What the Blog?

Technologically challenged

2010-03-04T08:01:00.000-08:00

I currently cannot update my website. There's some kinda ftp problem I'm too ignorant to figure out.

Our very own Wild Kingdom

2010-02-06T11:07:00.001-08:00

While the ferocious animals clashed in a violent competition for territory, I was elsewhere, fighting a big snake like Jim used to in the old days. Or roasting a marshmallow, possibly.

Selected photos from my sister's trip to Southeast Asia. She is a fabulous photographer.

2010-01-22T10:44:00.000-08:00

I'm Not Famous

2010-01-20T08:37:00.000-08:00

Nope. I'm not. It's probably a good thing, too.

But I still dream of being a Nashville Rollergirl some day.

One Wrighteous Mutha

2010-01-11T08:06:00.000-08:00

I just got back from the residency portion of the MFA program at Murray State University, and boy are my arms tired! No, wait. Brain tired.

2009-11-06T14:27:00.000-08:00

I'm sad about what happened at Ft. Hood. I lived there for two years back in the early 90s. My oldest child was born on base. She was just a week old when a similar tragedy occurred.

Photos in the Public Domain

2009-09-17T14:31:00.000-07:00

I just discovered this great website! http://publicdomainclip-art.blogspot.com/

It has some fantastic photos, such as these Moai at Rano Raraku, Easter Island.

Happy Labor Day

2009-09-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

By the time it gets to me, you know it's not an Internet sensation anymore, but still,

2009-07-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

this JK Wedding Entrance Dance made me cry. Ahhh, young love.

I am a narcissist

2009-07-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

While watching Barack Obama's press conference about health care reform, I'm also checking out my own website. Lame!

OMG Abraham Lincoln Sent Me a Txt

2009-06-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Abraham Lincoln Friend,

Abraham Lincoln embraced new technology: railroads, the telegraph, advanced weaponry. As the only president to hold a patent for his own invention, he believed technology could save and improve our nation. The power of todays Internet to distribute information and provoke discussion - the lifeblood of modern democracy - would have appealed to our 16th president. Lincoln, who spent countless hours in the telegraph office, certainly would have embraced the Web for its ability to communicate instantly, democratize education, unite people in social networks, and provide a forum for an open exchange of ideas.

The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission has relied on the Internet to expand the reach of the celebrations: by making educational materials available online, by emailing news about events, by providing resources and ideas for local celebrations. The ALBCs National Teach-In was Webcast live to more than 5,000 schools in the United States and around the world. On February 12th alone, our Web site received 22,000 unique visitors every minute.

Now, the ALBC and the ALBC Foundation have a tremendous opportunity. Through a greatly expanded Web site, we can open a new, digital era in Lincoln studies and create a vehicle to promote Lincoln as a model for ongoing civic engagement around todays most pressing issues.

As we turn toward the future, we are determined to build on the work we began during the Bicentennial. We hope that a greatly expanded and more interactive Web site will create an important and lasting tribute.

We are working with tech savvy Lincoln scholars like Matt Pinsker of Dickinson College and Vernon Burton of the University of Illinois to help us imagine a new digital age in Lincoln studies. We are reaching out to other scholars in the vanguard of this new age to create a blue-ribbon advisory group.

The possibilities are limitless. We want to publish the first digital Lincoln biography, where readers can see pages of text enhanced not just by occasional images or photographs, but also by three-dimensional objects, video, audio, interactive maps and even clickable footnotes that would take the reader right to the primary sources. Or consider a virtual tour of Lincolns America. With your support, we have the ability to create custom layers of historic maps, enhanced with 3D models of historic structures and other rich information to allow visitors to experience Lincolns America. Virtual tourists could begin with a satellite image of the United States in 1860, zoom into a street map of Springfield, tour homes and buildings across the small town, including a trip inside Lincolns home at Eighth and Jackson.

The Web holds incredible potential for opening access to Lincoln resources like never before. Never-seen Lincoln artifacts locked in library and museum vaults - and even those held in private collections - could be made available to everyone in virtual exhibits.

In his complexity, Lincoln speaks to all ethnic and racial groups, to people of all ages and nationalities. The digital Lincoln we envision will help us to understand him even better. It also will help us to continue an important goal of the Bicentennial: to promote civic engagement in the spirit of Lincolns ideals. The Bicentennial has given us a unique opportunity to make a difference in our civic life. Our national Town Hall series is intended to make a direct impact on the communities where they are held. We hope to add live audio and video streaming to our Web site to expand the Town Halls reach beyond those communities. Virtual, interactive town halls - town halls without walls - with some of the nations leading intellectuals would open the discussion even further. Of course, the audio, video, and virtual town halls will be archived online for on-demand retrieval long into the future.

We envision our Web site as a place where the public at large and the Lincoln community are drawn together, where diverse groups of people can build and maintain meaningful connections. We seek to foster unique collaborations, to ensure access to all, to digitize papers, and to provide an avenue for people to continue their education with resources like our unique Lincoln Speakers Pool, available only on the ALBC Web site. The Bicentennial Web site can be a resource for lifelong learning, and we hope future Teach-In Webcasts contribute to that learning.

The ALBC Web site can be the place where we strive on to finish the work we are in: facilitating dialogue and collaborations, offering educational resources, promoting new scholarship.

Only an expanded, more robust Web site will allow us to reach these goals. Wont you help us make these things possible? The ALBC Foundation, a 501(c)3, will carry on the work begun by the ALBC. Please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any size to support the continued development of the Bicentennial Web site. Donors who contribute $20.00 or more will receive a free copy of the bicentennial commemorative publication, A New Birth of Freedom. Substantial donors will have the honor of legacy-naming opportunities on the site. All gifts will support a new age in Lincoln studies and civic engagement, ensure access for all, and solidify the legacy of a treasured resource.

To make a secure online donation, please visit: www.abrahamlincoln200.org and click Donate. We thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Eileen R. Mackevich
Executive Director

Angel

2009-06-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

This beautiful woman is the reason I had hideous feathered bangs with my non-feathered-bangs-conducive hair in the '70s.

Well, that explains it

2009-06-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

From Newsweek online: Why Cougars Crave American Idol Runner-up Adam Lambert

Why are people who comment on news sites so crazy?

2009-06-05T06:58:00.000-07:00

Nashville Schools Unblock Gay-Themed Web Sites

"Gay themed," like an amusement park? Discrimination is everywhere--in our words, in our institutions. I find it especially scary when bigotry is supported by religion. It hurts people.

2009-06-04T11:02:00.001-07:00

Go in peace, Grasshopper.

Oooh, Clay Aiken makes me sooo mad

2009-05-23T14:03:00.001-07:00

I think that if you are famous and have a blog, you should refrain from saying stupid mean things about other people, especially about the most fabulous American Idol contestant ever, Adam Lambert.

People, even those who aren't famous, should use their blogs for important things.

The Most Perfect American Idol Contestant Ever

2009-05-07T07:44:00.000-07:00

I don't care, Mama, I luv him!

Woe is me

2009-05-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

My three closest friends are all, independently of one another, moving to other cities in other states.

Wah!

Hooray

2009-01-16T07:40:00.001-08:00

My Christmas List

2008-12-22T08:45:00.000-08:00

Dear Santa,

I am not sure how good I have been this year, but unarguably I've been better than the year before that. If you're still taking requests, here's what I would like for Christmas:

Tambourine (so I can be in a band)
Flight of the Conchords DVD
The self-discipline to work on the next book
A new belt for my turntable

Sincerely,
Ashley Crownover
Age 41

New Car

2008-11-12T11:34:00.000-08:00

Tonight we pick up our new car, courtesy of that guy with no license or insurance who totaled the minivan last month. Actually it's more courtesy of the insurance company. Anyways, we're getting a Scion XB, a weird boxy-looking thing that is very roomy on the inside. I'm most excited about the stereo system, which is apparently very good. It also has a jack for MP3 players and a special connector for iPods. I cannot admit how big a selling point that was.

Oh Happy Day!

2008-11-07T07:09:00.000-08:00

We use ourselves as a mirror, judge ourselves by our own standards, and forget that we don't know it all. That's why it's very interesting to read editorial opinions from around the world about the election of my close personal friend Barack Obama. Okay, he is not my close personal friend. But he is going to be my close personal president. I don't believe I have ever used the word "my" with the word "president" before. I already know more about the incoming administration than I ever have about any previous group--of course part of this stems from the need to continue trolling for news online, an obsessive habit developed over the past few pre-election months.

I've talked with several friends who share this strange new feeling of lightness, as though a burden has been lifted, and there is something to be idealistic about again. As Obama said in his speech on election night, "The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there."

Amen.

Return to/visit www.ashleycrownover.com.

Busy, yet unproductive?

2008-11-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

It seems like all I do is work these days. There's been a ton of Tres stuff to do, designing newsletters, writing articles, editing...it's good, but basically leaves me no time or energy for that next book I keep saying I'm writing. But money is money. And you never know how the things you do today are going to affect tomorrow. I believe in fruition...oooh, I just looked "fruition" up at merriam-webster.com and it is quite the juicy word. I AM SO PUNNY! Oh my gosh I can't stop.

Lame-o

2008-10-08T07:26:00.000-07:00

I have not been much of a blogger lately. Real life has been taking up a lot of my time. The rest has been spent looking at "In Style" magazine and worrying about what I'm going to wear to the Friday night dinner for the Southern Festival of Books.

Keeping It Clean

2008-09-09T08:41:00.001-07:00

As I reflect on my relationship with my soon-to-be 17-year-old chip off the old block, I find it is difficult to express the complex, maddening, pain-riddled experience that is parenting a teenage daughter without using expletives.