Notebook of Sand

Leaves in the Desert - Contents

Contact: jnm@rubberpaw.com

Curriculum Vitae

Studies: Cambridge University

• Recent Publications
• Recent Projects
• Conferences & Speaking
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.

Confessed Tinderbox users share ideas at the Tinderbox Wiki.

Listen and learn. WITF's Dr. Dick's insightful, informative music blog.

Smiling Cultural Studies: James Lileks

Artistic computing: Paul Graham

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])

• Hypertext/Writing

Writing the Living Web

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

Hypertext, blogging, and game theory: Jill Walker.

• 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.

Skills: Everything I can learn. Primary focus: Writing. Trumpet (since age 8), Parliamentary Procedure, classical guitar (since age 20), juggling, stage/coin magic, road cycling, hypertext, computer programming, electronic document processing, system administration, GNU/Linux, photography, graphics design, historical research, balsa aircraft building. Public speaking etc.

Interests: I am a polymath, therefore: anything I can learn. Current primary focus: writing, and thus everything else. Recycling, road cycling, nonfiction reading, classic movies, hypertext, computers, Software Freedom, language, art, photography, cartography, biography, ecology, science, psychology, law, government, politics (but not mindless insanity), philosophy, history, pedagogy, music, culture, sculpture. If it's learnable, I'm so there.

When possible, I like to integrate these things.

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 go up to St. John's College, Cambridge University to read English in Oct 2006.

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

Sharp
Wednesday, 28 Dec 2005 :-:

Sharp thinkers bristle with quills and ink.

** * **

After years in the academic environment, I have learned to mistrust, to probe, to pull out the scalpels of scrutiny, and slice ideas into manageable pieces.

** * **

Simmer for twenty minutes on medium, dribble cider vinegar until browned, and serve with wilted sprigs of ambiguity, ambogosity, equivocation, and qualification.

** * **

Why do most people only talk about truth and justice when they're angry?

Is truth only found in the injustice, error, and evil of the world? Or are we afraid of something?

** * **

Truth is a glowing heat, which to the cold dwellers under the mountain, stirs the stale air with trickles of joyful warmth. For eyes which see only dimly, the light is painful. Yet closed eyes cannot lead us to comfort at the source.

No. Truth is a beautiful lover, one to be extolled for all its singular qualities. And yet, the mere discovery, description and praise of truth is not enough. Relationships change us, soften us. Although lovers must sometimes leave and go to battle, they long to return and embrace. The nature of love, beauty, and truth are found in open arms, not firearms.

** * **
In his endless search for the truth, man is condemned to knowledge.
Solaris, by Andrei Tarkovsky

Weary traveler, try to rest. Not all truth is so fierce that it can crack the hard defense that shields you from the onslaught of knowledge.

Open up, and be warmed.