The New PolyAnna

Ok. So, I think I've finally found my blogspot. It's not, however, on blogspot. You can find the real blogger in me here: www.songtrabong.squarespace.com. (Eventually, I will get a better url. Promise.) Yes, this is the same old "official" blog. I have simply archived the older material from the "Generation Speak" incarnation. But I think perhaps this new angle is the first brilliant idea I've ever had in my life. Yes. The first. And what's the thing about? Well, it's called The New PolyAnna and it's about optimism as a blend of realism and vision, polyamory as a lifestyle choice, and the art of cartooning to convey human expression and story. I'm sure I'll be asked again and will come up with a string of not-so-great replies, but that one will do here, for now, yes?

And thank you Miss Emilie for believing in me. I need that right now.

Footnote: #14 goes out to, well, myself and #15 to Miss Emilie's blog. Love.

the HYPERtext of teenage techno-savvy baton rouge

i picked up a book about html and css at the ole barnes and noble last year and started futzing around on frontpage and dreamweaver. somehow that qualified me to teach a class to teenagers in web design. every day i worry that when they come into the room it will suddenly be painfully obvious that they know more than i do about the internet. of course, every day they DO come in knowing more than i know. but i'm ok with that. for now i'm cracking open new ground by helping create real community around a bunch of silicon chips and electrodes. every day the web savvy class marches through the door we're thrown into close quarters and have to work quickly and intelligently to master the internet together. there are twelve people in the class, and even when only ten show up like today, and when jade, another mentor, is able to assist knowledgeably, i still feel myself pulled in too many directions. have i planned poorly? probably not poorly, though there's always room for improvement. no, the real issue is that the world wide web is a fast-paced world, a galaxy of information coming and going. and what kind of mentor would i be if didn't try to help young people, to work with teenagers to create better understandings and uses of all this crazy, awesome, big, mysteriousness that we call being ON LINE?

here is a shout out

to every kid
that wanted to master the computer world
to every kid
who ever sent a friend a warm thought through bebo or myspace
to every adult
who ever worried seriously about their own ability to keep up in order to keep everyone else safe
to every teen
in the Teen 360° Summer University 2008 Web Savvy class
to every computer
at the teen center
to every server, every browser, every br/
even for those of us who don't get breaks
to DeAndre, Gift, and Spencer
because i know the url addresses to their blogs
and
to every time we try again, learn something new, and grow

Footnote: #11, #12, & #13 - all blogs started by teens working in the Web Savvy class summer '08. I can't wait to hear more from these ridiculously cool people.

the information highway onramp

When I'm out with friends, I often get into conversations about politics, conversations that dawdle and wane and meander - don't we all? - and I want so badly to have on-hand a whole stockpile of information to draw on. Of course, the only way to get to that blissfully drunken, pontificating place I'd like to be at with any grace is to spend some time doing a little research before hitting the bars. The place I start is publicly funded and over-flowing with good info: www.speakout.com. (Did you know that there were no general election presidential debates between 1960 and 1976?) I've also taken to pouring through candidates individual "issues" pages to see exactly what the candidates are promoting on their own pages. For example, consider the contrast between Clinton, Obama, and Edwards on healthcare. The differences are remarkable, namely the amount of information provided. My head is still with Edwards. Now, please excuse me while I go do some more reading to figure out how to tell you why.

footnote: #7 the speakout foundation is just fucking brilliant. the three presidential websites of #8 Clinton, #9 Obama, and #10 Ewards are pivotal for any voting democrat and yet is too short a list to be comprehensive/exhaustive most certainly.

Word

I have spent a lot of time in Baton Rouge thinking about how people communicate with each other, maybe even more specifically how they speak to or with each other. When I was in the graduate program at LSU I started a newsletter called the Underground Third hoping to help the English graduate students of all people talk to each other more about what was going on in their lives. It worked to a degree - I mean, I think the newsletter sparked some fun conversations, but it rarely catapulted people into meaningful discussions. I like to think that's why the dang thing didn't last after I left; it never dug in deep enough to get people to care about it beyond a good laugh. I've since tried to write for a couple of different publications in Baton Rouge, and have become a crazy blogaholic, it seems. But I'm hoping that this newest endeavor birthed by an amazing lady will take hold of the whole of Baton Rouge in a big-ass, bad-ass super delicious way. Sweet Tooth is after all a chance to critique, to hold art to a standard. Who does that?! Well, we all do - and now we all have a platform for that conversation.

Random big ups to my favorite events calendar in Baton Rouge thus far - I love you CHERRY!

***
Footnote: Here are references #4, #5, #6 - all journalistic, artsy bits of goodness (one in perhaps permanent hibernation - boo) that will ever have a soft spot in my Baton Rouge heart.

getting linked up and hooked in - 100 links, 100 meaningful references

ok. so if this linkage thing is at all true then it would behoove me here to make mention of a number of other amazing people, places, and things that are on-line and rocking it and that i generally want to benefit. eh? [pause.] well, according to a post on the Vandelay Web Design blog (general, but worthy: "Using Outbound Links to Improve Your Blog") only positive reinforcement for the notion of adding links to your page and lists a number of benefits and strategies to help optimize outbound links (i'll let you read the blog itself for details, cuz I'd just end up plagiarizing this brief, but well-written text).

i realize that this is just one blog. and so i probably have more research to do - in time. but, i'm reassured for now. and so, i am going to begin a little journey here. i'm going to make a point of linking to at least one amazing page every time i blog from here out AND i'm going to do my utmost to follow all the right etiquette - foremost, the making darned sure that the link is meangingful to the current blog i'm working on (yay! i think i succeeded with this one today!). i will be cataloging this process by footnoting each post and counting off the number of references that i make. my goal will be modest at first - 100 links to hot, amazing places to go on the webernet. we'll see how it goes and move on from there.

shazam! and the...

footnote: i guess that makes ms. michelle #1 and ms. p dane #2 (as per my previous post). Vandelay Web Design will have to settle for an aging, hearty #3.

a bit about plugs - no, not hair plugs

My friend who works at cnet (meet the wonderful Ms. Michelle, who can tell you anything you need to know about the current stats on laptop computers) told me that one of the best parts about blogging is sharing information with other people and at the same time helping link people directly to that information. Whoa! Everyone benefits? Yup. (Love that Google page rank!) But some people haven't caught on and aren't taking advantage of this whole HTML, internet thingy (hello! it's a system designed to LINK things together) as well as they could. This anti-linkage behavior is snotty and unfortunate, cuz eventually you just get left out of the loop yourself.

Not me! Right now right here, I want to plug my friend's blog unabashedly. Ms. Penelope's blog is a great addition to the e-world, as it is spicy and angry and impassioned in all the right ways. I won't go into too many details, cuz I don't want to kill her chickens before you read them, but trust you'll get intrigue, drama, and all that is quirky and small and bright and astoundingly awesomely all, everything, encompassed, engrossed, gross, and grim in this spite-filled, inspired blog, which makes an inadvertent plug even for those people who are sometimes snotty and unfortunately out of the loop.

and anna begins...to blog

So, I've decided to make this blog my crazy, ranty, rambly blog that's about things un-professional. More like a diary. More silly inside-anna's-brain crap. For all things impressive and intentional - please visit my real blog (er, my other blog; some may argue that as such this is in fact my 'real blog') - www.songtrabong.squarespace.com.

Which leads me to wonder if having two blogs is exessive? I mean, I have three accounts with social-networking groups. My most recent fall was facebook. Sheesh. I just like networking and socializing too damned much. Is that so bad? Ah well. But two blogs? Really? I guess I find consolation and resolve in the, hm, messy world of building and creating and visioning. In other words, I don't know what my role is or will be on the internet. But I'm figuring it out. And for now, for whatever reason, that involves running with two blogs for a time. Double sigh.

Over and out.

http://www.myspace.com/songtrabong

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