Notebook of Sand

• Recent Publications
• Recent Projects
• Conferences & Speaking
"Comparing Spatial Hypertext Collections"
  ACM Hypertext '09
"Archiving and Sharing Your Tinderbox"
  Tinderbox Weekend London '09
"The Electronic Nature of Future Literatures"
  Literary Studies Now, Apr '09
"The World University Project"
  St. John's Col. Cambridge, Feb '09
"Ethical Explanations,"
  The New Knowledge Forge, Jun '08
Lecture, Cambridge University
  Tragedy in E-Lit, Nov '07
Hypertext '07: Tragedy in E-Lit
Host for Tinderbox Cambridge '07
Keynote: Dickinson State Uni Conf
Upper Midwest NCHC'07: Speaker
eNarrative 6: Creative Nonfiction
HT'05: "Philadelphia Fullerine"
  Nelson award winning paper
NCHC '05:
 Nurturing Independent Scholarship
Riddick Practicum:
  Building Meeting Good Will
NCHC '04:
  Philadelphia Fullerine
  Lecture on American Studies
WWW@10: Nonfiction on the Web
NCHC '03: Parliamentary Procedure
ELL '03 -- Gawain Superstar
• (a)Musing (ad)Dictions:

Ideas. Tools. Art. Build --not buy. What works, what doesn't. Enjoy new media and software aesthetics at Tekka.

Theodore Gray (The Magic Black Box)

Faith, Life, Art, Academics. Sermons from my family away from home: Eden Chapel!

My other home: The Cambridge Union Society (in 2007, I designed our [Fresher's Guide])

The Economist daily news analysis

Global Higher Ed blog

• Hypertext/Writing

Writing the Living Web

Chief Scientist of Eastgate Systems, hypertext expert Mark Bernstein. (Electronic) Literature, cooking, art, etc.

Fabulous game reviews at playthisthing.

• Stats

Chapter I: Born. Lived. Died.

There is a Chapter II.

Locale: Lancaster County Pa, USA

Lineage: Guatemala

Religion: My faith is the primary focus of my life, influencing each part of me. I have been forgiven, cleansed, and empowered by Jesus Christ. Without him, I am a very thoughtful, competent idiot. With him, I am all I need to be, all I could ever hope for. I oppose institutional religious stagnation, but getting together with others is a good idea. God is real. Jesus Christ is his Son, and the Bible is true. Faith is not human effort. It's human choice. I try to be the most listening, understanding, and generous person I can.

Interests: Anything I can learn. Training and experience in new media, computer science, anglophone literature, education, parliamentary debate, democratic procedure, sculpture, and trumpet performance. Next: applied & computational linguistics, probably.

Education: Private school K-3. Home educated 4-12. Graduated Summa Cum Laude from Elizabethtown College in Jan 2006. As the 2006 Davies-Jackson Scholar, I studied English at St. John's College, Cambridge University from 2006 - 2008.

Memberships: Eden Baptist, Cambridge Union Society, ACM, AIP, GPA.

Alum of the Elizabethtown College Honors Program, sponsored by the Hershey Company.

40th Anniversary of the Lancaster County Musical Arts Society
Monday, 9 May 2005 :-:

Last Sunday, I performed a trumpet solo at the 40th anniversary of the Lancaster County Musical Arts Society.

Although long, the event was marvelous. I was able to finally perform in public with my old teacher, Curtis Palmer, who now owns Seacat Music. Elizabethtown College piano professor Debra Ronning played a beautiful arrangement of music from The Wizard of Oz. Carolyn Black-Sotir performed a fun selection of vocal music. Gene Clark, a fellow trumpet player who I played with in the Lancaster Junior Orchestra many years ago.

It looks like Gene is doing well these days. It's so exciting to see people grow up and do neat things. Here's a press release from 2004, noting Gene's accomplishments at Franklin & Marshall College:

Gene Clark, a sophomore business, organizations, and society major and film and media studies minor, was named a recipient of the Nolt Award for Musical Excellence, a grant that enables Franklin & Marshall student musicians to undertake musically enriching projects. Clark, an Honors List student, has also participated in the jazz ensemble and orchestra. A 2003 graduate of Conestoga Valley High School, he is the son of Fred and Beth Clark, Lancaster.

(if you see this blog post, email me Gene. Awesome playing on Sunday.)

** * **

My solo went very well. I was very pleased with how the expression flowed. My accompianist Ruth DeLeon has a talent with expression that can make a Handel harpsichord piece something flowing and lyrical. It was a magical performance. Ruth is a teacher at the Lancaster Conservatory of Music. She's interested in blogging -- I need to get her a blog sometime.

** * **

The most amazing, exciting occurrence of the day came after the performance. I was packing up my music and instrument when a woman walked up to me.

Without introducing herself, she said,

"Did you recently receive an award from the Elizabethtown College English Department?"

I was taken aback. "I did receive the Wenger award....for excellence in English studies."

She wasn't satisfied. "Did you receive anything else?"

"Well, I won the Louise Baugher-Black prize for nonfiction writing," I replied.

She looked at me and smiled.

"I am Louise Baugher Black," she beamed.

Wow.

I hugged her. This was too exciting! We talked for a while about music and English and Elizabethtown College. Her daughter is Carolyn Black-Sotir, former runner-up in the Miss America contest and acclaimed opera/broadway singer. Her father was a president of Elizabethtown College. And Louise was a well-loved professor of English during her time at Elizabethtown.

You never know who will be in the audience. It pays to perform well at all times.

** * **

I hope my music brought joy to Professor Baugher-Black. Her husband died this April, after they were married for 60 years. I'm glad I was part of a performance that surrounded her Mother's Day with beautiful music instead silent loneliness and an empty place at the table.