Not so different from the old new look . . . but this look is much more crisp, at least to my eyes. Makes all the colors more vibrant. Did not do much to the basic design. But the title and title quote are now in the masthead photograph. Much better there. And all the stuff that used to be in a left-side column has been moved over to the right. Don't know if it's just because it's new, but now to my eye all that stuff looks like it belongs there. I also tinkered around with the colors and text fonts. Overall, it's a small step up. As befits a blog that has just gained its fifth follower! I'm blown away. [Thanks, JoAnn. May all your cares fit in a pill box.]
(Bloggers who use "Blogger" as their software--if you click the title of this entry, you'll be brought to the template editor in case, like me, you're an inveterate tinkerer with this stuff.)
8 comments:
This is great! And there's cheesecake of Sarah Palin, too! What more could I ask for?
...and I think it is overall a much better read, from a logical point of view: we read English left to right, so left-most we have your post (which should be the main focus), and then the extra info on the right.
Ominous backgrounds and strange flights of ravens...a treat, indeed.
Good. As a person I know to be a sensitive and discerning critic. I take these remarks as solid endorsement of the latest enhancements. An additional bonus was getting rid of that damn stick-on at the bottom--I forget what it was called--that took you to other software-brain-generated sites that were supposedly connected to content. I installed it in a moment of weakness and never could get it off. The method that was supposed to do it never worked.
hahaha - well, you're welcome...I think...
To be honest, I must confess that I'm unable to recall what your site looked like the last time I was here. :( I only had time that day to skim it, I think..I just remember that I'd read somewhere (I think) on your site that you had taught history (?), or, maybe had a history degree? Plus, I remember I'd read a comment by you on another blog earlier that day in which I found myself mostly in agreement with...I think..lol.
But my first love's always been history - followed closely by poli. sci. I studied them both in school and later attempted to teach them to h.s. students x 1yr...but that experience, ultimately, was what later led to my fleeing & taking up refuge in school again & studying in a completely unrelated field!
hahaha :)
PS - Great Walker Percy quote you used on your blog's border. I'm a die-hard & very loyal Mississippian through and through (New South Mississippian, not Old South, lol), was born & raised & remained there my first 30yrs. Walker wasn't a MS boy, but his Percy ancestral roots were deeply planted in the Delta region of the state. Long family history for being historians, writers, poets, etc.
Thanks for writing, JaP. You remember correctly about my educational pedigree. I've got a PhD in American history (Civil War and Reconstruction) from LSU (1978). I had a minor field of concentration in political science. So we have that in common. I spent my working life working for the DoD, however, most of the 32 years as a historian for the Air Force. I'm retired now, praise be to God.
We have other stuff in common, too, you and I. I was born in Mississippi; my mom's family is from Vicksburg. Tromping around the military park there was what got me interested in "the Wah." Mississippi has always been special to me. Many trips to Vicksburg, and we used to spend a week at Long Beach every summer when we were kids. Played around with the idea of retiring in Mississippi, but the wife was determined to live where the grandkids are. So that's why I'm in Oklahoma. I was actually brought up in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, so the Delta is my home and in my bones.
BTW, I don't doubt that your experience of teaching in h.s. sent you screaming from the profession.
Wow - your reply was quite a surprise for me to read! I could go off in so many different directions in response to your reply, but, luckily for you, I'm at present very preoccupied with trying to complete some "big" things for me in my life & it's caused me to fall very behind in reading all of the blog postings that I WISH/WANT to post comments to.
Several of yours I've found to be quite fascinating...especially the one in which you discussed the "inverted totalitarianism" term? I don't have much time to further expand upon that particular blog topic - just wanted to tell you that I found it extremely intriguing and I do intend to follow-up on it more in the future and read the article that you referenced it to.
But back to the MS roots topic ~ it's a small, small world afterall!
(Walt Disney World ride's overhead music tune applied to the latter portion of the above sentence. lol)
My immediate family has no MS roots whatsoever, however I've always been told that some of my father's Memphis-Chattanooga ancestry included a branch of extended kinfolk who at one time resided in Vicksburg. So, who knows? We may actually be related!
hahaha
My hometown's closer to the vicinity of Brice's Crossroads. I've trekked through Shiloh's battlefields countless times more than I have through Vicksburg's. However, I prefer Vicksburg's to Shiloh's much, much more. I think mainly due just to Vicksburg's proximity along the MS river banks and the gorgeous sloping hills and valleys found throughout that particular park. Shiloh's is, well, to me, fairly dull...as far as scenary and setup are concerned. I've always wished that they would offer horseback ridden self-tours through that park, as opposed to the auto driving & stopping self-tours that it offers. For the significance of the battle that took place at Shiloh et al, I believe it'd allow the visitor to feel much more intuned with the scenery, time period & sheer amount of acreage that it involved back then, if they were allowed to experience it from the unique perspective of a saddled horse. I just think it'd be a whole lot more entertaining and interesting if they offered that option to park visitors.
I am very familiar with the Vicksburg area though, due to a job I once had for several years as a college student in Oxford; part of it required me to travel through the Yazoo City-Vicksburg-Jackson region on a weekly basis. That whole Delta expanse and Yazoo basin region has just always completely captured all of my imagination & deeply enthralled me - I think mainly due to - 1. My being such a huge Willie Morris fan, and, 2. How amazingly different the landscape in that area is compared to the black belt region that I originally hail from. It's all so very fascinating for those who really love Southern history and/or Southern studies.
There's more I'd like to respond to, however, I'm out of time now. But I wanted to add also that I think you settling in OK to be near your grandchildren was the wisest decision, despite the pull to return to MS roots/land. I figure since you're a Neil Young fan, you're probably a Dylan one too - so I'll sum up my personal feelings for why I cannot ever reside there again in the future with some lyrics he wrote in "Mississippi", from his "Love & Theft" album:
"..Well, the emptiness is endless, cold as the clay;
You can always come back,
but you can't come back all the way.
Only one thing I did wrong,
stayed in Mississippi a day too long.."
PS Sorry to hear you're an LSU tiger :(
But, knowing this now, I must sign off appropriately to you here ~
GEAUX TO HELL LSU!!!
~ HOTTY TODDY ~
;)
JPB, thanks for your fulsome response. I'm assuming you went to Ole Miss, which is just fine. If you can't be a tiger, a rebel is next best. Far better than a gator or a member of the wholly loathsome crimson tide. Believe it or not, I've never been to the Shiloh battlefield. For a Civil War historian, I have not actually seen many battlefields. I'm working right now on a presentation about P.G.T. Beauregard . . . it would be an excuse to go to New Orleans if I decided to visit his grave.
Thanks for writing. Stay in touch.
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