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.

Signalling a Carousel
Wednesday, 19 May 2004 :-:

The electric bulbs flash and disappear, strobing in the central mirrors of our carousel. Horses, large rabbits, a camel, and even a massive Chanticleer. White ivory railings entwine among brassplated twists that rise to the ceiling.

A white-railed fence wraps around the carousel at the mall, and parents often lean on it, watching their children spin and bob upon their noble steeds. Along the top, ivory white, and faded olive imprints, inlaid paintings of the rural landscape line the edges. A Mennonite family walks by, unnoticing, unnoticed.

The carousel stops for a time. No business.

Then, a little girl, maybe five years old smiling like one ignorant of tears, leads her grandfather toward the lights. She mounts a chestnut stallion. Good choice.

Slowly, the carousel motors groan, and the canticle of tinkling music begins. The strobe of mirrors begins again, twirling with dizzying glee.

Her grandfather leaned over the fence when she came around the corner. Her horse sped from behind the central spindle. The chestnut stallion's nostrils flared, frozen in mid-canter. Her grandfather held out his hand, and she leaned out to reach.

Five!

Their fingers clasped for a brief moment. But the horse didn't slow. She was swept away, out of sight.

When they were reunited after the ride ended, she trotted happily up to the white gate. He opened the latch for her, and she reached up.

They embraced. For a few minutes, no one spoke a word.

Then I found out. She was deaf.

** * **

Why don't we value the little things in life more? An embrace. A simple touch can communicate a universe beyond words. Yet we even forget to say the words.