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.

Entering Christmastown
Tuesday, 11 Jan 2005 :-:

Every year, for several weeks leading up to Christmas, Hershey Park opens up, free, to the general public. They strew electric lights like embers from a playful bonfire, scattered in the trees, in the bushes, on the buildings -- everywhere! Bing Crosby croons through the loudspeakers, and visitors from all nations and walks of life amble along the walkways, cheeks rosy from the brisk evening air.

Shop Window, Candylane, 2004

A visit to candylane is like a stroll through so many storybooks, where you know you are safe, the colors are bright, and everyone is happy in the end.

Milton Hershey

The first person one sees when entering Hershey Park is -- appropriately -- Milton Hershey. He was an amazing man -- one of the few responsible industrialists of the 20th century. His legacy is one of generosity, kindness, and wisdom. Hershey somehow managed to become a world leader in the candy industry while running a business that was fair to his workers. He designed the town of Hershey as a place where his employees, from the top to the bottom, could enjoy idyllic life. Hershey, imho, is the closest one can get to an industrial utopian society. During Hershey's lifetime, it worked. He built a beautiful town and put in it a beautiful park, where the people of Hershey could have picnics, enjoy lectures, and listen to concerts. After his death, they turned it into a theme park, but that's a different story.

Milton Hershey started a school for orphans and disadvantaged youth. The Milton Hershey School still provides an amazing quality education for many children. The town playhouse is a beautiful venue for cultural events and the arts (I performed there once. Oy!). The Hershey library is my favorite library in the general area. Hershey even built a wonderful museum, which includes a butterfly house!

Milton Hershey, Candylane, 2004

Mr. Hershey passed his money on to the Hershey Trust, a group of people who manage his fortune and use it to improve the opportunities and quality of life of Central Pennsylvanians.

Mr. Hershey has also touched my life -- I have been granted the opportunity to be part of Elizabethtown College's Hershey Foods sponsored Honors Program.

This man deserves a statue. His life is a constant reminder to spend all my efforts -- even economic ones, in the service of others.

But, I cannot linger too long here -- there are things to see and people to meet!