Ancestry.com has a new feature that will tell you famous people you areprobably related to based on the information in the OneWorldTreecompiled from member trees. Information is only as accurate as theindividual trees, so we all take this with a grain of salt, but still.Its fun to dream. Below is the list generated for me. Somerelations are more fun than others. That I’m related to a couple famouspoets, a number of famous writers, and a couple founding fathers andpresidents is pretty cool. On the other hand, Hillary Clinton is my 8thCousin twice removed. Oh well, nobody’s family is perfect. ;)Richard…
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A couple weeks ago, I was contacted by the Turner Publishing Company about my interest in recieving a copy of a book coming out soon called, Historic Photos of Saint Louis. The copy was free, they asked my to review the book if I wanted, but was under no obligation. So I told them I’d be happy too, and two day later I received my copy.I’m a fan of Saint Louis history, and its architecture in particular. I’ve purchased a couple of photo books about Saint Louis for this very reason.So after taking some time to look through the book,…
I don’t do memes as a general rule. I don’t know why. There’s something very stubborn in me that resists following the crowd (though I follow the crowd in a great many things, so the stubbornness isn’t really rational).but today i felt like it. so here:Four jobs I have had in my life:1. Bicycle Repairman2. Painter3. Janitor4. Music DirectorFour movies I’ve watched more than once:1. The Princess Bride2. Lord of the Rings (extended cut, Jackson version, all three)3. The Shawshank Redemption4. Monty Python and The Holy GrailFour places I have lived:1. The house in Arlington, Texas, where I got saved,…
I’ve had Grace on my mind. Its Jonathan’s fault really. He got me talking about Les Miserables, and that started me thinking about the rich imagery portrayed in the play, how Jean Valjean and Javier so epitomize the difference between the Covenant of the Law and the Covenant of Grace.Sometimes… When i think about it. I get that feeling. you know the one? I have to stop what i’m doing, and pause for a moment. Because my eyes start to get warm, and emotion wells up from my stomach in a rush. Because Grace is that powerful. Its so rich.…
For the last two years I’ve been carrying a steel bar in my chest. It looked like this:Last friday, I had it removed. It was the last step in the Nuss Procudure. Having had two years for the bones and cartilage of my rib cage to set in the new position, the bar was no longer necessary.Here are some thoughts. The incisions hurt far far less than the broken bones. Recovery this time around has been orders of magnitude less difficult. Like last year, I have a cough during this process. I don’t recommend getting sick before your surgery.Between the…
Its true. I do not. I responded that I don’t consider myself a writer, perse. A poet, but not really a writer. Writers are concerned with a far larger scope in language.I like to think of myself as an artist. A photographer and a poet, both mediums serve as a foil for helping me articulate and explore life. And while photography remains a pastime I hope to make my living from, poetry is the craft I hope to keep to myself. There is a phenomenon in experience, when you do something you love, but pursue it for the purpose of…
I think its time to redo the whole walljm site. from scratch. admin, design, architecture, rss, all of it.I tell you this, because I assume you are interested in the minutia. and because publishing is free. and because i’ll probably not do it otherwise. and because i needed to post something new. ;)
What to say really. That is the eternal question on the bloggers mind. Me, i mostly ignore it, as evidenced by my infrequent posts. You see, i hate to water down my content, and I’ve been uninspired. Dry spells, they come and go. And what do you to overcome them? Sometimes, you can get away with simply talking about the dry spell. Like I’m doing now, but that only works once, then you need to post something of substance.I’d like to blame it on the winter. Theres a good chance she is the culprit. But the truth is, emotionally, I’ve…
Today is my blogs 6th birthday. Back in February 15th, 2002, I posted my first blog post. humble as it is. I’ve grown a bit. Feel free to look around my early archives, see whats changed in the last few days.
I’m writing free form here. I have no idea what I want to say. I know only that the need to say something is more urgent than my natural desire to remain unheard. There is a kind of mood, a certain melancholy, brought on by anxiety and hints of disappointment. It settles like a thick blanket over your heart, which beats slowly, almost sluggishly in your chest. Times like these come and go. A time to question. It isn’t a moment wholly disliked. There is a part of you that finds value in the mental state, motivation to create, and…
Its been a dizzying few weeks. All sorts of emotionally stretching activities. Being an entrepreneur is emotionally hard. ;) at least, at first.So. the ads at theknot.com have been up since last Friday. it has been almost a week, and I have received two email inquiries (from the knot i believe), one which i met with yesterday. And one call from a bridesmaid of a couple whose wedding i shot 3 years ago. Three contacts in a week. not bad. :)This should make me excited, and it does. Very. :) but unexpectedly, I found myself up against feelings of doubt…
2007 was a big year. At least, I think it was. *thinks* Yes. Yes it was. Don’t ask me to iterate why. I can’t recall the specifics. I’m bad at that.Reading Jennifer’s blog made me want to write something. Because she put my blog on her links list (yay!) and I don’t want to be the blog on the link list that hasn’t been updated in forever. :) I can’t remember exactly what I was doing early this year. I don’t recall it being all that important. I do remember Jon leaving for Dallas in early February, and driving through…
I have for a long time wanted to participate in the STL Bloggers meetups, but for the longest time they were scheduled on Wed nights, a time that is permanently booked for me. So I was pretty excited when they scheduled one on a Friday, last night.I met some neat folks. And if you are one of those neat folks dropping by, let me first offer you my apologies for the mess. ;) I started redesigning walljm.com a few months ago, and err, got stalled. So part of walljm.com is different than the rest.In the spirit of linkyness, here are…
Every so often, here on walljm.com, its time for me to talk about myself, to let all my adoring fans know what goes on in my life. I write these only sporadically, because to be terribly honest, my life, albeit busy, is pretty awfully boring. :)Here at walljm.com we are busily ignoring the fact that Christmas seems to be just around the corner. There are things afoot here, but I’ll not tell you about them now. What I will instead tell you about is my job. Which I have come to dislike much less than in past years. During this…
She had straight blond hair and sharp features. She was writing in her journal. Her penmanship was a neat rounded print, and she was curled up in the seat of the metro car. She had a brown leather bag the color of burnt autumn leaves. She wore a black dress that hung between her knees propped up against the seat ahead of her. She had grey stockings and boots the color of her travel bag. Her face had the far away look of the travel weary. She would stare out the window in between writing in her journal.
good harmony anticipates the melody, at times encouraging it, at times resisting it, but always anticipating it.like harmony, the purpose of rhyme, meter, pattern and other poetic elements in verse is to anticipate the meaning. harmony should never follow the melody blindly. in this way, it is like a marriage relationship. the melody should love the harmony, and the harmony should submit to the melody.what separates poetry from prose is the explicit form. we use rhyme, alliteration, repetition and patterns to focus and add potency and meaning to the words. often this lets us be more concise, relying on the…
ef-fu-sence (ĭ-fyū’zhənce) pronunciationn.1. The state of unrestrained outpouring of feeling.2. Being in the grip of a feeling that makes you want to effuse.
Walljm.com has slowly been evolving through the last 7 years that I’ve been blogging. This represents the 6th version and a slightly new philosophy of presentation.At this point, none of the sub pages have been converted yet, a task that I will get to when time permits and I’ve been able to think out how I want them to look exactly. I’ve wanted to implement something using a bigger footer for some time, but hadn’t been able to come up with something I liked.The new face of walljm.com is one post per page. This reflects the slower nature of my…
Go to this photo of Sasha and vote for her. Why? Because you know you want to, and I’d be grateful. ;)
but no time to sort and post. But the real reason the photo blog is sitting idle, is because what I have in the bin doesn’t really express what I want to say right now.For all those who know me, but hear from me little, life for me has been consuming. Mostly at work. The project I’m currently on has required a great deal of concentration and I’ve had little time to devote to other things. *sigh* It sounds like a poor excuse. At the very least, its a common one.What you get, dear reader, out of all this is…