Sisyphus as a Training Metaphor (Not as Depressing as it Sounds)

Step 1: Train

Step 2: Wait for new feature/device

Step 3: See Steps 1-2

Training is a very key aspect of my position, whether it is working through sales techniques with my fellow employees or walking NOOK owners through the use and enjoyment of their device. I teach classes regularly in my store and I am currently going through the process of getting every single employee (my bosses included) qualified to teach them as well. I even created a handy-dandy practice guide for my owners to use since many are older and prefer traditional methods of learning.

Electronic resources are already at my disposal when it comes to training/teaching. For employees, we have a LMS (Learning Management System) designed by our corporate offices that does a wonderful job of introducing and evaluating an employee’s level of understanding on the devices. It is wonderful to set the stage for my work to come afterwards. For customers, video tutorials are not only included in devices (on NOOKcolor), but they are available 24/7 on our website. Tons of other videos exist on sites like YouTube as well for those looking to develop more advanced skills.

Copyright Flickr user: i could sleep through a world war

However, one of the problems of training/teaching in an environment like mine is that it is a constant game of catch-up. For example, I can have a store full of people knowledgeable on two devices, and then a third one comes out. The device is very similar, but must be treated differently and trained separately. And then when a new person starts – oh the high levels of turnover in retail! – I have to start again from scratch, hoping I can get them up to speed before the next update.

Of course, since I work in a function that revolves around technology, this game is not unexpected or unusual. I am by no means alone. However, I feel that there must be a better way to do it beyond just my skills. While I do hope to take my degree beyond my current position, I want to take advantage of any resources at my disposal. Through this class, I hope to gain some resources that I can repurpose for myself. Maybe there’s a great website I can use, or a neat program I can repurpose, or even just a video that adds a new level to my process. The holidays are coming up (gah, did I just say that?) and I will not have the time to start from scratch in the mad rush of things. The time is neigh for me to do my best and hopefully some new electronic resources will help me in my quest.

State of the Technology

I’ve resurrected this blog at the behest of another graduate school course, but this time with a slightly different angle. With a focus on electronic resources, I will be using this electronic forum to explore new and exciting options that I can use in my current position and hopefully for any new directions in my career.

As it stands currently, I am still working within the world of retailing serving as a techie guru to those wanting to enter the realm of eReaders. Presently, there are 3 classes of NOOK that I watch over: Nook 1^st Edition (aka, the original), Nook 2^nd Edition (aka, the newcomer) and NOOKcolor (aka, the tablet). Without sounding too full of myself, I am an expert in all three devices. My brain is so packed full of technical, operational and merchandising information that I wonder how I’ll be able to accommodate a new feature or accessory. However, I make it work as best I can, and make sure to spread the knowledge around as well.

Not me, but a guy showing one of my job functions. Copyright B&N

Outside of the products I sell, there is actually a pretty neat little piece of technology that is exclusive to my department of the store. In order to help aid cashing out a customer who has decided to purchase a device, my lovely PTB (Powers That Be) have bestowed upon me as handy-dandy little mobile cash register. Basically, they’ve taken a iPod Touch and outfitted it not only with our POS (Point of Sale) software program, but also a case that can scan products and swipe credit and gift cards. Honestly, this thing is pretty damn sweet. Instead of sending a customer to wait in line, I can have them out the door in no time with little to no fuss and/or muss. Also, it really impresses the customers. As it stands, there are no other applications on the little guy, but that is all for the best, I’m sure.

Through this blog, I will be exploring new and interesting electronic resources that might help aid me in my work, especially when it comes to training my colleagues and customers. I will be discussing more about my training situation in the next post, but so far, I am very eager for the possibilities to come this semester.

Girls Meets Teaching. Girl Loses Interest. Girl Meets Grad School. Girl Finds Passion. To be continued...

I have to say that this past semester has really given me a lot of hope for the future. I realize that that statement is both hokey and vague, so allow me to elaborate. When I originally got my Bachelors in English Education, I looked at my diploma with a bit of dread. After all of my hard work and even some sacrifice, I had the piece of paper that would allow me to get a job and stand before a classroom imparting knowledge. The only problem was that I now didn’t want to do any of that. The traditional classroom setting no longer appealed to me and I had no idea as to what I wanted to do now. So I just kept working at my day job at Barnes & Noble, watched the days and weeks go by, and put that diploma in a box in a storage unit.

Voila!

Photo copyright A. Syn and permission provided under rights of Attribution from Creative Commons

No reflection this week, folks. All my effort and enthusiasm this week has gone into making a comprehensive culminating project for one and all. I took all these ideas that have been bouncing around and pulled it all together into one big, beautiful online resource. In fact, instead of just plugging in outside elements into my curriculum page (entitled EBooks & Education), I decided to make a brand new wiki just for the project idea and fit all the little puzzle pieces into it. So now, I'll step back and let it speak for itself.

Integrating eBooks into Education with a Book Pitch

I know an "A" when I see one...or do I?

Copyright Sage Ross (some rights reserved)

Assessment is easily one of the hardest parts of teaching. Sure, getting your lesson plans together can be pretty difficult, as is determining and collecting all your necessary resources. But, when it comes right down to it, truly understanding how well a student is or is not learning is pretty darn tough. Obviously, if your assessment method of choice is a quiz or multiple choice test, the numbers do the determining for you, but then you have to figure out what questions to include. However, in the world of language arts which I have taught, tests are rarely your main assessment tool. Usually, assignments like papers and projects are the norm, with very defined goals that help the teacher figure out a final score. These could include criteria like how many paragraphs/pages are there, is there a clear thesis statement, and was an argument persuasive enough. Overall, though, assessment is such a tricky word. Not only does it mean the manner in which a teacher grades a student, but also method and product that student creates. In other words, when a teacher gives a student a paper to write, it is the paper itself and the grading criteria that the teacher uses which that creates an assessment. So not only do teachers have to choose wisely on what kinds of assessments to give, but how to deal with them when they are turned in.

Putting My Prezi Where My Mouth Is...

My kind of sales pitch (Photo copyright of Romana Klee)

So far, I’ve explored the concept of digital storytelling, as well as how I could use it in a hypothetical classroom of advanced high school students. Now, the time is nigh to walk that talk of mine. In other words, I set out to make an example of the project I designed.  Before I do so, I feel it is a good idea to provide a refresher (both for myself and for my classmates) of what exactly I am doing.

Ready...Set...Wiki!

Photo Copyright Lindsey T.

I would like to start this reflection with something witty, clever and possibly even profound. However, I feel like for that to happen I would need to get a set of jumper cables from the garage and clip up my ears and turn the key. Frankly, I am spent mentally and it is all thanks to the wonderfully exhausting experience of creating my own curriculum page. 

Lights, Camera, Integration!

So far, I have explored the development of technology within the realm of education and what tools are available to me as an educator to make use of said technology. Digital storytelling is a wonderful element that can be used in just about every classroom environment, as well as beyond the classroom for professional development and in the world of corporate training. However, ideas are all well and good, but without a good strategy of integration they are mere playthings instead of useful tools. As noted in our textbook, “The key to successful technology integration is identifying what you are trying to accomplish within your curriculum” (Shelley & Gunter, 2010). In other words, having the fancy software programs is all well and good, but what on earth do you mean to do with them? Now, even though I am not currently in a classroom, this is still a very important question and this week’s assignment was a wonderful way for me to explore this concept. Once more, I get to work through what I have learned in my readings and apply it to a hypothetical classroom. However, unlike the last time, I think I will go a different track a little more suited to my aspirations. 

Beyond Paper: Exploring Digital Storytelling

Creativity is the force that gets me up in the morning and keeps blood pumping through my veins. It is the horsepower in my engine that keeps me going to new and exciting places. However, I long ago understood that in terms of school, creativity must often take a backseat to the demands of knowledge and understanding.  Now, I have always been able to study like a fiend, and discuss theories and ideas at length, but nothing makes me happier than actually creating something of value and worth beyond a term paper. This could be something practical (sewing together a new change purse), something silly (spray-painting plastic dinosaurs to act as Christmas ornaments), or even something nourishing (a hearty dinner of braised short ribs in red wine). All of these things make me happy because I am actually applying knowledge gained and skills developed. In the end of each of these things I have a product to look upon and be proud of.  To that end, I have to admit this is the most excited I’ve been to do schoolwork in a very long time. This week, my job was to take all of the ridiculously informative and helpful information from the textbook, websites linked without our given module and wonderful examples, and somehow create my very own piece of digital storytelling.

Learning that Gigahertz is Not a Car Rental Company...

When I bought my laptop last summer, I spent months researching what I would need to replace the aging, decrepit lap-sized paperweight I was currently using. I was not, however, very well versed in the technical specifics of computers, nor did I really know off hand what I needed. Thankfully, however, my boyfriend is an expert in his own right, and was in the process of buying the components to build his own desktop computer at the same time. With his guidance, I was able to pin down that I needed a lot of storage, a high-quality video card, as fast of a processor as I could afford and a nearly excessive amount of removable media options. So, with the information he provided (and repeated many times at my prompting to make sure I understood everything), I did endless hours of research, online browsing and in-store playing and finally plunked down some serious change to get the machine I work with today (and hopefully for many years to come). The experience was a bit frustrating, since I was not used to the onslaught of numbers and abbreviations he threw at me (such as Ghz which is the speed of my processor and the heartbeat of my computer), but was ultimately very rewarding. In fact, the whole computer-buying adventure was far more to my benefit than I had previously expected, because when it came to this week's reading, I was rarely, if ever, stopped in confusion at the terms and definitions presented to me. CPUs, you say? Got it! That's my oh-so-speedy processor that manages my computer's operations. The difference between Solid State Drives and Optical Discs? No problem! SSD's are the way in which  my computers stores all of its precious information using 500 GB of flash memory, while optical discs require a physical disc to keep it's information. Data representation in the form of ASCII? I may not be fluent, but it is more than gibberish to me now!

Hello Internet! My Name Is...

There's a saying out there that goes like this: The Internet never forgets. In fact, this saying has spawned a blog in of itself (enjoy, ladies). In this day and age, there is no limit to the depths of the Ol' Interwebs, with both treasure and trash awaiting those brave souls willing to dive down far enough. Daniel J. Solove provided a beautiful example in The Future of Reputation when he described the hilariously awful accident of communication from a law student to his colleagues a prestigious law firm. "[T]he email and the apology soon became the toast of the Internet...If you run a Google search on the person’s name, you can still pull up the emails in an instant" (2007). Nowadays, even simple mistakes are no longer simple if the location their made is online.

How to Cheat on Word with Excel

A Case for Cliches: Ethics, Technology and the Classroom

Is it more unethical to allow threats to students/schools (see list above) or to deny students/teachers access to instructionally-relevant Web-based tools and content?

When considering the difficult situation of how to handle access to technology in a classroom – ie, if, how, where and why to block – I believe there is no one right answer where ethics are involved. In many schools, blocking is implemented to preserve the security and efficiency of the school's precious computer system. Is this worse than denying open access to all the Internet has available, including instructionally-relevant content? No. Keeping a school's entire system is far more important than allowing access to potentially dangerous content and viruses. A few lessons or papers may suffer, but that's far preferable than losing an entire server's worth of data.

What does this mean for the classroom, however? Well, it pains me to say this as an English teacher, but I feel we must take comfort in cliches. What do I mean by this? Well, when all the debate comes down to it, there comes a point when we must “make the most of a bad situation” and even sometimes choose “the lesser of two evils”. In fact, a teacher's wish for free access for their students might even be a case of “be careful what you wish for”. Let me explain...

Exploring and Conquering the Internet Jungle

“So the big deal about blogs is that they gave people like the power of the media, and created the personal kind of news that appeals to a high number of small audiences...There is likely a group of people out there who want to hear what you have to say" (Lefever, 2007).

I always knew there were a lot of blogs out there, but actually thinking about the sheer number and complexity of this vast network is like being a grain of sand and trying to conceive of what the French Riviera is like. Technorati.com alone counts over 1.2 million blogs currently available on the Internet, and I'm sure a few more have been created in the hour since I found that statistic (2011). However, in my first post to this blog, I mentioned that the only reason I hadn't made one before is because I couldn't conceive of anyone really being interested in what I had to say. However, now that this class has given me the opportunity to spout on and on about the education system – something I feel quite strongly about – I have hope that I can provide some helpful and possibly even interesting information out to the web at large.

“The World Wide Web is the Gutenberg printing press of modern times" (Shelly & Gunter, 2010).

I love this statement. Found near the end of Chapter 2 in our textbook, I'm truly struck by how simple and true it is. Information is now more extensive and accessible than ever before, and now students do not have to be passive receptors of that information. Instead, they can create and share and even influence the learning of others. Each new day, week, month and year brings more and more outlets and inputs for information. Data upon data, and format upon format. This chapter, as well as the two videos in our Module, made me truly examine not only the Internet, but how I interact with it everyday.

To start with, I love Google Reader, and I don't mean that lightly. In fact, if Google Reader was a man, my love for him would be the kind to inspire Shakespearean-like movies starring pretty but untalented actors. Ahem. Moving on.

Besides my classmates' blogs and educational one of the sort, I follow about a dozen blogs on my other favorite subject: food. My favorite food bloggers are a joy to read, but a pain to keep up without my Google Reader. Also, whenever I open up my iGoogle – where I keep my email, calendar, feeds and personal notes to myself all together in one handy-dandy, multi-tasking glory page – and my Reader tells me I have a new recipe from a spunky chef/photographer in New York, I get a thrill. The Reader plays beautifully right into my personal style of organization, otherwise known as “little piles”.

It wasn't until watching "The Networked Student" that I realized that my use of Google Reader was just one portion of my very own Personal Learning Network. Mind you, this network was mostly focused on my personal interests of books, food and crafts, but a network just the same! And now, with Graduate School and the wealth of resources and ideas floating around waiting for me to collect and utilize them, a new network is born. I can have my Firefox browser up with a multitude of tabs arranged with blogs, bookmarks, scholarly articles, and directories, while at the same time pulling up recorded Webinars to watch and reference in my own projects or online lessons.

The only downside to this arrangement is the very real possibility of multitasking gone too far. The situation is all too common: a savvy technology user has lots of media open and is surfing through a smooth rating, taking and applying information at an astounding rate, until the point is reached where they can no longer focus on just one thing at a time and everything begins to blur and productivity takes a dive. Thankfully, with a trained teacher to act as their "Learning Concierge", students can master the idea of “Information Management” to avoid the pitfalls of too much stimulus (Networked Student, 2007).

"By providing a variety of learning tools, the Internet and the Web are transforming the way teachers instruct and the way students learn basic skills and core subjects. These changes have brought the Web to the forefront of instructional strategies in education in a very short period" (Shelly & Gunter, 2010).

The Internet and the World Wide Web are an ideal tool for teachers and students, providing the kind of options never before available. It is our job as we serve both these positions to learn, grow and be ready to make the best possible use of whatever we have and whatever new comes next.

References

Drexler, W. (2008). The networked student. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA

Lefever, L. (2007). Blogs in plain english. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI

Shelly, G.B., & Gunter, G. (2010). Teachers discovering computers. Boston, MA: Cenage Learning.

Technorati.com. (2011, February). Blog directory. Retrieved from http://technorati.com/blogs/directory/

Activity Reflection #1 - Treasure Hunt - Teacher Style

This week I set off into the ocean of information that is the Internet (a wily and unpredictable beast) in search of helpful, relevant and hopefully exciting educational resources for my future classrooms. The amount of sites available to me was certainly numerous, but wading through them – even with helpful directories and carefully-chosen keywords – proved to be a near Sisyphean task. And yes, I realize that in my area of Adult/Continuing/Training education, where my learners are not bright and eager 12-year-olds, the choices are automatically slimmer. However, education is education and many resources can be artfully used for older learners, so I should still be able to pull chunks of gold from the mountains of information available to me, right? Right?

EmTech Consulting – a repository of over 15,000 web-based resources for teachers, parents and students. I was mostly drawn to the categories of Brain-Based Learning and Learning Theories, as I frequently use these as way to help shape my instruction in a manner that keeps students on their toes and as far away from boredom as possible.

http://www.emtech.net/

“Brain & Behavior” at Serendip, a gathering place for information – both scholarly and everyday – to understand the complex systems of the human form, including forums and helpful websites. Serendip is based through Bryn-Mawr College and is an ever-growing database for those interested in understanding themselves and the world around them.

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/

Even if lessons are not strictly science-based, giving insight into how the brain operates can bring learners from passive receptors of information into active participants in their own learning. It goes beyond the concept of “fact go in, knowledge come out” and becomes a more cooperative experience between teacher and student. Even the smallest morsel of insight from this website can be an invaluable tool for creating this kind of instructional environment. The “Education” section of the website provides not only two online forums for deep discussions, but also some fantastic articles on how teachers can understand the brain's actual role in learning and how they can best benefit from this style of theory and research.

The "Learning Theories" section of emTech provided a vast wealth of resources that teachers can draw upon for any lesson. I was particularly struck by the section on Cooperative Learning, since it had fantastic links available. However, I was really disappointed in the section on Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, since many of the links were no longer viable and some even led to non-reputable sites. This made my question the vetting process the resources contributed to emTech undergo. I was actually pleased, though, because it taught me to be pretty selective in what I actually use in a classroom.

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The Gateway to 21^st Century Skills is a website that contains invaluable tools for teachers, including lesson plans, assessments and even just interesting articles about education. The search features, as well as just browsing the popular tags and keywords, allowed me to zero-in on resources for Adult Education. However, this proved less helpful that I had previously believed.

http://www.thegateway.org/

The Educator's Reference Desk – Adult Continuing Education

http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/res.cgi/Educational_Levels/Adult_Continuing_Education

I was blown away by the selection of materials on this site. I was tempted to end my search here because I almost couldn't imagine another site with anything else to offer me. Lesson plans, names of online communities, archives of questions frequently asked by teachers on a variety of subjects and even professional organizations with information freely available; all this and more awaited me at the Educator's Reference Desk.

The only problem is that when I actually started searching through the links on the page, I hit wall after wall. Many of the links were no longer active. I couldn't find anywhere on the site an indication of when it was last updated, nor when these links were posted in the first place. The only resources that still worked were links to the professional organizations, and while this was nice, these were links I was already familiar with. From there, I explored the Adult Literacy section of the site, and found a couple of good links, and even more defunct or misleading pages. Whoever is in charge of these resources has very selective vigilance, and I was very frustrated. I understand that adult education is not the top priority in this country – after all, knowledgeable children help stem the need to re-educate adults – but the need is still there, so why was I having such difficulty in finding helpful resources?

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Education World – a fun and helpful collection of educational tools and links. Hopefully, if I couldn't find resources just for adult education, maybe I could use this for information on integrating technology into lessons, since I find that adult learners (like other learners) respond well to going beyond the old-school paper and pencil techniques.

http://www.educationworld.com/

Finally, relevant information! After careful browsing and trying a few different search, success! I found a couple of fantastic articles that really give some great tips. One is called, “Technology Training Programs That Work” that is ideal for working with adults of many skill levels.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech165.shtml

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Florida Department of Education – I, like all my colleagues, have been to this website at least once before, if only to explore the options for getting certified in our chosen focuses. However, I have never put the time into to really delve into the options and articles available to me. Honestly, I'm a little ashamed of myself, especially for all the complaining I've done about this state's educational status over the years. In all reality, no one is allowed to criticize their educational system unless they have made the effort to truly understand it and it's mechanisms.

http://www.fldoe.org/

Maybe it's because I'm not currently employed at school, but I was not aware that the State of Florida had a series of workshops for teachers entitled “What’s Working in Effective Teaching and Leadership”. According to FLDOE's site, these are “learning and listening workshops instituted by the Florida State Board of Education and supported by the Department of Education. The series provides all stakeholders an opportunity to interact and dialogue with national education leaders on specific topics that support effective teaching and school leadership.” These workshops are held all around the state, so a wide range of teachers from a variety of schools can attend and give their two-cents, which I find to be a wonderful idea.

http://www.fldoe.org/whatworks/default.asp

While it may not be the easiest website to browse through – side menus upon side menus – I was able to track down specific academic guidelines for Adult Education, including Curriculum Frameworks for Language Arts and Reading. The site also included some comprehensive guidelines for the changes in various course standards and worksheets on important skills for ESOL adults. Yes, this site is mostly a repository for government information that I could probably gain from a school I was employed at, this is actually a great resource for someone not currently teaching. With this information, I can craft lessons I know will comply with standards instead of hastily inserting or changing wording to meet them later.

http://www.fldoe.org/workforce/dwdframe/ad_frame.asp

–----------

Exhausted and only mildly annoyed, I completed my search with a sigh. It was a rough start, and yes, I had finally found some good information and tools for future use, but I had also wasted a lot of my time. My only consolation is that I could use this post as a way to steer other teachers away from certain sites, as well as leading them to helpful pages and documents. Hours upon hours could be spent searching the vast depths of the internet, and I'm sure treasure could be scrounged up from the crevices, but I think that can wait for another day. For now, I think I'll just take what I have so far and use it as best I can.

Convenience vs. Effectiveness

I believe it is the hope of every teacher that what they do is designed for the best possible outcome for their students. Every lesson, every project, every assessment and even every interaction is one that will positively change or improve a student's knowledge and outlook on the world. On a plane of theory and optimism, convenience does not come into play. However, theory rarely can survive in the world of reality. Teachers, more often than not, are under constant pressure to perform and report at a rate that is far removed from ideal. Lessons need to be taught, tests need to be graded, and constant scrutiny of students' performances need to be discussed and debated. Sadly, convenience becomes a beast welcomed into the classroom.

"Are we doing what is best for our students or are we doing what is most convenient for us?"

 I don't think there is a clear answer to this, one definite statement to make. The road to hell may be paved with good intentions, so it is only fair that the road to a mediocre education is paved with ill-equipped teachers. Now, when I say "ill-equipped", I mean many things. This includes both teachers without the skills to compete in this "digital age", as well as teachers with the will to incorporate new and exciting techniques who simply do not have the funding/technology to implement them. Educators from another era who are either unwilling or unable to keep up with their constantly-stimulated students. Teachers who cannot afford the opportunity to gain essential new skills, having to make the best they can with a 20-year-old overhead projector and a mixed bag of Vis-a-Vis pens.

Convenience is quite the temptress, and even the best teachers can fall into its embrace. You could have the best possible technology available to you, with all the training and creativity to provide one helluva lesson, but sometimes...just sometimes...it doesn't come together. Things can get in your way, whether it is a statewide standardized test that engulfs your instruction time, or the failure of the technology itself. You could memorize of the NETS standards, keep them close to your heart, and never have the time to put them to use. It happens.

In essence, this simple-seeming question cannot be answered or addressed without a serious reevaluation of our school system. For you see, a quality education must actually include convenience, if only some a small way, because it enables a better classroom experience for student and teacher. A stressed-out and overextended teacher is not one likely to provided a top-quality instructional design, nor will overburdened students be likely to take knowledge and apply it in fundamentally creative way. A complete strip down and rebuild of the education is in order, so that we may endeavor to not only incorporate the technologies of today (and tomorrow), but also make sure that our teachers are able to make their lofty ideals a real possibly for students.

The Literacy...it...is...rising! Run for your lives!

Welcome to the first official post on my very own blog. I've been an avid reader of a few really amazing blogs for quite some time now (mostly excellent food blogs), but I've never really been into the idea of having my own. In all honesty, I've felt that 95% of blogs out there contain nothing new, creative, innovative or special when compared to the vast enormity of the rest of the internet. One person's opinion on the latest movie/gadget/political fiasco/etc is rarely different enough to warrant even a polite listen. I certainly do not exclude myself from this lumping, so why should I have bothered before now? Also, the constant self-examination and analysis that is required of a blogger has always felt like too much work when I could be out actually doing some stuff with friends and whatnot. It is for this same reason I was never able to keep up a diary or journal. Writing about my life always seemed to lack the physical spark that I found in actually living or even relating hilarious goings-on to actual people. Why sit in a room and write about the stuff you've done (or want to do) when you could actually go out and have fun?

But now that I am in Graduate School, the time is nigh to try new things and push myself to think of a world in a new way. My life is changing in a lot of ways - that are both scary and exciting - so the fact that I have no choice but to create this blog is actually a welcome obligation. As much as I love my routines, the thrill of the unknown and the possible is just enough to keep me going. This blog was only created for a particular course, and I don't know what will come after the semester is over, but I'm pretty interested in finding out.

Oh and in case anyone was wondering, my background image is a piece of collage work by Thomas Allen called "I Dive for Pleasure" (found in his book Uncovered). I'm a sucker for art involving books and will probably be constantly changing the background of this site to suit my desire to share all the good book art I've found over the years. I will, of course, always note the artist/title/where I found it. If I don't, please make sure to comment and remind me. Even the most studious will forget from time to time.

So...in conclusion...welcome!

UPDATE: At the request of my dear friend Logan, here's an unobstructed view of my background image from Thomas Allen: