The White Tower of Ecthelion... glimmering like a spike of pearl and silver... </i><br />
<i>...as nightfall in winter that comes without a star... </i><br />
<i>...the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back,
and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a
swift sunrise...</i><br />
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At a used bookstore in Boston recently, I found a book called <i>Meditations on Middle-Earth </i>(St. Martin's Press, 2002)<i>,</i> which contains essays by several well-known fantasy authors, reflecting on their personal relationships with Tolkien's works. One essay by Ursula K. Le Guin reminded me that <i>Lord of the Rings</i> is a particularly read-aloudable work of fiction. Le Guin's essay, "Rhythmic Patterns in The Lord of the Rings," observes how Tolkien's facility with poetry infiltrates his narrative writing in the form of regular stress units.<br />
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Tolkien composes prose as if he were a poet or a minstrel. Le Guin writes: <br />
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In poetry, the normal ratio [of stresses to syllables] is about 50 percent: that is, by and large, in poetry, one syllable out of two has a beat on it: Tum ta Tum ta ta Tum Tum ta, etc.... In narrative, that ratio goes down to one beat in two to four: ta Tum tatty Tum ta Tum tatatty, etc.... In discursive and technical writing, only every fourth or fifth syllable may get a beat; textbook prose tends to hobble along clogged by a superfluity of egregiously unnecessary and understressed polysyllables. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Tolkien's prose runs to the normal narrative ratio of one stress every two to four syllables. In passages of intense action and feeling the ratio gets pretty close to 50 percent, like poetry; but only Tom[ Bombadil]'s speech can be scanned. (103-104)</blockquote>
[Note--I may have included the entirety of the above quotation solely on account of the witty brilliance of that final sentence of the first paragraph.]<br />
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Although unmistakably prose (most of the time), <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> behaves very much like poetry at important moments. Playful country poetry in the Shire. Elegant, graceful poetry among the Elves. Grand, epic poetry when epic deeds are afoot. "Tolkien must have heard what he wrote," she says (101-102).<br />
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Le Guin goes on to investigate how Tolkien employs "stress units" via imagery and themes (e.g. darkness/daylight, fear/courage, etc.), rather than traditional metrics. Although Le Guin does not make the connection, her description of Tolkien's binary thematic "stresses" reminds me of Beowulf--at least how Tolkien interpreted it. If I remember correctly, in <i>the Monsters and the Critics</i>, Tolkien extrapolates the balanced halves of a line of Anglo-Saxon poetry (four total stresses divided by a caesura) to the larger narrative structure of the total poem. Wouldn't it make sense for Tolkien, who studied and loved Beowulf, to emulate such a technique in some way in his own writing?<br />
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Anyway, that is a digression. Le Guin's essay interested me primarily for her analysis of Tolkien's prose at the more localized level--stress beats. Tolkien's writing abounds in iambs, trochees, and dactyls. Irregularly, true--it <i>is</i> prose. But it demands to be read aloud. The acrobatics of teeth, tongue, and lips invite the stories to leap off the page and dance.<br />
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In fact, one might imagine Lord of the Rings being read aloud by a <i>scop</i> in a mead hall, with a harp balanced on his knee.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5588934576823319829.post-51900830190313841122012-05-07T18:04:00.000-07:002012-05-19T14:39:49.745-07:00Steampunk Stylings<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5F-nx_HX3h2Xc1GTQ5vDrJkvgwIrcGrx9MlNKH1ByGRK_4Sts3TyS6HfeaQJZlCncmgWWKNPI73mO8mPDzUXxDub22YiYcrfYMvsb6H1I4dODnUcSpxotphvu2vDPCYSyZ6EXRy5dDc/s1600/DSC02588.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5F-nx_HX3h2Xc1GTQ5vDrJkvgwIrcGrx9MlNKH1ByGRK_4Sts3TyS6HfeaQJZlCncmgWWKNPI73mO8mPDzUXxDub22YiYcrfYMvsb6H1I4dODnUcSpxotphvu2vDPCYSyZ6EXRy5dDc/s320/DSC02588.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A corner of my steampunk-styled room at home.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've been planning on penning an entry dedicated to steampunk at some point. However, I was inspired to go ahead with it when Felicia Day (who is fast becoming one of my new personal heroes) <a href="http://youtu.be/fOF9d3TqYqw?t=2m19s" target="_blank">spotlighted Steampunk fashion in the latest episode of her web show The Flog.</a> (By the way, if you haven't seen her new YouTube channel <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/geekandsundry" target="_blank">Geek and Sundry</a>, you should definitely check it out.) The fashion she models was designed by <a href="http://www.clockworkcouture.com/" target="_blank">Clockwork Couture</a>,
which I'd never heard of before, and which is outside my stingy price
range, but which is fun to admire anyways. You really can't go wrong
with timepieces, corsets, lace-up boots, and quirky Victorian hats.<br />
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For those of you who don't know, steampunk is both an aesthetic movement
and a subgenre of science fiction that explores an alternate,
anachronistic Victorian era--a historical "future" powered by steam.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Before I go any farther, I should confess that I have yet to engage in steampunk's literary incarnation. Last time I went to the library, I looked for a copy of <i>The Difference Engine</i>, which several sources have identified as the "seminal" streampunk novel. Alas, it was checked out.<br />
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In the meantime, however, I adore trying my twitchy DIY fingers at steampunk crafts and design. Steampunk is a perfect amalgamation of so many elements that I love, including deep wood tones, brass, old books and typewriters, curiosities--really, anything that might clutter the dusty study of an eccentric, 19th century adventurer/time-traveler. Steampunk embraces anachronism. You can luxuriate in antiques and antiquated styles, without stifling your creativity via a stodgy adherence to authenticity. It's not just history--it's history <i>plus</i>.<br />
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My primary steampunk project has been jewelry-making, which I have been doing for about the last 10-12 months. I use "real" components as much as possible, meaning recycled and repurposed watches, pocketwatches,
clocks, skeleton keys, and jewelry fragments. <i>Not</i> reproductions from the craft store. A true aged patina cannot be fabricated.<br />
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Sometimes, I think I began making jewelry because broken clocks and pocketwatches are too much fun to dissect with tiny screwdrivers. I could spend hours deconstructing them. Then I have to find something productive to do with all of the gears and inner workings I end up accumulating...<br />
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Some of my recent creations (photographed outdoors, because the weather was beautiful today):<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO19I7uLvRMySo5OnxrDGkvJCBEGJOG_Dg4VDLTIYVQ69tl6VkTdktNQ0h229GnCPzBgn7TW6ibxJF_dLXHpObCTqJML96dlLz64lLy3rQKX8HB18mffyqbvtsiYdDuabPMuM5Qkbtp1c/s1600/P1020711.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO19I7uLvRMySo5OnxrDGkvJCBEGJOG_Dg4VDLTIYVQ69tl6VkTdktNQ0h229GnCPzBgn7TW6ibxJF_dLXHpObCTqJML96dlLz64lLy3rQKX8HB18mffyqbvtsiYdDuabPMuM5Qkbtp1c/s200/P1020711.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwIABSGvNqO_CfC3Hlo0JlutNeb_xxfbKty63Yb7o8s1GCm7w5fHw9xY9KM3fR2LoHSNzJQBR8OOibdb0DcKXPVwBpSfnicBjo-lLF6_glqicuoOaVc9OSdIobBmmOGYFOE7qGfZyQpRo/s1600/P1020728.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwIABSGvNqO_CfC3Hlo0JlutNeb_xxfbKty63Yb7o8s1GCm7w5fHw9xY9KM3fR2LoHSNzJQBR8OOibdb0DcKXPVwBpSfnicBjo-lLF6_glqicuoOaVc9OSdIobBmmOGYFOE7qGfZyQpRo/s200/P1020728.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZftk9B3pfX2diZPw3sPPZ0wL-8qDLEqOdwhVwFE9t-CcTBcJ1-bZXH55zjhdTXOEa5Q-TtCVoNMzHperTXeV9nZGDRqINmjP4Q34rbKIUxXk0T9OcN93dJH0_8yxRC6QKhYctNhYzEw8/s1600/P1020749.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZftk9B3pfX2diZPw3sPPZ0wL-8qDLEqOdwhVwFE9t-CcTBcJ1-bZXH55zjhdTXOEa5Q-TtCVoNMzHperTXeV9nZGDRqINmjP4Q34rbKIUxXk0T9OcN93dJH0_8yxRC6QKhYctNhYzEw8/s200/P1020749.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMUzEezm7yk8gLXT1ZemTz6a0n7YxWTeTivgS1GLhcoo7ja5bwJVNWbQJYE24tpJqjrC-PHr0TJnszieDqjiBzB0XuTNVx1FYzW6ZcqTpE4pnbt5la70hOCWPMEc6CxZexBpkteiEpxTA/s1600/P1020716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMUzEezm7yk8gLXT1ZemTz6a0n7YxWTeTivgS1GLhcoo7ja5bwJVNWbQJYE24tpJqjrC-PHr0TJnszieDqjiBzB0XuTNVx1FYzW6ZcqTpE4pnbt5la70hOCWPMEc6CxZexBpkteiEpxTA/s200/P1020716.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
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Shameless self-advert: some of my pieces are for sale on <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/JustPreciousVintage?ref=seller_info" target="_blank">my mother's Etsy store</a>, and at <a href="http://www.generationsofharmony.com/" target="_blank">Generations of Harmony</a> in Harmony, Minnesota.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMUzEezm7yk8gLXT1ZemTz6a0n7YxWTeTivgS1GLhcoo7ja5bwJVNWbQJYE24tpJqjrC-PHr0TJnszieDqjiBzB0XuTNVx1FYzW6ZcqTpE4pnbt5la70hOCWPMEc6CxZexBpkteiEpxTA/s1600/P1020716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5588934576823319829.post-69234458863237856372012-05-03T17:47:00.001-07:002012-05-03T18:56:30.349-07:00Welcome to Deckles and Dragons!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirfbwCZPXvhoXXfWInVYBqFF-hYR9VxAiMK4LxZk7zNoSWhXbkz4ojYZPyxvxnzT-6HcrjOHHQANxCUYpTbAk0LrPKAB0YaK3g7RjZmF-ftiy-e4lvNQlmO-7oWvy8217a96PrceWhPM0/s1600/dragon.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirfbwCZPXvhoXXfWInVYBqFF-hYR9VxAiMK4LxZk7zNoSWhXbkz4ojYZPyxvxnzT-6HcrjOHHQANxCUYpTbAk0LrPKAB0YaK3g7RjZmF-ftiy-e4lvNQlmO-7oWvy8217a96PrceWhPM0/s200/dragon.JPG" width="81" /></a>Please grab a mug of ale, sit by the fire,
and listen to our resident minstrel sing of heroic deeds. Your quest is
about to begin!<br />
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In honor of my inaugural entry (and to practice inserting
images), I present to you a dragon! This little beastie lives in the margins of a book of hours
at Boston Public Library. I don't know whether this particular fellow breathes much fire, but he <i>is</i> rather too
badass for only four heads—he decided to sprout another one at the end of his
tail. </div>
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Anyway--why am I blogging? As is often the case, the tale begins with a work of fiction.<br />
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A few weeks ago, I watched <i>Torchwood: Children of Earth</i> for
the very first time. The experience was
traumatic, distressing, and amazing. When the
story haunted me for days afterward, I did what any self-respecting student
of literature would do to exorcise those demons—I wrote a paper about it. Not with the hope of doing anything with the final
product. Really, what use have I for a
study on the manipulation of genre literacy in a science fiction television
show? But the process was inspiring, and
not just because it helped me find catharsis.
It helped me remember that writing—that <i>geeking</i>—is something that I really love. </div>
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Back
in college, I wrote a column for Luther College Chips
called Geekitude, in which I reminded readers that we all have a little
geek
inside, waiting for us to supply her with a telephone booth so she can
don
spandex and save the world. Or a certain
blue police box, so she can travel through time and space with the
Doctor…Anyway. I’ve decided I miss it. So Deckles and Dragons will be
Geekitude in a
new and expanded form. </div>
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My
motives for blogging are also utilitarian. Recently, I have recognized
a certain
slippage in my writing abilities, in the same way that my fingertips are
now
smooth and uncalloused from not touching my cello in months. Muscles
must be exercised, or they atrophy. Deckles and Dragons will be my
treadmill.<br />
<br />
Finally, why “Deckles and Dragons”? <br />
<br />
A
“deckle” is the frame of a mold used in hand papermaking
(a “deckled edge” is the rough, untrimmed edge of a sheet of handmade
paper). Meanwhile, dragons are awesome. Many of you probably also
recognize the “D___s
and Dragons” reference. The elements in my blog’s title are meant to reflect the
primary aspects of my current life: geekery, creativity, and librarianism. I should clarify that these realms are not
mutually exclusive. On the contrary,
they overlap, feed into each other.<br />
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Future blog entries will address any of the
following topics (list is not comprehensive):<br />
<br />
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science fiction/fantasy, steampunk, arts and crafts, interior
design, hobbits, anglophilia, gaming, mythology, rare books, manuscripts, librarianship,
felines, auctions, garage sales, antiques, history, writing, linguistics, medieval
times, trebuchets </div>
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I hope it proves to be mildly entertaining, at the least. </div>
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NOTE: please be patient as I
blunder my way around Blogger. This is
the first time I’ve done anything even remotely resembling blogging since my
livejournal days <strike>a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away</strike> back in high
school. Things may shift and change on
the blog as I get adjusted. </div>
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Comments, suggestions, and
advice are welcomed!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1