My 55 year old overhaul is almost complete. After 5 months of medical leave and 2 surgeries I am feeling great and ready to return to work. To me this means not only my paid labors in a community hospital but my volunteer labors here on E2. I took a medical leave of absence from this place as well. So now I am presenting my submission/questionnaire as Jack requests of those who wish to volunteer here. I want to get back to work.

"List 3 writeups you really, really wish you could C! more than once. "

Want (the state of not having her) (person) by JohnnyGoodyear for the gut wrenching reaction it draws from me.
Breastfeeding (idea) or hemoglobin (thing) by Doyle for the things they say about being human.
truths, rearranged (idea) by Oenone for creative use of E2.

"List 3 of your own writeups that you think exemplify your style and contributory efforts."

These nodes; a thing, a place, an idea and a person are all personal and yet not simply GTY. I like to bring something of myself and something outside myself to my writing.

leather britches (thing)
Galax, Virginia (place)
at hand (idea)
Eskimo (person)

"Describe how you contribute to E2 apart from submitting writeups. "

I am a part of this community. I know and love many of the people here. I care for some of them personally and profoundly. I love them. Others I don't know as well but I still care for them. I tell them things they need to know to make their time here happy and productive.

"What ideas do you have for making E2, you know, better? What are we missing? What do we need more of? "

I believe that reading someones words THEN choosing to interact with them based on those words is the glue that holds E2 together. To put it another way, the ability to read someones words and to then have access to the person (if they choose to respond) is the heart of E2's success. To be better we need to interact, as persons and as writers and readers. I'm all for any changes that increase our sense of community. Experiment away with social networking using our writeups as a starting point.

"When are you on E2 and willing to help?

I keep odd hours. I check into E2 and am willing to help at all hours really. Mostly I suppose 8pm to 2am EST is best for me.

"What outside skillset would you bring to the job? What are your specialties? Are you a professional editor? "

Lactation, natural history, cooking, gardening are all specialties that I can fact check using only my own brain. I am not a professional editor, no, but I bring an ability to connect and critique without hurting feelings. I make people feel welcome. For those who self select and come to belong here, I can help them improve their writing and find their own style.

I realize there are a limited number of content editor slots at any point in time and it is a job that perhaps has more qualified applicants than openings. I would like the job again but I'll still be here either way.

Lost Gems of Yesteryear is officially underway! As of today, we have 33 writeups submitted for your approval, written by 32 different noders (Roninspoon appears twice). 13 different e2 users (myself included) submitted recommendations.

I am pleased with the results. If one were asked to assemble a 'representative' e2 reading list, this selection would do a good job of capturing the spirit of e2 over the years. (Don't agree? Think something's missing? It's not too late to add yours to the list!)

Please take the time to read these fine writeups. Peruse, enjoy, discover some of the fine e2 authors of times past and present. As well, please give the writers your feedback: cast your votes, use your Ching!s, use msg to tell them what you think.

Submitted gems

Writeups submitted as of 1 August 2007:

• Alaskan Independence Party by tarkaa
• Atlanta, Georgia by olmanrvr
• Aubade by NightWriter
• Canada by Palpz
• Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation by Glowing Fish
• Cold reptilian blood and hot Japanese steel by Anark
• cold women, kept safe by jessicapierce
• For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her by Pocket Mouse
• fur coat, no knickers by gunpoint
• Gordon the Gherkin by kobold
• Guns Don't Kill People, I like mayonnaise by Minderbender
• honeycomb by Rose_Red
• It's mean to hide a kitten in a puppy's butt? by Excalibre
• lateral fricative by Gritchka
• Letters from a Savior; Offer for a few by dem bones
• My rubber ducky is stalking me by neon green lace
• No matter where I was, whisps of you haunted my thoughts by pukesick
• Panama hat by GrouchyOldMan
• Really big Honorable Uncle Sir by gn0sis
• Safe Passage Through the Night by Roninspoon
• September 29, 2004 by finrod
• She hated the screen porch, but she loved the heat by throwrug
• Story For An Advanced Child by misuba
• Teletubbies, the State, and Social Mechanization by LeftistBaggage
• The day Melinda wore culottes by deep thought
• The Great Figure by Lometa
• The Society for the Abolition of Privacy by alfimp
• The stars were bright that night she left me forever by Roninspoon
• theological aspects of temporal lobe function by paraclete
• To her secret heart by minisecret
• Twenty-three good things about pickles and dirt by junkpile
• What do moths do during the day? by speedo
• When silence between two people is comfortable by scooby

Juxtaposition is the purest natural source of cognitive dissonance.

Compare:

• A wedding scene. The bride smiles. She's beautiful.
• A rotting corpse.
• Five customers in McDonalds
• One man outside same establishment, eating from one of the bins.
• I could go on, so I will.
• Me at my computer, noding when I should be working.
• A child in a Chinese brick factory, burnt and scarred.

Trite? You bet. Superficial? No. Real life? I'm afraid so.

"We cannot understand what happens in the universe. What is glorious in it is united with what is full of horror. What is full of meaning is united to what is senseless. The spirit of the universe is at once creative and destructive — it creates while it destroys and destroys while it creates, and therefore it remains to us a riddle. And we must inevitably resign ourselves to this.

—Albert Schweitzer

Now, I disagree only with this little afterthought, concerning resignation. Al would tell me that I cling to an irrational life-affirming world-view, and he would be right.

I consider the alternatives to be insanity, or inanity, or apathy. Not sure which one's worse.

Fashionable thought says that people with bad self-image start off being realistic, and that it all goes down-hill from there. People with a good self-image simply maintain a healthy level of self-delusion.

The last alternative, the one I forgot to mention, is the one Al chose - action. This is by far the best, but raises the question: what am I doing writing away here, when I could be out there, making a difference? The inadequacy of the answer leaves much to be desired.

Dear Coffee,

I'm sorry I left you for tea. I've come to realize you are my one and only. Let's never be apart again, okay?

Love,
Lucy-S