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.

Pastyme with Good Companie
Wednesday, 5 Apr 2006 :-:

Last semester, Ihad the good fortune and pleasure to perform the Tenor recorder with the Elizabethtown College Early Music Consort. Aside from providing incidental music for numerous events on campus, we played in the college's performance of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. It was a lot of fun up in the stage's balcony. In the play, the actors interact with the musicians; while we didn't have speaking parts, we were truly part of the production.

One of our signature pieces was "Pastyme with Good Companie," reputed to be written by England's King Henry VIII himself. Last night, on a whim, I opened up Garageband, and recorded it on my trumpet: Pastyme with Good Companie.

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I think I am in love. And I do not think it ill befits my good mistress Trumpet to have so cordially welcomed such a noble Recorder as the Tenor into our cheerful company, to take a place akin to that most beloved friend Guitar in service to my occasional fancies.

Note to self: Stop reading Renaissance writing if you wish to be more coherent. Let it be further noted: that, having disposed of the question concerning the late inuring effect of Renaissance literature upon my speech, I should take care, if it so be that my acquaintances wish to speak in a manner conversant of the current styles of communication, to listen to less material written by the late P.G. Wodehouse.

In regards to that instrument, I present the following links to recordings and ensembles which I have thoroughly enjoyed.

A wooden recorder sits on a sheet of music, with piano keys in the background
Bess Bonner has created some fabulous swing/jazz arrangements of Shakespeare's love poetry and songs, called "Suite William". You can listen online.

Fontanella is a marvelous Recorder Quintet. Their tight harmonies and clear tone make this much maligned instrument truly sing. You can listen to recordings on their site.

The Dionysius Consort performs marvelous Renaissance recorder music. Take the time to listen to some of their skilled yet deeply-expressive period performances. Virtuosic quality.

I also like the Flanders Recorder Quartet. They exhibit a sense of talent and musical professionalism which isn't often ascribed to such ensembles in the US. Their samples show the quality of their cohesive musical performances. They have some great vocalists. And they play equally with clear, sweet vim and strong feeling. Truly beautiful.

The Flautadors strike a strong impression, and people seem to love them, but I can't find any audio samples.

Flauto Dolce is a fine Swedish recorder group. Their website contains an extensive list of flawless performances of traditional recorder music.

The Hampshire Recorder Sinfonia is a massive group of 20-30 recorder musicians. They manage to stir up a full sound not found in smaller ensembles, while still staying rather tight. Their extensive Recordings page lists equally-extensive music, from Sousa to Mussorgsky to Elgar to Handel.to someone more expected, like William Byrd.

England has a National Recorder Youth Orchestra. I wish I could hear them online.

Royal Wind Music, based in the Netherlands, looks very smart, young, and modern. They have a true sense of flair, and their vocals are said to be as astounding as the rest of their music. Unfortunately, I can find no excerpts online.

Denmark also seems to be the home of many good recorder artists. Sirena is amazing. They perform stunning, cutting edge music on recorder, but they also excel at more traditional pieces. And sometimes, they tie the two together. As one writer remarked, "How artistic they are, these four girls, and with a vengeance!"

The Early Music Chicago site lists many fine performances of Renaissance music, including recorders. They have a great live recording of one of my favorite songs, "Tobacco is like Love."

Of course, I should mention the artists of Magnatune, my favorite music label. There's the fabulous Farallon Recorder Quartet, and make sure you don't miss Da Camera, which is new to me. Remember to run a search for "Recorder." DaCamera performs spirited renditions of Carolan's Concerto, John Come Kiss Me Now, and other works of recorder, harpsichord, and strings. I have, of course, always enjoyed Farallon's faithful, fun renditions of Renaissance and Baroque music.

Magnatune is the original download-and-buy music label. They treat their artists fairly. They are not evil, to artists or to customers.

I could hardly mention Magnatune without mentioning Edward Martin, Lutenist extraordinaire. His album, "Virtues and Vices," is a lot of fun. Tracks like "Can She Excuse May Wrongs with Virtue's Cloak?" are oh so Renaissance. I much prefer his rendition of "Tobacco is Like Love," by Tobias Hume.

Fab.

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And while I'm linking to outstanding musical groups, make sure you check out The Gentlemen of St. John's. "Nine out of ten angels recommend it."

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And I can't believe I didn't go through a post on Renaissance music without actually linking to any. Here's the SCA's marvelous resource and also a link to the folk music transcriptions of retired computer music pioneer Eric Foxley.