Blogging

This might be my final blog.  It certainly isn't something I have to keep doing now that I've met the requirements for the e-publishing course.  Like Tabitha, if I do continue, I won't do three a week.  This class has certainly been an experience.  I have to admit I learned a lot.

Now I have some 25 pages of revisions to do for my memoir class... sigh.  The end is in sight!

Candle Holder

During the Christmas of 2006, my boyfriend got me a candle holder.  It's a heavy lead crystal.  The bottom picture is the more accurate of the two.  The top picture has a yellow votive candle in it that makes it the amber color.  I'm a fan of candles and the light displays that they make.  However, I'm not a huge fan of scented candles.  They are mostly too cloying for me.  This particular candle holder puts off the prettiest reflection of any I have.

Cooper's Hawk

This is a Cooper's Hawk that frequents the front of my house.  These pictures were taken from my living room through the screen in the window.  He is a magnificent creature.  Once, when I was standing on the porch talking to a friend, a small bird flew out of the bird feeder between us.  Darn if the hawk didn't swoop down from somewhere and snatch that little bird right out of the air in front of me.  It was startling, a one-of-a-kind event.

Guest Poet

I teach the creative writing program at Catonsville High School (which I am sure I've mentioned before this).  We have a guest poet program where local poets come to my classes and read; they also answer questions; sometimes they do activities with my students.  Today's guest was Michael Fallon, a professor at UMBC.  It was a pleasure to hear him read from his latest manuscript.

Pure Wine Cafe

If you haven't tried Pure Wine Cafe on Main Street in Ellicott City, you should give it a try.  Four of us went there Saturday evening after dining at Portalli's.  The hot mulled cider was great, as was a dessert wine from Portugal.  If you prefer something refreshing, the white peach sangria that is made on the premises is also delicious; it was recommended to us by the waitress at Portalli's.

Snowmageddon

The snow of 2010 was not to be believed.  It was ridiculous, three feet after three feet.  This year, according to the Farmer's Almanac, the winter will be more mild:

Annual Weather Summary: November 2010 to October 2011

Winter will be colder and drier than normal, on average, with below-normal snowfall in New England and above-normal snowfall elsewhere. The coldest periods will be in mid-December, January, and mid-February. The snowiest periods will be in early January and mid- and late February.

As a school teacher, I'm not sure I'm pleased.  Random snow days are so delightful.

My Hypertext Story

My hypertext story is finally on line.  It took me more hours and more aggravation than I would have anticipated!  Of course the darn thing was due tonight!  Oh well, I turned it in on a disc; now, it's available on the Internet.  Dreamweaver itself wasn't the problem.  The problems came with uploading over 100 files into the University of Baltimore H drive.  I was successful after I removed the files for the fourth time and reloaded them into the parent directory.  I figured it out with the help of Liz!  She is amazing.  Enjoy!

Promethean Board

This week has been exhausting.  Tonight I feel like someone beat me with a stick about my head and shoulders.  Besides my two grad school classes (which are almost finished for the semester), I signed up and am taking whiteboard training.  I just had a Promethean Board installed in my classroom.  Since the training is 15 hours, it's a one credit MSDE graduate credit and comes with the obligatory homework assignments.  I have to create flip charts.  Okay, so it's fun.  I don't really have the time.

That's what the thing looks like.  It's mounted in the front of my classroom, will project anything on my computer, shows movies, and is interactive.  It's pretty amazing.

In addition to this, I am creating a Wiki at pbworks.com for my spring semester British Literature classes.  It is the approved Wiki site for Baltimore County Public schools and isn't as user friendly as I would like.

Tonight I am catching up my laundry.  I wish I was going to the Story Slam at 7:30 but that's not happening.  I wish I was going to hear Sarah Jane Miller read tomorrow night, but that's not happening either.  I wish I was going to Minas on Saturday evening at 5 to hear Gerry LaFemina and Jessica Blau, but that doesn't look promising either.  I have GOT TO FINISH my hypertext story!!!

Thanks, I finished (not the story, just the rant).

Katelyn Cohen

Well my guest poet cancelled for tomorrow.  That means I have to decide what I'm teaching in all three of my classes.  It's not a huge deal.  I have an arsenal of creative writing lesson plans.

Final Project

Okay, I finished all 50 pages of my hypertext story, but it is text only at the moment.  Now comes the arduous task of scanning pictures (five for the first page and one for each of the other 49 pages).  Once the pictures are scanned, I have to resize them and insert them in Dreamweaver.  Whew!  I'm happy with what I've done so far.  It certainly has been a lot of work; I spent about six hours today alone.  My plan is to finish the project this week so I can complete the editing on the pieces I wrote for my memoir class.

Fogo de Chao

My boyfriend, Dan, turned 50 years old today.  Last night we went to Fogo De Chao in Baltimore to celebrate.  There were five of us, Dan and I, my daughter Lauren and her boyfriend Andy, and my daughter Kaytee.  For $46.50 it's all you can eat meat and salad bar.  Dan and I skipped the salad bar and started right in on the meat.  I was stuffed in an hour.  It was delicious.  It's the second time I've been, and both times I couldn't seem to eat as much as I would have liked... sigh.  

This is Your Brain on Metaphors

This is an article from the NewYork Times.  It was posted by James Taylor (not the musician) and linked to Moira Egan and Katelyn Cohen on Facebook.  These three are guest poets in my creative writing program.

Anyway, the article is interesting.  I think you should read it.  I do not think that I should have to tell you about it.  The only people who read my blogs are adults who either have graduate degrees or are working on them.

Enjoy.

Upgrades

 I just purchased this iMac in September and already there is upgraded software for iPhoto, iMovie, and Garage Band!  It infuriates me that I don't qualify for the $6.99 upgrade because I didn't purchase my Apple laptop in October.  If I want to upgrade, I have to pay $49.99.  I know you're probably thinking that it isn't that expensive; however, it's the principle of the thing.  My computer is new and already something on it is outdated.  I guess I'll ask for it for Christmas.

Finals and Registration

So, I decided to do a hypertext story for my final project.  Being the hopeless romantic that I am, I decided to do a love story of sorts.  It will use actual photos from my three marriages, photos from the great adventure between husbands one and two, and photos from the present (among others).  Jenny had the great idea to plot the story on index cards before I start tackling Dreamweaver or scanning photos.  That way I can narrow my story and avoid scanning more pictures than necessary.  I've started; we'll see.

I registered for my spring classes.  One of the classes I wanted to take was filled.  As it happens, this works out better for me because now both classes are on Monday nights.  Although my Mondays will be incredibly long (teaching from 7:30 until 2:30 then classes from 5:30 until 10:45) I will only have to drive to UB one night a week.  I'll be taking Experimental Forms and Editorial Style.  Now I just have to get through all the work for my current courses.

This summer, if all goes well, I hope to do an independent study for memoir writing.  I'm hoping I can figure a way to avoid teaching summer school.  I'm not sure that's going to work.  I do have to pay my bills, and I do want to afford a vacation.

Arsenic and Old Lace

Catonsville High School is performing Arsenic and Old Lace for the fall theatre production.  I will be there as a chaperone (it's one of my teaching duties), and am looking forward to it!  One of my advanced creative writing students plays Officer O'Hara.

Riding in Cars with Boys by Beverly Donofrio

I just finished reading this book for my personal essay class.  It was an easy read (I read the entire book today).  I can't say it was a great book.  About the most I can say is that it held my attention.  Donofrio does quite a bit of self-reflection while she tells the story of being an irresponsible teen mother who eventually goes to college then grad school.  The framework of the story is her taking her son to college for his freshman year.  The book reflects the time period, the way things were in the sixties and seventies, with lots of sex, drugs, rock and roll, and a motorcycle gang.  I was surprised at how the final scene moved me.  You see, I have a daughter who is a freshman in college.  I had no idea how difficult it would be for me to take Kaytee to her dorm and leave her there.  I could identify with Donofrio when she felt like a bad mother as her son pulled his unfolded, wrinkled clothes from his suitcase because he had packed by himself.  Also, it was just the two of them.   Across the hall, a family was helping their son unpack and hook up his stereo and computer.  Donofrio's boy only had a clock radio and portable typewriter.  When I dropped off my daughter, she had packed her clothes by herself and many were wrinkled, but she did have a new laptop.  I, too, am a single parent and felt guilty when I mentioned that Kaytee's roommate seemed to have a lot of interference from both parents and her sister.  They were doing all of the unpacking for her and then were going to get her books at the bookstore for her, and an extension cord so her father could hook up her television.  Kaytee told me that most parents do more for their kids when they take them to college.  Oh well. 

Greek Festival

We went to the Greek Heritage Festival yesterday in Baltimore.  It is sponsored by the Greek Orthodox  Cathedral of the Annunciation.  While there I tried a Greek wine called Retsina.  I have to tell you, it is definitely an acquired taste.  Apparently it is aged in pine barrels which gives it its unique "turpentine" quality (well, taste).  Anyway, I also purchased a cookbook and a book on the Orthodox church's understanding of salvation.  Of course, all book reading will have to wait.  I have a few things to do for my grad school classes, and I am behind on my grading.  

Etsy

Tabitha and I are doing our group project on Etsy.  It is an e-commerce site.  There are lots of these sites, some good and some not-so-good.  There are also companies who will set up a site for you; one such company is Vandelay Website Design.  Not only can Vandelay create an e-commerce site for your small business, it creates websites for non profit organizations; it creates blogs; and it will allow you to consult on virtually any project that you have for promoting yourself or your business on the Internet.

Etsy was established in 2005 with the mission  "to help people make a living making things, and reconnect makers with buyers."  It has expanded to use in 150 countries, and is quite easy to use.  First you register.  Then you can navigate the entire website.  You can buy or sell.  The important thing about selling is that you can't run a duplicate site.  In other words, you can sell a craft that relates to a book you've written, but if the book is available on another site, you can't sell it on Etsy.  You can, however, link to the site that sells your book.  There are instructions and rules that explain all of this and more.

Another nice feature about Etsy is the ability to cross promote your product through Facebook.   Anyway, more on all of this tomorrow in class.

Halloween

Today is Halloween, and I am not a fan.  I was a fan when my girls were little.  I loved to make their costumes and take them trick or treating.  Now that the kids are older, they make their own plans.  Essentially, that means that I am here handing out candy.  Well, I would be handing out candy if I bought some and answered the door.  There will be none of that.  Instead, I will be out and about or sitting in a darkened room with my laptop and/or television.  I will admit to pricing candy.  The good stuff is ridiculously expensive.  That coupled with the fact that I made an error in my checkbook means no candy.  At least my error didn't cause me to bounce any checks.  Personally, I don't like dressing up for Halloween.    I enjoy seeing little ones in their outfits.  The other irritating thing about this evening is that teenagers seem to feel the need to go door to door begging for candy whether they are dressed up or not.  As a high school teacher, I find that exceptionally annoying.  Well, enough of this rant.  I'm getting dressed and heading out to run errands.

Christmas Calendar

For Christmas, beginning about ten years ago, I've been giving calendars as gifts.  I go through and mark all of the anniversaries and birthdays, and I have a picture of my girls on it.  I always order them through Heritage Studios.  Over the years the pricing has gone up a bit, and I could probably do the work myself and have the calendars printed; but old habits die hard (as they say).  Anyway, Kaytee was home this weekend so we took the calendar/Christmas letter picture.  These days only my parents get the calendar.  It used to be that I would order between 15 and 20 a season (incredibly time consuming when it was for my grandmother - so many birthdays and anniversaries of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren).  We also stopped exchanging gifts with all of the extended family (it got too pricey, and we don't usually see each other anyway).  So, of the five pictures we took, I think this is the one the girls decided we should use.

Autumn at its Finest

At the end of Hilton Road in Catonsville, adjacent to Pataspco State Park, is the All Saints Sisters of the Poor Convent.  I took this picture when we were hiking there last fall. Today is one of those days when I should be somewhere like that, taking pictures, and enjoying the weather.  Instead, I am stuck inside doing a lot of homework for my grad school classes... sigh.  The sun is shining; the leaves are in full color; there is a slight breeze; it's in the 70s.  If nothing else, I ought to be cutting my grass and doing yard work; but, I know myself well enough that if I don't get the bulk of my assignments done today, I'll have no tomorrow to enjoy.  My plan is to finish and post my six page memoir piece and write my one page final project proposal for e-publishing.  Then, it somehow seems fitting for me to crack a beer (or make a spritzer) as I finish reading The Tender Bar by J. R. Moehringer. 

The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow too - HOORAY!

Video Assignment Part Deux

My immediate family is delightful, quirky, and fun.  I decided that I would edit some tapes of them doing things that make me smile.  To that end, I have asked Lauren to sing, Andy (Lauren's boyfriend) to dance, and Dan (my boyfriend) to pontificate.  Kaytee is home from Salisbury and spends most of her time with her bff Collin.  I am also going to tape the two of them.  I haven't quite fleshed out the idea for them yet.  I think I'll leave it up to them because Kaytee and Collin are quite spontaneous and silly around each other.  So, it looks like that's it!

Lauren and Andy 

Dan

Kaytee and Collin

Video Project

I have been giving this video assignment a considerable amount of thought.  I want to show some aspect of my life, but I don't want to tell the story that I am going to use for my final project.  Originally, I was going to video the high school where I work; the physical building, the people in it and their various jobs, my classes; however, I couldn't come up with an angle that would be entertaining enough for me to spend that kind of time.  I would have had to take the footage this week, and I was sick for most of it (although I did work).

As the creative writing teacher at the high school, I inherited a wonder guest poet series.  I wish I had video of all the guest writers who come into my classes.  Each semester I have people like Moira Egan, James Taylor, Clarinda Harriss, Michael Fallon, Gary Blankenburg, Michael Salcman, Katelyn Cohen, and Danny DiCrispino.  That would make an amazing video.  James Taylor even lays on a bed of nails at the finale of his presentation.  Perhaps I will video my guests in the future.

Ship's Cafe

On Saturday evening we ate at Ships Cafe on Frederick Road in Catonsville.  It was a cool evening but we decided to eat on the upper deck anyway.  Besides us, there was a family of four who also braved the chilly night air.  Our waitress was very personable and knowledgeable about the menu.  Since we discovered that Ships is well known for crabs (and they are fantastic!) we no longer have to drive to Annapolis when we want them.  We started our meal by splitting a bowl of oyster stew.  They make the best I have ever tasted.  This particular evening the stew wasn't as peppery as usual.  I like it even better this way.  For dinner we split a dozen jumbo crabs.  They were well worth the $75.00 we paid.  We dipped the meat into tubs of drawn butter and Old Bay seasoning.  These crabs were so big and meaty that we had to take the last two home.

Ships has a full bar.  With our crabs we drank Coronas; not much beats crabs and beer.

If you go to Ships, I suggest you get there early on the weekends.  It is a popular restaurant and is always busy.  Because it has lots of wood, and it's in an old building, and a bit cramped, it's a loud place.  It isn't  the best place for a romantic dinner for two, but on this night, outside, it was perfect.

Portalli's Restaurant

On Friday evening we went to dinner at Portalli's in Ellicott City.  It was early, but they were packed.  We've eaten there four or five times now.  We only had one bad experience; this was not the case on Friday.  My boyfriend and I opted to eat at the bar rather than wait 45 minutes for a table.  We started with an appetizer of Oysters Romano (baked with garlic cream, crispy pancetta, caramelized leeks, and parmesan).  They were delicious, so smooth and creamy.  They melted on the tongue.  For entrees, I had Chicken Piccata.  The polenta was done to perfection.  The parsley pesto and lemon caper buerre blanc sauce was delicate, not at all overbearing.  My boyfriend had Prawn Scampi; it too had a lemon caper butter sauce, but it was done with wilted spinach and served over linguini.  The flavors blended well.  It was delicious too.  Although the portions are generous, there were so many wonderful sounding things on the menu that we were compelled to order side dishes.  We had the Celery & Cauliflower Risotto and the Spinach & Prosciutto.  Both were amazing, but the spinach was "to die for" (personally I'm not a huge fan of risotto).  There was no room for dessert.  In fact, I took half of my entree home.  It was lunch the next day.

In addition to excellent food, there is a full bar with specialty drinks.  I would recommend the Bellintini, but the Limoncello Drop was also good.  Portalli's Manhattan was intense (brandied cherries - yum!).  They also have a wine list.

You can usually find the owner on the premises, and he is always pleased to talk about his establishment.  This is a wonderful place.  The prices are reasonable; the ambiance is plush and comfortable.  

Regions Restaurant

Thursday evening we went to eat at Regions Restaurant on Frederick Road in Catonsville.  We arrived early (without a reservation) and were seated at once.  It is a fine dining establishment and is a sister restaurant to Catonsville Gourmet, just a few doors away.  Regions has a varied menu.  To start we shared a smoked fish plate which was quite good.  The cost was $14.00.  For entrees I had a surf and turf with mashed potatoes and snap peas.  My boyfriend had ancho steak.  The entrees cost around $25.00 each.  The portions are large, and the sauces are heavy. The food was good but not outstanding (especially considering the prices).  Also, it's BYOB which is inconvenient but keeps the cost down.  This is the second time we've been to this restaurant, and I think it will be a long time before we try it again.  There are so many excellent places within driving distance, even if you don't want to drive into Baltimore.

Website

Hooray!  My website is up and running!!!  Special thanks to Tabitha, Roger, and Liz for their help and support.  What an ordeal.

Breast Cancer

My friend and former co-worker is battling breast cancer.  She is an amazing woman.  Check out her blog: Reby's Weight Loss Journey.  Her blog was started to chart her weight loss.  There are before and after pictures that are remarkable.  It is rare to meet someone with such a positive outlook; perhaps it is because of her strong faith in God.

If you want to make a difference, order from the Breast Cancer Site Store.

Web Site Mid Term

ARGHHHHHHH - So I have finished creating my Dreamweaver website, and I've loaded all of my files on the H drive at the university; however, I am unable to access the web space I've requested as a student.  It's Saturday, and the tech help center closed at 4:00.  They were helpful earlier.  I'm hoping that it is just taking time for the site to become available (it said to wait a minimum of 30 minutes - I've been waiting for over an hour!).  Patience has never been one of my best things.  My mom used to say that I wanted everything yesterday.  Sigh...

Tender at the Bone

For my personal essay class, I have to read this book by Ruth Reichl.  I have to say, it is wonderful!  It is written in a conversational style; it is driven by stories that involve food, and it includes the recipes mentioned.  I have never read anything by Reichl before.  I have to say, after reading the Marlowe book about heroin and the Didion book about grief, Tender at the Bone is a "breath of fresh air."

Felines

I have always been a cat person.  My last cat, Delilah, lived until she was 23 years old!  By the time she died she no longer had the energy to groom herself.  She was really ratty; my girls fondly referred to her by the name of "Death Kitty."  She couldn't even retract her hind claws anymore.  She was the runt of the litter.  My brother found her at the Laurel Race Course when he was a hot walker, back in 1985.  She has been gone over two years now.  It's difficult to realize how tiny she was.  When her health was good she weighed 7 pounds (barely).  In this picture she weighed around 5 pounds.

Here is a picture of Delilah in better days.

Now my oldest daughter, Lauren, has a cat that she rescued from the shelter in Annapolis.  His name is Alfredo (Alfred, Fredo, Little Man).  At his last vet visit he weighed in at a whopping 18.6 pounds.  He is a unique cat.  He loves water (particularly bubble baths), likes to travel (will get right in his cat carrier to go), and chases toys like a dog (a favorite of his is a stuffed monkey).

Here is one of Fredo in his carrier.

This one will give you a better idea of his size (that's a large kitchen sink in a house we rented in Ocracoke in the Outer Banks last summer - yes, he rode by car all the way!).

Dead Bird

My daughter, Kaytee, took this picture of a dead bird that was entered into a contest by her digital photography instructor last year.  Kaytee won the grand prize (a $500.00 gift certificate to Security Square Mall).  Her picture is on display at the mall until next spring (it hangs for a year).  It's difficult to see in this picture, but there are droplets of water all over the bloated black bird.  The detail is something.  However, I found the content rather distressing.

Mid Term in Dreamweaver

Well, I have literally spent hours and hours on this project.  One of the things I wanted to do was create a page with a slide show of photos I've taken.  In order to do this, I had to create the slide show and then insert it into the page I had already prepared.  I had no idea how to use Flash.  Thankfully there is a plethora of websites with step by step instructions for how to do most anything with CS5.  My problem was that most of the sites assume you already know some of the steps.  For instance, one site said to import images onto the stage and then create a layer for each.  Hahaha - easier said than done.  I didn't know how to set the stage, much less create a layer.  After much trial and error (and trashing of pages) I managed to create a simple slide show that shows a new slide every second (for 15 to 18 slides).  The only problem I have been unable to remedy is centering the Flash production so that it shows in the center when previewing it on Safari.

This is the site I found most useful: http://www.freeadobeflashtutorials.com/

Corn on the Cob and Roast Beef

I found a recipe for cooking corn on the cob and it called for boiling it in salted water.  Then I found a bunch of comments that said if you boil the sweet corn in salted water, the kernels will be tough.  I continued searching and found instructions from people in "corn country"!  I tried it last night and it was amazing!  You put two tbsp. of sugar and two tbsp. of vinegar in the water (I used cider vinegar; it didn't specify), bring it to a boil, and then add the corn.  Bring the water back to a boil, cover the pan, remove the covered pan from the heat.  The corn will be ready in three to five minutes.  YUM!

My boyfriend found a recipe for cooking a beef roast rare.  I usually use an eye round roast.  In fact, I'm cooking a seven pound eye round now.  Put the roast, fat side up, on a rack in a dry pan (I cover my pan with foil so cleanup is easier).  Shake dry seasonings on the outside (I use Mrs. Dash regular and sometimes a little worcestershire sauce and lemon pepper).   Insert a meat thermometer.  Cook at 200 degrees until the meat thermometer reads 140 or 145 degrees (for rare), then turn up the temperature to 500 degrees for ten minutes.  Take the roast out and let it sit for ten to 15 minutes.  At that time it will be ready to slice.

Reading at B&N

Our own Kimberley Lynne will be reading at the new B&N Fitzgerald Building (at Mt Royal and Oliver) on Wednesday, September 29.  Oh yeah, there will be other fine local writers also reading that evening.  The event is from 7 until 8:30 PM.  I have my personal essay class that night.  We were considering ending early to attend another reading.  I wonder if we might be allowed to attend this one instead? 

Just Saying

Well, I've been giving a lot of thought to the mid-term for my e-publishing class.  It has to be four pages, and it has to be a "writer's" website.  Currently, I only have one piece that has been selected for publication, so my choices for pages is rather limited.  However, since I have decided on the memoir track the writing is much easier; I have generated more material than I did when I was writing in other genres.  That being said, I decided to think about the "Me" that I wanted the public to see.  I believe my pages will be laid out like this:

Page one will have a bio that includes the facts that I am in a writing program at UB (with a hyperlink to excerpts from some of my pieces) and that I enjoy photography (with a hyperlink to a page of some of my photos).  My family will also be included in the first page bio.  I envision a picture of my girls somewhere; I'm just not sure where.  So, there are three of the four pages.  Since I am a high school English teacher by day, I will probably have the fourth page related to teaching creative writing, theatre, and English.

I really need to get into the CS5 Dreamweaver program and start messing around with layout.  That probably won't happen this weekend.  I'll just create something in Word so that I can turn in the rough draft on Monday. 

At the moment, I am sitting in my daughter's dorm room at Salisbury University.  She is a freshman and is coming home for her first weekend visit in a month.  Right now she is in English class and I'm working on her laptop,  We will be heading home in another hour or so.

Graphics and Design of a Website

I'm hoping that Dreamweaver has some templates from which to work since I don't really know how I want my site designed.  I keep coming back to the same idea: I want my opening page interesting enough that a person will want to navigate my site if he or she stumbles upon it.  Since I enjoy photography as well as writing, I envision using photos I've taken.  I'm just not sure how those photos will be used.  To that end, I am now going to try to load some photos onto this new Mac laptop.

Navigation of a Website or How Confusing Do You Want It?

I've been looking at a number of websites, and blogs about websites, and thinking about navigation.  I like simple but entertaining/creative ways to navigate.  Honestly, as annoying as it might be, I enjoyed the Dan Brown website opening page, and the page with the map being drawn (which won't mean anything to those who aren't in my epublishing class).  I want my website to have an interesting and innovative opening page that causes people to want to navigate my site.  I like things that move, things with color, and lots of layers of pages that easily navigate back and forth without using the back button.  However, as I stated before, I won't have much content until I have more of my writing edited, and some things published. Sigh...

CS5

I finally got the access serial numbers to load my new Adobe CS5 software.  It took me a while to figure out how to install software on a Mac (they tell me Macs are intuitive - my brain must be synched to a different rhythm than most).  Anyway, it's loaded.  Now I have to figure out how to use it.  I have to create a website for my midterm, and I figure I'll use Dreamweaver (since I purchased it).  Sigh...  Now, I must consider navigation, content, and design.

My first thought is that my bio will be skimpy (at least as far as things published).  Having looked at many author sites, my next thought is there won't be much to navigate.  I guess I'll have to create a site based on my projected future as a writer.  Okay - enough said.

Judith Warner Website

http://www.judithwarneronline.com/index.htm

Picking an author's website that I don't care for is tough.  I can find pleasing things about most any author site.  Although, when I stumbled upon Judith Warner's site (author of Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety), I didn't find it particularly pleasing.  The welcome page is lifeless with a black and white photo of the author.  The bio page is short and seems incomplete (mostly because of all of the white space). In short, I find the look of the pages to be dull.  However, I will say that the site is easy to maneuver, and that all of the usual things you expect to find like readings, and links to writings, are all there.

Finding Author Websites

http://www.eyeonbooks.com/authorwebsites.php

While this is not an exhaustive list of author websites, it is useful.  I enjoyed perusing websites of authors of whom I had not heard (yeah - don't end a sentence in a preposition).  Anyway, enjoy!

Online Site/Project

http://www.jhfc.duke.edu/jenkins/courses/isis092/syllabus.htm
As a teacher, I would love to create a syllabus as complex as the one at Duke.  I recently purchased a Mac and Adobe CS5.  New to Mac and new to most of the creative suite, I'd like to be able to create an interactive syllabus website for each of my classes.  In short, I'm open to learning most anything in CS5!

Hypertext Edition of The Brain of Katherine Mansfield

http://www.het.brown.edu/people/easther/brain/index.html
This is entertaining.  I was all over the place with this story.  I don't know how many pages there are (I didn't actually get to the end).  I wish the font on the story pages was darker rather than the gray that they are.  Also, I wish the picture at the top of each page had some color (I like color!).

Diagram

"Diagram is an electronic journal of text and art. As our name indicates, we're interested in representations. In naming. In indicating. In schematics. In the labelling and taxonomy of things. In poems that masquerade as stories; in stories that disguise themselves as indices or obituaries."
http://webdelsol.com/DIAGRAM/

Although I really enjoy some of the writing in this online journal, I don't like the looks of it.  The font is small.  The pages are stark and seem utilitarian.  The pictures/diagrams seem like something out of the 1930s.  Perhaps the decisions were stylistic in nature, but I can't imagine reading this journal on a regular basis.

Kim Addonizio

http://www.kimaddonizio.com/Site/_welcome.html

Kim Addonizio is an amazing poet, and a delightful person.  She has as much personality as this picture from her website suggests.  I enjoy her site because it has a simple design that is easy to navigate.  It is also visually pleasing with its dramatic colors (primarily black and red).  Although Lucifer at the Starlight is her most recent book, I wish it wasn't the welcome page for her website. I'd prefer a more generic welcome page with a short bio, a picture, and some literary criticism for her books.