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.

Cologne and the Battery Nazi
Saturday, 24 Apr 2004 :-:

Lithium Ion beats Nickel Metal-Hydride beats Nickel Cadmium. All three beat more delicately scented liquids.

"Wow, you smell good" she said. The tendrils of her carefully-selected perfume reached over to my nose and gave it a playful tweak.

"Excuse me?" I replied. I am not used to talkative high school girls acosting me in the mall. This is probably because I am not used to the mall. This is probably also because high school girls ignored me when I was actually in high school.

"What cologne are you wearing?" she smiled knowingly, teasingly at me, swooping in for the kill, bringing her face close to mine.

I didn't know what to do. I wasn't about to give up my chair and leave. I spent ten minutes finding this chair. It was the only place next to a power outlet in the entire area. I didn't care if a girl was hitting on me, I wasn't going to give up my ground. I had writing to do, and my laptop battery needed to be charged.

Poor girl. She didn't realize she was dealing with the battery Nazi.

I decided to be noxious.

"I don't wear cologne, and I probably don't smell very good. In fact, I haven't showered since yesterday." Ha! Take that! It was the truth.

She wasn't prepared for my answer. Recoiling, she stepped back. I gotta remember that line, I thought.

But she didn't give up. "You're just joking me. See, [she began to speak faster than fine print] ireallythinkyoulikemenscologne andi'mgivingoutfreesamples fromsomeshoporother, so would you like a free sample?"

Now I've got you, I thought and secretly rejoiced. For a moment, I had hesitated on the edge of retreat, but I knew her game now. I couldn't lose.

"I'm allergic to cologne" I said. She pulled back another step. Take that!

"Oh."

"I take medication twice a day for it" And that! She frowned and began to walk away. But I wasn't finished. I wanted blood.

"At church," I raised my voice, for she was walking rapidly away, "I choose a seat based upon how few women are in the area." She was almost gone.

"Perfume is death," I yelled after her. But she had disappeared, melting into the mingle of the mall crowd.

Parting is such sweet sorrow.