One of daunting tasks associated with researching the life of Isaac Bonewits for his biography is the number of people I want to interview. Here’s the list as of 27-Apr-2012. It’s an ever-increasing list; it seems that every time I speak with someone, they say “You know, you should also speak with…”
This is a follow-up to my post on obtaining the rights to print newspaper pictures in the biography. It turned out that newsbank.com did not hold the rights to the material in their archives, but a nice person in their organization looked up who did and sent me an email. (Her name was "Janet Stewart", and for…
I’m having trouble sleeping, so I might as well blog about my day’s work on the biography.
I coded a few documents, but my primary task was to go over the folder of newspaper clippings Isaac had on the February 26, 1979 total eclipse of the sun. What made that eclipse special is its path intersected the location of the Stonehenge replica near Maryhill, Washington. A great gathering of pagans took place, to create a spiritual intersection at the same time as the astronomical one.
I spent about an hour last night writing a long blog post about research techniques. Why did I bother?
At the time, I thought it was because I’m still processing all I learned, and it would help to set it down. Late last night, I realized that there was another reason:
Isaac would have loved this.
A friend of mine calls me today. They ask, “Have you read any Jules Vernes?”
It’s not a question I get asked every day. I pause a moment then answer, “I’ve read his most popular works: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mysterious Island, From the Earth to the Moon, Journey to the Center of the Earth. Why?”
They respond, “How about the Morte d’Arthur? There’s a new English translation.”
I've completed scanning Isaac Bonewits' calendars. I thought the process would take longer, but I followed the advice of : Put on some music on full blast when no one else is around, and the task will pass quickly. I should have known. This does not remove the need for calendar parties. It means that they can…
...and one step back. Isaac Bonewits' big wall calendars take twice as long to scan as I thought they did. I thought an entire page could be scanned by my big scanner at once, but the images are chopped off at the top or bottom. I'll have to rescan those calendar pages in the flipped orientation so…
I have to vote for Barack Obama in 2012. The Republican slate consists of people with such an anti-intellectual stance that I cannot vote for them. But with the President's decision not to veto the NDAA, I dearly wish there was a Democratic contender running to oppose him.