Even if I really wanted to, I could never give a complete picture of myself.   I don't know enough about myself to do so, and I don't feel like creating a definition of myself out of thin air, since even if it could be accurate now, in five minutes it probably won't be.  As I commented on this page before, from this limited view, you can't see the picture of a figure staring at the sunset over the mountains on his way across campus, shivering in the winter wind but still stubbornly stopping to stare at the sky.  And even if you could, that's just one corner...

But here are some simple details, ranging in importance from mildly to not at all.


At present, I am a senior history major at Middlebury College in Middlebury VT.  This will soon be a link to a rant on the subject of history.  This will soon be a link to a rant on my history thesis.  This may soon be a link to a rant on the history department.  This is a musing I wrote a while ago about being a history major:
Sometimes I wonder exactly why.  I prefer contemporary history, a time period I define as this century generally and WWII and later specifically.  Formerly I focused nearly exclusively on American History, but have since progressed to seeking a broader scope of understanding just what has happened in the last sixty years.  In my opinion, more events of significance occurred then than in most of the rest of history, in addition, we still have direct connections to those events to further the study of them.  Many other historians feel that if the subject is still alive, it ain't history.  Maybe not that drastic, but the general feeling is recent events aren't yet history.  But I was in Berlin about six months after the Wall fell, and it was already part of history then.  There was no currentness to the collapse of the Eastern Bloc (granted I would not have expressed it that way then), just the day to day troubles it had spawned.  I guess it might be more appropriate to call me a student of history, and not a historian.  (And others have said I am a political scientist, or cultural historian, or mathematician!)
Anyway, besides being an unhappy history major, I am a Math minor.  (If I fail my history thesis, I may up that to a major).  Until the fall of 2000 I was the Editor of an art and literary magazine at Middlebury called Section Eight.  I was also an editor of Eyes In The Dark, which was a web-based magazine adapted from high school.  Both are now defunct as magazines, but Eyes In The Dark is being adapted into Something Cool, though precisely what is as yet uncertain.  Hopefully that project gets going soon.  Though my interest in my own writing has waned in recent years (particularly when I realized just how chaotic college life is), I still love trying to promote creativity, and the magazines let me do that.  I miss them, even though each was a ton of work.  I didn't really mind much (although if you'd asked me again near a deadline you might get a different answer...).

I'm from Upstate New York.  Nowhere near NYC.  Hours away.  I still consider the small town I grew up in home, despite almost four years at Middlebury.  This may soon be a link to a rant about Middlebury and my own stupidity in the college search process.
 
 

Some Interests and Some Links

Sports:

Soccer: I "played" in high school, and remain a fan (probably because i associate playing with watching, as I rarely got in a game.  On the field, I prefered defense, though my coach threw in us third stringers at forward every now and then.  In fact, it was my fault he did it so much, for the first time he did, I scored a goal, my only one in 12 years of playing.)  I remain a fan of the US National teams, watch the MLS in eternally optimistic hope it will get better, and cheer every time Manchester United wins (to the chagrin of one of my closest friends, who is a Real Madrid fan).  And I'm psyched that Alexi Lalas is playing again. 

Hockey: I admit it, I'm a hockey fan.  Mostly a fan of Division III college hockey.  The Middlebury men's team won it's fourth and fifth straight NCAA titles my freshmen and sophomore years, lost a very close quarterfinal series the following year after winning an intense N.E.S.C.A.C. final a week earlier.  This year they are again ranked near the top in the country, and are in the NCAAs again.  The women's team, meanwhile, has never lost a league game in the E.C.A.C., and last year won the first national title offered for women's D.III. hockey.  I prefer hockey with more speed and skill and less pointless violence.  And last year I found this site: uscollegehockey.com, with news and scores, and an extremely interesting message board. College Hockey Stats also has game results.

Photography:

As you might have noticed, I am extremely inerested in photography.  It takes up most of my site already, and that amount will only grow. Check out my photography pages.

Entertainment:

I couldn't possibly list my all favorite movies, musicans, books, television shows, musicals, etc, but here is a sampling. 

Movies: I can and do waste hours looking though quotes, goofs and trivia on the Internet Movie Database.
Among my favorite movies:

     
    The Last of the Mohicans - the absolute best cinematography I have ever seen.
    The Shawshank Redemption - probably the best movie of all time, with one of the best actors (Morgan Freeman)
    Dogma - very interesting messages, and the subject of interesting controversy in my town (and good photography opportunities)
    Glory
    Austin Powers and Austin Powers II - I actually think II was better.
    The Princess Bride
    Monty Python and the Holy Grail
    Star Wars (the whole series)
    Arsenic and Old Lace
    Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
    Harvey
    Fiddler on the Roof
    Rebel Without a Cause
             (and the list goes on and on and on...)
Music: A short list:
     
    Tori Amos
    Bjork
    Counting Crows
    Cranberries
    The Cure
    Ani DiFranco
    Dispatch   (formerly, and in all fans' minds, forever known as One Fell Swoop)
    Guster
    Billy Joel
    Loreena McKennitt
    Sarah McLachlan
    The Nields
    Nine Inch Nails
    No Doubt
    Ellis Paul
    R.E.M.
    Simon and Garfunkel
    Solas
    Toad the Wet Sprocket
    U2
    Violent Femmes
    Wood's Tea Company
             (and the list goes on and on and on...)
Musicals: Between high school and college, I have been directly involved with three: Sugar, The Music Man, and Godspell.  You couldn't get me on stage if you tried, I was a techie, specifically on the sound crew (for The Music Man, I chaired the sound crew; for Godspell I was the sound crew).  Some of my other favorites include Camelot, Evita, Fiddler On the Roof, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Jesus Christ Superstar, Pippin, 1776, Shenandoah, Sweeney Tood, and The Wiz

Books: Some of my favorite books/series/authors: 

     
    Robert Frost
    Ray Bradbury
    Elie Wiesel
    J.R.R. Tolkien
    Kurt Vonnegut
    Mercedes Lackey
    Ender's Game (by Orson Scott Card)
    Speaker for the Dead (by Orson Scott Card)
    Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (by Tom Stoppard)
    Grendel (by John Gardner)
    The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist
             (and the list goes on and on and on...)
Television Shows: Actually, this list is easy.  These are pretty much the only shows that were or are worth watching:  M*A*S*H, Will & Grace, Star Trek (The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine), Strange Luck, NewsRadio, Seinfeld, MacGyver, The Cosby Show, and All In The Family.
 

I'm sure I will think of more stuff to include at some point. 

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