Archival Ardor

So you know all about my professional goals, but what about my personal goals? What do I like to do when I am not at work? What are my hobbies, interests, inspirations, and expectations? This is where you will find out a little about that side of me.

I am a poet. I have been writing poetry since middle school, and successfully managed to get through high school with plenty of the usual angst-filled poetry. I've kept it as fodder for future writing projects. I have to say when I was at the University of Mississippi is when my poetry grew into maturity. I took two courses, both in writing, with Blair Hobbs heading the course. Her direction, along with several great peer readers, helped me to improve my writing. I took a few writing workshops here and there for a while, reading poets like Billy Collins, Sharon Olds, Linda Pastan, Nikki Giovanni, Rita Dove, and a whole slew of others. While working at Berea College I met several teachers in the English department, sat in and participated in a writing course headed by Libby Jones, and befriended several poetic students who I hope to maintain correspondence with after they graduate. With some of these students, I lead a small writing group which meets on Wednesday evenings for a free-writing session to continue fostering our creativity through the week, even when we don't have large amounts of time to dedicate to writing work. I have only published a few poems when in community college in 1997 in the college's small literary journal. I aim to spend a little more of my free time editing my poetry and getting it ready for submission to large scale literary journals, or just small press chapbooks.

I am a photographer. Ever since my parents bought me a Canon AE-1 camera sometime in junior high, I have maintained a photographic eye. Now I have a digital camera that I carry with me everywhere because you never know what you may come across on a walk during your lunch hour, or that a co-worker might need a picture of the "New Books" bookcase for the library website. I simply try to capture the interesting things around me, sometimes getting a few of the mundane from a different angle. After serving four years on the yearbook staff in high school, a photographer through community college, and later, a hobby photographer, I occasionally make prints and show them at local coffee shops or other locations that display artwork. Although I am learning a little Photoshop here and there, I do remember making unique black-and-white photos in the darkroom by using cut-outs, fabric, or whatever else inspired a creative vision. Some of my favorite photos I have posted in an online gallery here.

I am an artist. Other than photography, I sometimes dabble in creating mixed media collages. I like to collect trinkets and do-dads from flea markets or yard sales, then mix the stash together until several items come together to tell a story. One collage includes a little girl's ballet slippers, a locket on a chain, a Valentine's postcard, flowers, a few old photos, beads, glass, and flowers. Another collage has a small book, a photo of a young man, a pair of wire rimmed glasses, a caddy pin, a plastic horse, pins of butterflies, seashells, and plastic ivy. Sometimes I come up with a theme for a series of collages, such as my series of seven 16x20 collages which depict the chakras. I am currently working on mixed media collages on bottles for several series: (1) The Pleiades, (2) The Muses, (3) The Zodiac, and (4) Strong Women in World Religions. I like to make artwork because there is a sense of accomplishment, but there is also a desire to share creativity and knowledge in a visual form.

I do love to read, although I have not found a lot of time to settle down and enjoy a good novel or interesting biography. I am reading several novels by Lee Smith, one of my favorite novelists. I just finished Fair and Tender Ladies, and I am currently reading Family Linen. Next on my list is The Last Girls and On Agate Hill. Also on my list, I plan to reread Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm. I also have enjoyed personal narratives because they draw you into the world of the author closer than anyone else. I am recently read Name All the Animals by Alison Smith. Some of my favorite novels have been Virginia Woolf's Orlando, Lee Smith's Oral History, all novels written by Susan Vreeland and Tracey Chevalier, and short stories by Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, David Sedaris, and Dorothy Parker.

I also enjoy the Internet. I have maintained some kind of personal web page since 1997 when I created my first web page using Geocities free pages, to the present. I taught myself HTML coding by browsing tutorials online and learning by trial-and-error. I bought my own domain name, poetess77.com, in 2000. Over the years the website has showcased my poetry, photography, lists of CDs I owned, pages dedicated to friends, and pages dedicated to personal projects such as "Collectively Speaking" and "Oral History of Rolling Fork, MS." I am currently redesigning poetess77.com. I also maintained a website for my mother's high school reunion in May 2007. The website, rfhsreunion.com, acted as a point of reference and communication between the classes of 1959 through 1969. I made changes to the site in the evenings as I received information from the planning committee and I maintained the site until after the reunion, at which point the site could be removed. Then there is this website, which acts as my professional portfolio to the world. I have been interested in web design and access mostly because it is a tool to maintain communication with others, and as a means to provide information about oneself, hobbies, interests, activities, etc. After years of hard-coding HTML, I have learned to use Dream Weaver and to incorporate Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) into my web design. I intend to learn how to create a CSS from a blank slate.

I also love good entertainment, be it live music, a Sundance festival movie, or the theater. I enjoy a good theater production over a rented movie, I'll choose a live music concert before listening to a CD in my stereo, and a good movie with friends is always better than television at home.

So that is just a little bit about me and my hobbies.