Some friends:
I met Kathy in 6th grade. We were in different cliques at first, but we gradually became friends. She was quite different then than she is now, for example then she was quite religious and now she's not, then she was a Republican who listened to Rush Limbaugh, and now she's a feminist and vegetarian :) We've talked before about how cool it was that two random people with nothing much in common but proximity could build a friendship, but nowadays we seem to have more and more in common.
Some of the things I value about Kathy are her moral character, her enthusiasm, her ability to evolve over the years, her unique combination of stubbornness and openness, her wonderfully loopy sense of humor, and the fact that she hides her eyes during the scary parts of movies :).
Kathy went to school at Carnegie Mellon and after graduation stayed in Pittsburgh. She works at an architecture firm, a job she doesn't enjoy too much. I wish she would be an engineer at a sound studio or radio station, which she would be good at and enjoy more.
Kathy went on a pilgrimage to Manchester, England this summer, fulfilling a long-held dream of visiting the music scene there. I'm proud of her for holding on to that dream and finally doing it despite the demands of life.
Here's Kathy's home page. Every time I go there she has taken something out; at this point it's pretty existentialist. The last time I checked, it had a picture and link to Manchester techno stuff, the logo and link
to info on her defunct punk/techno band, Wretched Wench, and a link to info on her radio show at WRCT, where she is known as "twitch" (she also uses the moniker "k.core" based on a type of rave music). She used to have other stuff on there, such as cool architectural sketches, which she should put back (hint hint).
I met Angelo (a.k.a. AngeLeo S.E.V.E.N.) when I first moved to New York City. We met through an ad in the Village Voice I had placed to make music contacts. The first time we met face to face was at a writing workshop held at the Gay and Lesbian Center. He is a poet and a rapper, and was at the time a member of the Dark Star Crew poetry in performance group, for which these writing workshops were mandatory. He invited me to come along and see what it was all about. Being in the workshop was good for me as it renewed an interest in creative writing I had let lapse. I attended these workshops off and on for quite a while.
I also met a whole group of people there, none of whom, other than Angelo, I am still in contact with. Let's see, there was...Finnegan, and Sharif, and Min Phay, and Maria, and Icarus, and Barbara, and Rademus, and Marjorie, and Dave -- they're all vivid in my mind, a colorful group, and I had so much fun hanging out with them at the workshop, at restaurants, at shows, and at Fin's house, which was a central gathering place. Within this group of people I was known as "chuck,"a nickname Ange gave me. I also have a close association with Marvin the Martian, but i won't get into that...
Angelo and I had an instant chemistry and played off each other humor-wise. He is a fellow Prince/TAFKAP fan, and he was impressed with my liking of and knowledge about rap; he's made me a bunch of mix tapes that have broadended my horizons in that area. We would talk and stroll the streets of Manhattan, often having breakfast in little diners in the morning. He was my unofficial guide to the city. I shared my dreams about my music with him, and he shared his dreams about his art. I shared personal experiences with him, and he told me about some of his. He helped me get together with Fin, and he helped gather up the pieces when that didn't work out. And I have been there to walk him through an obsession or two.
Angelo and I have just been through A LOT together, just thinking about it makes me tired. I could write volumes
I admire Angelo for his ability to rise above the circumstances of his childhood and upbringing (including having been homeless for several years, having lived in the projects, having a retarded brother, a wheelchair-bound mother, an absent father, and two older brothers who've done jail time). I admire his sincerity and his striving to be all he can be. He has a good heart and is loyal and trustworthy. I love the level of realness in our relationship -- we are totally straight with each other at all times, and it works.
Nowadays, Angelo has finally detached the claws of his family from his hide, and moved out of his mother's home. I am so proud of him for this. He works bar-tending and security jobs, whilestill doing his words on the side. Unfortunately, Ange only has a small word-processor and does not have internet access. but I'm working on him...
Jen is a friend I've known since I was 7. She was the one friend I never, ever fought with. We basically lived at each other's houses during grade school. We had the best times together when we were kids, doing everything from chasing boys (she's always been a guy magnet and supreme flirt), to inventing silly games (The Nose, Frogalog, Bucking Bronco...), to dancing around the living room to "Chantilly Lace". We both loved playing dress-up when we were kids, and she always had an awesome costume for my annual Halloween party. We were creative kids and did lots of artsy stuff together. I still have the book of poems we wrote and illustrated together sometime in middle school, and some tapes of our jam sessions with me on piano and her singing. She shared my Prince obsession, and we went to the Lovesexy 88 concert together. We were both onlies (she has two stepbrothers now). She's also a fellow vegetarian of several years. We haven't lived close to one another in many, many years; it's a testament to our friendship that we've stayed in touch. Jen brings out the fun side of me and gets me to try things I probably wouldn't if I weren't with her. I admire her outgoingness and charm. She lives out in Arizona now, where she works in Interior Design, at a job which she loves but which is very demanding. We stay in touch through letters and the occasional phone call and visit. She bought a brand new Jeep which I must mention because it is her pride and joy. She doesn't have internet access either :(
When I think of Bruce, aka sbruce tree, aka Master Honey, many great adjectives come to mind, such as kind, supportive, perceptive, honest, sensual, and silly. We have had some wonderful conversations about such things as our life experiences, philosophy, film, and literature (he also has a beautiful warm speaking voice!). He lives in Gaithersburg, MD, and works for the government as an arbitrator. He is an avid gardener. I have learned a lot from our relationship and from him. He once started a home page on tripod, but didn't get too far on it, so I have no link to include for him. :-(
Chris wrote to me after seeing an article of mine in the journal of ISPE and noticing that we both lived in the same town. He is brilliant in his areas of interest, is a very humorous person, and has the most striking light blue eyes (like his husky dog, Chekhov). Even though I really loved him at one time, and we went out for a year, we were wildly incompatible in our values, interests, and approaches to life. I will be forever grateful to him for insisting that I get internet access. He works as an engineer for Westinghouse Wireless Solutions. Here's his home page -- last time I checked, it contained pix, a resume, and links to martial arts, electronics, ham radio, encryption, physics, and math stuff. Oh yeah, he also has a three-year-old daughter named Samantha (my favorite girl's name) who lives in Illinois where he's originally from, she looks just like one of the Olson twins.
Some Online Friends:
Jerry is the CEO of a Private Investigating firm. Here's his work page.
I was amazed upon first meeting him how much he can tell about a person by analyzing their writing 
style (he knew roughly where I was born and that I hadn't lived there my whole childhood). We've had interesting conversations about some of his cases, and sometimes I even get to give him input about psychology stuff. He travels all the time, to everywhere. He's divorced and has a teenage daughter with whom he has an excellent relationship, which I deeply respect. Oh yeah, and he tends to fall down mountains every once in a while :).
Matt works as a farrier, shoeing horses. He also has a horse, named Chrys, who has appeared in my dreams. He lives out in rural Colora, MD, where there is lots of room for horses to play. I have had some very fun ICQ conversations with him, on memorable topics such as with what character traits we associate certain given names. He strikes me as quite the gentleman, in an old-fashioned sort of way, very considerate and gallant. He is also a writer and has had material about horses published. He starts to turn into a pumpkin at a certain hour of the evening, which is entertaining to envision. Here are pictures of his critters.
I first "met" Joe on Survey Central, where I was struck by his minimalist, sometimes shocking, and often very funny responses to survey questions. He's a very sweet person and also quite intelligent. He describes himself as "crazy but loveable, like an evil muppet." I appreciate his leftist political views and his concern for animals and the environment. He lives in San Francisco, and works at an engineering job which he doesn't like too much. He deserves better than he has gotten so far in life, and I very much hope he finds it. Here is a link to joe's home page, and here is a link to an "ode to joe" written by his friend Denise.
Alex, a multi-instrumentalist and composer. His musical idols include Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, Peter Gabriel, and TAFKAP. He lives in Oakland, California, and recently quit his gig with the Band Sci.Fi to go solo as "Alex Vajravai". He's funny and weird (that's a compliment, folks), and into such things as Eastern philosophy and bologna & cheese sandwiches. Here's "Snakecharmer," a song he co-wrote and on which he played bass & synth sax.
Here's his home page, and here's a work in progress:
Bill Marrs, a software developer from Boston, and creator of the
most awesome site, Survey Central, and a bunch of other cool stuff, links to which you can find on his home page. I admire the way he constantly improves Survey Central. Our email argum -- er, debates have broadened my horizons, and, I believe, his as well. He is a very mysterious and enigmatic dude -- as you can see from the photo at right -- managing to combine sensitivity, tact, and even credulity with a streak of painful honesty and an admiration of wickedness.
Then there's my French pen-pal, Daniel La Coste. ( this section awaiting approval )
Some favorite profs:
Dr. Sandona taught my favorite class ever, "Screening Literature," about the relationship between works of literature and their film renditions. Here are links to two essays I wrote for his class, on: Joyce/Huston and Shakespeare/Branagh .He conducts the greatest class discussions, always valuing the alternative viewpoint, and always presenting his thoughts as his thoughts and not as God's word. He is humorous and very human and real. He is in love with his subject and that brings great enthusiasm to even those in his classes who aren't as enamored of literature or film. He makes you WORK, the assignments for the term when I was in his class included extensive reading, writing five major papers, completing three in-class essays, and doing a group project and class presentation. But he was always available for feedback, and spends a considerable part of his busy schedule in his office talking to students. He writes comments on papers that indicate he has really considered what you have to say and how you've said it. He shows an interest in what students are doing outside of class as well. Although he can be quite extroverted during class, one on one you see he is actually quite shy. I occasionally see him in the halls, and he always says hello using my name. He makes me feel as though he remembers me as a person, even though he has been teaching for years and countless students have passed through his classroom.
Dr. Ruffin teaches psychology, and I've taken three classes from her: Psych of Women, Human Development I, and Survey of Clinical, Community, and Counseling psych. She's engaged and enthusiastic, injects relevant personal experience into her lectures, accepts differing points of view in discussions, and is freely available outside the classroom. She is always trying new approaches to learning in her classroom. She assigns interesting projects, and I appreciate the way the assignments relate back to real life and not to theory only. She has a feminist outlook which I also appreciate. She was jilted out of sabbatical last year due to politics and economics, but achieved her tenure after writing a proposal as thick as a phone book :-), which even the powers that be couldn't argue with. Oh yes, one of her other great qualities is that she has excellent taste in students. Last term I actually received an A+ from her. There *is* no such thing at Hood. She's the first person I'm going to ask for a recommendation for grad school. :)
Although I don't have a personal relationship with Dr. Boyle like I do with Dr. Sandona and Dr. Ruffin, he is just an awesome teacher upon whom I must expound. I took Statistics for Behavioural Sciences from him. I was dreading this course because I do not enjoy math, but he made it actually FUN. He is funny and lively and "puts on a show" for the class. He is always looking for new and better ways of explaining something, and sometimes, upon realizing that he was explaining something particularly well, he would say "listen up folks, this is probably the best I've ever explained it." He relates the material back to real life, which is invaluable for me in a math class. He uses humorous examples to illustrate concepts, like referring to the game show "Let's Make a Deal" to illustrate a point about probability.