Divers and Sundry Links
Work stops at sunset. Darkness falls over the building site.
The sky is filled with stars. "There is the blueprint," they say.
Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities
Acknowledgements
I am proud to announce that I am the winner of the 2003 Tundra Prize hosted by the Emily Chesley Reading Circle, and I encourage everyone to investigate their archives. I probably would not have received such a prestigious prize if it were not for two fine people, Kurt Brown and Rich Gazley.
The image at left is Kurt Brown in one of his proudest moments: having his hair shorn by none other than El Físico Nuclear himself! Kurt Brown inspired me to begin writing creatively again, after I had put it aside because I was taking it too damn seriously—he reminded me that it could be fun! It all started when Kurt asked me for a contribution to his wrestling magazine The Fisico Nuclear Experience. I gently declined, claiming other obligations on my time, but then, after reading Herbert Marcuse’ seminal text, I realized that the only way to stop time and to return us to our pastoral past was to ignore our adult responsibilities and carpe that diem, daily and frivolously. Plus, I read the first issue, laughed off various part of my anatomy, and decided that I, too, wanted to get in on the bottom floor of what may very well be the first postmodern rocket to the heart of our quantum universe. Kurt’s Viva La Lucha Publications continues to publish sporadically, unpredictably, one might even say chaotically, in order to better bring our un-telos to its epiphanical apotheosis! For, as we all know, the human mind is not constructed to sustain exposure to Los Rayos del Físico on a frequent basis, and the fruit found in the field is sweeter than that grown on farms. So, Mr. Brown, I salute you and your efforts, and if I had a cannon, I’d point it at Mr. Lingenfelder and blow his bones to Kingdom Come, in your honor! And my Death Trap at La Puente, which he graciously published, is available for a mere $5 from this Meister of Mischief!
Oh,yes, I mustn't forget--Kurt also sold me his Travel-All, that sturdiest of four-wheeled aquaria, in which my wife Fayaway and I have crossed the country countless times!
And Kurt has also done me a great kindness by inviting me to write down my "Suggestions for Restoring Civility to Society In These Days of Excessive Public Cell Phone Use"; I do not know that I would have done so otherwise. Now he has posted those suggestions to his website Stan the Embryo--another indicator that Kurt may well be one of the hippest public servants around! May we all profit by his example.
The other narrative of gratitude involves none other than Richard Gazley, Lord Safug of Domibia. There have been, of late, many unfounded tales regarding my supposed origins; the tamest of these is that I am the pseudonym of Fullerton Willoughby Wakefield, a professor of literature living in Southern California; the wildest asserts that I am a colony of Dictostelium discoideum living inside the same individual’s brain and, by manipulating the synapses and neurons, inducing Wakefield to produce the whimsical narratives with which my name has become associated.
The truth is somewhere in between all of this; Fullerton is in fact my cousin, and we are quite good friends. He introduced me to his friend Richard Gazley, who was running a Call of Cthulhu campaign, and I was invited to participate. I can honestly say that I have never been more disturbed by a mere “parlor game” in my life—and I have seen some mighty strange things happen in parlors in my day. The horrors which I and my fellow gamers—the notorious Dr. Carlos Cassandra and the infamous Ms. Claudia Davenport—experienced as subjects in the strange universe that Rich had created gave me nightmares for weeks. There could be no better introduction to the Cthulhu Mythos, in fact. And our twice-weekly pastime of roleplaying developed into my private hobby of writing tales inspired by these and other adventures I have experienced. The game ended when Cassandra was arrested on charges of impersonating a professional wrestler in Mexico (a very serious charge for those who still practice law according to the Napoleonic Code, as is the case in most Latin American nations).
As amusing as all of that may (or may not) be, the purpose of this anecdote is to pay, in some small way, the debt of gratitude I feel toward Game Master Richard Gazley, Lord of Domibia, who, through his skillful management of the roleplaying scenario, awakened my creative talents, which not only led to my participation in the Emily Chesley Reading Circle’s literary contest noted above, but also to the other productions to which I proudly add my name, as noted above. So I hail thee, Lord Safug of Domibia! May you continue striding titanically into gaming history!
Other friends on the web
I met a charming woman named Sarah Pew through her reviews at Amazon.com, and I took the liberty of writing to her. She and I corresponded for a while, and then I discovered that not only was she a scintillating epistolarian, she has a wicked imagination--she created a website purporting to be the creation of very convincing character named Jeff Whitty, whom she pretends is a Tony Award winning playwright. Charming, witty, and compassionate, Jeff Whitty is certainly one of the more interesting personalities currently haunting us--and his website is a delightful place to begin an exploration of this imaginary entity!
Ursula K. Le Guin has been delighting, instructing, and inspiring my wife Fayaway for over thirty years, and doing the same for me for only a slightly shorter time. I have come to the conclusion that in her universe, the greatest force is love, or at least the possibility of love, and the possibility of morality and responsibility. I think that this philosophy is best summed up in this line from The Lathe of Heaven: "Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; re-made all the time, made new." That line, which hangs over our bed, inspires hope in us, daily. We are grateful to her for all the marvellous, delightful, and encouraging works she has written.
Music
When I am feeling nostalgic for music from my wife's youth, I listen to my compilation of songs recollected, in moments of tranquility, from a playlist inspired by KNX-FM on Youtube.
When I want to hear something new, I listen to KPIG (station located in aptly named Freedom, CA!)
over the internet.
When I want to find out what's going on in the world, in Southern California, or to listen to people with a modicum of intelligence, I listen to 89.3 KPCC on the radio or over the internet.
When I have a desire to take part in the great work of time that is classical music, I listen to KUSC, and especially to the wit and wisdom of Jim Svejda.
When I need to FEEL the music, I go to Disney Hall, as well as any number of folk festivals.
Universities and Research Institutions
I am immensely pleased to announce that I will very soon be appointed Professor of Biology at my alma mater
Miskatonic University. Visit their website and learn about one of the oldest universities in the Americas!
The University of Ediacara (U of E) is an online virtual University dedicated to the study of the origins of life in the cosmos. I am currently enjoying my status as Visiting Professor of Mostly Invisible Organisms, Chair of Invertebrates Hiding Under Chair Cushions, as you my see if you visit the university's updated faculty list.
History and Hauntings Co. is dedicated to informing the public about ghosts, spirits, spook lights, and other related phenomena. It features an article on the Hornet Spook Light, one manifestation of a phenomena about which I am currently writing.
While I have long been a puzzle to others and to myself, I never knew that I was the subject of scholarly research--until my wife Fayaway stumbled upon a webpage dedicated to essays and term paper about me!
Science
Talk.origins
Services
My attorney (of the famed Petty, Smilodon & Ruth) advises me that the less I say about the matter that led to my hiring
Dead Clown Disposal Services
, the better; let it suffice to say that they are as efficient as the testimonials indicate. Thank goodness they were there when we needed them!
Libraries
Invisible Library
Local Museums
The Museum of Jurassic Technology
Jackalopes
The starting place for any researcher in jackalopology is definitely The Jackalope Conspiracy. Proof and everything! The author has provided a collection of jackalope links, photos, artwork and true stories about this wonderful creature!
Protozoa
Protist Information Server
Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa
Sports
I have taken the liberty of establishing the unofficial SETI Team for the University of Ediacara,
the University of Ediacara Howler Monkeys.
Literature & Language Studies
Emily Chesley is one of the finest of the least-known speculative fiction writers of the late Victorian era; while her novel The Grafters is, to my mind, a bit reactionary in its portrait of the alleged horrors of Dr. Voronoff's monkey gland operation, Ms. Chesley was clearly ahead of her time, and she deserves more recognition than she has received to date. The Emily Chesley Reading Circle may soon bring her the reknown she merits!
Herman Melville was one of the random connections between me and my wife: she is named after a character in Melville's romance Typee, and I have been a Melville fanatic for as long as I can remember. The Life and Works of Herman Melville is an excellent source for links to pages about Melville, to electronic versions of his texts, and even notices of Melville related events!
Thomas Burnett Swann, like his subjects, seems to have been forgotten by the modern age. This is a shame, since I know of no one who painted such lovely portraits of the Lost Ages of humanity and mythical beings such as centaurs, dryads, and satyrs. Steven Saylor has put together a wonderful website dedicated to Swann and his writings; I know of no resource, on the web or in print, so thorough.
The I Can Eat Glass Project more or less speaks for itself.
Other Cultural Sites
I doubt that I will be uploading any videos to my page atYoutube--my artistic skills are mainly verbal--but there are many interesting films of cryptids, protozoa, and aerial phenomena ignored by mainstream biologists there, part of the great information revolution which will sweep away the old order and restore democracy to these happy happy shores! Plus, it has preserved, for all time, the infamous 
Freedom Rock advertisement! "Turn it up, man!"
Living Food Links
With the exception of two weeks to celebrate our springtime bacchanalia (during which we will eat, drink, and smoke anything), Fay and I eat only living foods. Living and Raw Foods is an excellent website to explore ways to return to the Garden from which we were either cast out, or which we left willingly.
© 2002 Hermester Barrington
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