Introduce Yourself here and say Hi.

[Robert L Tucker]

Maybe, but isn't this more like making the step up to a flexible flyer bicycle before moving on to the 10 speed? Emerson wrote in the 19th century. Use a crutch with him and you'll need one for Dickens, Austin, Thackary, Melville, Twain, Poe, and many others; Fielding, Defoe, and Swift are even harder; and then there are Skakespeare and Chaucer. I believe you are retired (me, too! ) Do you really want to restrict yourself so much at this time of new and expansive freedom? So much of reading really is about hearing that distant voice right there in your noggin.

Good luck with it, whatever you decide. I hope you will stick around and talk with us about it either way.

I have been persuaded not to waste any more time and have been re-reading ESSAY IV Spiritual Laws.......
No man can learn what he has not preparation for learning, however near to his eyes is the object.

[Pompey Bum]

Now that I think of it, a flexible flyer is a sled, isn't it? Oh well.

I don't like audiobooks personally, but taste's differ, so I wondered if you would care for this. Whether you use it or not, I hope you enjoy "Ralphie boy."

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iyHEhVc_vrU

[sweetcaroline]

I created a thread introducing myself very briefly, however the very first few posts went in depth, therefore I think I will as well.

I am currently taking a break from the university life after having spent four years in it as a French major, switching to an Art History major, switching to a double-major in Art History and English-American Literature. When I return, I will strictly be studying American Literature.

I have a great passion for Edgar Allan Poe. I can't quite say what draws me to him without sounding sappy and cliché, but I can say that I began reading his works in 3rd grade. I thought his name sounded cool, so I did a report on him, and it was love ever since! I also greatly admire Jane Austen, whom I am DISTANTLY related to, and Thomas Lovell Beddoes. Beddoes' dark poetry is enchanting. I also have an immense adoration for pirates. If the museum of my dreams does not work out, I think I would like to work at a Maritime museum, as museum work was my concentration in Art History.

I have interned at a wonderful museum (you may privately ask if you wish to know further, I just hate publicly displaying in case it comes off as "bragging") and worked in a Special Collections department for a year. There, I found an even deeper love for literature and discovered so many books there, many of which I now own.

I love purchasing rare books and also have an ever growing collection of 19th century photographs. I have multiple tintypes, ambrotypes, CDVs, cabinet cards, yet no daguerreotypes yet. I also LOVE Post Mortem photography, however I have yet to purchase one.

So there's a bit about me. I am passionate about polar bears and wanted to be a zoologist as a child. Then I discovered that I succeed more in the art of creativity rather than science, not to mention that English and Art can be expanded outside of the lines and rules applied to it.

I hope this hasn't been too long-winded and has been a better introduction than before. I look greatly forward to getting to know many of you, as I have enjoyed the people I have met so far!

Did I mention I am a very wordy writer? You've been warned.

[Pompey Bum]

Welcome again, if I missed you the first time, Kelly. I saw an exhibit of post mortem photography at the Fogg Museum at Harvard, ah, many moons ago now. I found the photographs historically interesting: severed heads from the Taiping Rebellion, a monastery chapel made from the bones of former monks, the hamburger helper that was left of Mussolini and his moll after Salo fell, and so on. But it it didn't have a gothic "Poe-ish" feeling to me. It was more like hundreds of stories to speculate about, having only seen the last act: sometimes sad, sometimes upsetting, sometimes quite moving.

[sweetcaroline]

Welcome again, if I missed you the first time, Kelly. I saw an exhibit of post mortem photography at the Fogg Museum at Harvard, ah, many moons ago now. I found the photographs historically interesting: severed heads from the Taiping Rebellion, a monetary chapel made from the bones of former monks, the hamburger helper that was left of Mussolini and his moll after Salo fell, and so on. But it it didn't have a gothic "Poe-ish" feeling to me. It was more like hundreds of stories to speculate about, having only seen the last act: sometimes sad, sometimes upsetting, sometimes quite moving.

That is very interesting! I am not familiar with Post Mortem photos outside of deceased figures (animals or people), unless those other items were from a different exhibit within the Post-Mortem exhibit! Fascinating, nevertheless, and that sounds like a fortunate occasion to have attended to.

[Pompey Bum]

Heh heh. Monastery chapel, right? Not monetary chapel.

There's also a headhunting museum in Taiwan that has some pretty unnerving photographs. It raises the question of what whether to preserve a historical legacy that most people would find upsetting, or to ignore it, or maybe to just sanitize it.

[sweetcaroline]

I was wondering.

Oh, that sounds intriguing! What is that called?

[Pompey Bum]

I think it's called the Formosan Aborigines Museum. It's on the outskirts of Taipei.

[sweetcaroline]

Well, that is incredibly disturbing and yet also curious. Thank you for sharing!

[Pompey Bum]

Yeah, sorry. I should probably just delete it.

[Robert L Tucker]

HAHA you're right, it IS a sled, pretty sure I had one, but I knew what you meant! And thanks for the link, I will definitely check it out and let you know.......

[Robert L Tucker]

?????

[sweetcaroline]

Yeah, sorry. I should probably just delete it.

Oh goodness, no! I meant it in a good way!

[Pompey Bum]

Oh goodness, no! I meant it in a good way!

Don't worry. But it would upset some, especially on an introductions thread. Let's lull them into a false sense of security and then show them the headhunter link.

[sweetcaroline]

Don't worry. But it would upset some, especially on an introductions thread. Let's lull them into a false sense of security and then show them the headhunter link.

That's my favorite way of doing things!