If nothing else, I wanted to give the articles more breathing room on a less cluttered page. Before I copied the first one over, I looked at it on Krypton without using my usual ad blocker. That was one ugly page -- a video ad that started playing automatically with the sound turned on when the page loaded, nine irrelevant banner ads, a bar across the bottom of the page, and a minefield of in-text mouseover pop-up video ads.
The Krypton articles were on random subjects, based on the site's list of requested titles. In fact, I hadn't even heard of a couple of the poems until I read them for the purpose of writing the articles. The Magic Barrel, though, is one of my all-time favorite stories. I've read and written about it many times since I was a teenager, both in and out of classrooms.
When I finish uploading my old articles, I'll probably start adding new posts -- based, this time, not on a list of article titles, but on what I am currently reading, with perhaps some time spent looking back at old favorites. I've often thought of starting a site that would be about the stories published (almost) each week in the New Yorker, but then I thought I would feel a self-imposed pressure to stick to a schedule, write about the stories soon after they appeared, and be consistent in writing about all of them.
My New Yorker reading habits are too chaotic for that. I am always far behind. When an issue comes in, I toss it on the pile. When I want something to read, I grab something from the pile at random.
I imagine this blog as being much more casual. It may not even have an audience; maybe it will just be an archive of my thoughts for myself alone -- though I would love to have someone to talk to, especially about the WTF? moments in some of the stories I read. I chose to write this in Blogger rather than in WordPress because my WordPress blogs somehow feel more official and organized. Here, I hope to feel free to write about a story months or years after it appears -- or never write about it at all.
I have an MA in English with a concentration in creative writing, which was fun to do because I like reading, writing, and talking and writing about what I am reading. I also have a law degree, which is currently gathering dust. I have a couple of blogs, under yet another name, about the TV shows LOST and Once Upon a Time. I would like to be successful as a freelance writer, but it's not happening, and I need to get a real or at least a semi-real job (are you hiring?). I miss the Pacific Ocean, which is now a continent away. I love/hate NYC, where I am living now. I do not look like my avatar.
You can reach me at maymonten (at) gmail (dot) com
Written 11/11/11, the day that looks like a slot-machine jackpot.
