Edward J. Branley https://ebranley.com New Orleanian, Author, Daydreamer, Geek Sun, 28 Mar 2021 23:22:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.7.1 https://i1.wp.com/ebranley.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cropped-ejb_fdl1.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Edward J. Branley https://ebranley.com 32 32 New Orleanian, Author, Daydreamer, Geek Edward J. Branley New Orleanian, Author, Daydreamer, Geek Edward J. Branley https://ebranley.com/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg https://ebranley.com/blog/ 92541149 @BookNOLA is WEDNESDAY for The Boyfriend Project @FarrahRochon https://ebranley.com/blog/2021/03/28/booknola-is-wednesday-for-the-boyfriend-project-farrahrochon/ https://ebranley.com/blog/2021/03/28/booknola-is-wednesday-for-the-boyfriend-project-farrahrochon/#respond Sun, 28 Mar 2021 23:22:38 +0000 https://ebranley.com/?p=1015 Our March Gathering is WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31st! We’ll Zoom at 7pm to discuss The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon. Here’s the Zoom info: Edward Branley is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: NOLA Book Club – March Gathering Time: Mar 31, 2021 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5043835087 […]

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nola book club

Our March Gathering is WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31st! We’ll Zoom at 7pm to discuss The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon.

Here’s the Zoom info:

Edward Branley is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: NOLA Book Club – March Gathering
Time: Mar 31, 2021 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5043835087

Meeting ID: 504 383 5087
Passcode: boyfriend
One tap mobile
+16468769923,,5043835087#,,,,*781460975# US (New York)
+13017158592,,5043835087#,,,,*781460975# US (Washington DC)

Dial by your location
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
Meeting ID: 504 383 5087
Passcode: 781460975
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbeq6ALiZq

See you Wednesday!

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The Boyfriend Project by @FarrahRochon – NOLA Book Club https://ebranley.com/blog/2021/03/08/the-boyfriend-project-by-farrahrochon-nola-book-club/ https://ebranley.com/blog/2021/03/08/the-boyfriend-project-by-farrahrochon-nola-book-club/#respond Mon, 08 Mar 2021 22:57:43 +0000 http://ebranley.com/?p=1008 The Boyfriend Project by @FarrahRochon is next up for NOLA Book Club! The Boyfriend Project Mark your calendars, invite your friends… Wednesday, March 31st, 7 pm CST (5pm PST) Farrah Rochon’s The Boyfriend Project is our March 2021 book of the month for NOLA Book Club, over Zoom. We will put out the zoom credentials […]

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The Boyfriend Project by @FarrahRochon is next up for NOLA Book Club!

nola book club

The Boyfriend Project

Mark your calendars, invite your friends…

Wednesday, March 31st, 7 pm CST (5pm PST)

Farrah Rochon’s The Boyfriend Project is our March 2021 book of the month for NOLA Book Club, over Zoom. We will put out the zoom credentials as we get closer to the date.

Blurb

Here’s the blurb for The Boyfriend Project:

Samiah Brooks never thought she would be “that” girl. But a live tweet of a horrific date just revealed the painful truth: she’s been catfished by a three-timing jerk of a boyfriend. Suddenly Samiah — along with his two other “girlfriends,” London and Taylor — have gone viral online. Now the three new besties are making a pact to spend the next six months investing in themselves. No men and no dating.

For once Samiah is putting herself first, and that includes finally developing the app she’s always dreamed of creating. Which is the exact moment she meets the deliciously sexy Daniel Collins at work. What are the chances? But is Daniel really boyfriend material or is he maybe just a little too good to be true?

“A smart, funny digital-age romance about real women living in the real world. Couldn’t put it down!” –Abby Jimenez, USA Today bestselling author of The Happy Ever After Playlist

*Listed as a Best Book of the Year from: NPR, Cosmopolitan, Buzzfeed, Frolic, Insider, BookRiot
*Book of the Month selection
*LibraryReads selection
*O, The Oprah Magazine: Must-Read Black Romance Novels
*Cosmopolitan: Best Summer Reads 2020
*Insider: The Best Romance Books of 2020

April/May

Also, if you want to get a head start:

April 21st we will be doing Mosquito Supper Club: Cajun Recipes from a Disappearing Bayou by Melissa M. Martin.

May : we will be doing Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood, by Fatima Sheik.

There’s a method in the madness for scheduling. Mosquito Supper Club is a bit pricey ($35), but it’s been out there for a while. So, folks who might want to borrow it from their library (or do an ILL) will have time to get that. Economy Hall doesn’t drop until the 15th of March.

We’ve got dates in mind for April and May, but they’re open to discussion. For March, we’ve got two gatherings under our belts, and we had better attendance on a Wednesday than a Thursday. If we’re wrong about Wednesdays being better, please give us some feedback!

Happy reading !

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NOLA Book Club is WEDNESDAY https://ebranley.com/blog/2021/02/22/nola-book-club-is-wednesday/ https://ebranley.com/blog/2021/02/22/nola-book-club-is-wednesday/#respond Mon, 22 Feb 2021 15:20:14 +0000 http://ebranley.com/?p=1005 NOLA Book Club gathers Wednesday, 24-February. NOLA Book Club Our second gathering is Wednesday! We’ll discuss The Yellow House by Sarah R. Broom. The gathering will be via Zoom: Edward Branley is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: NOLA Book Club – February Gathering Time: Feb 24, 2021 07:00 PM Central Time (US […]

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NOLA Book Club gathers Wednesday, 24-February.

nola book club

NOLA Book Club

Our second gathering is Wednesday! We’ll discuss The Yellow House by Sarah R. Broom. The gathering will be via Zoom:

Edward Branley is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: NOLA Book Club – February Gathering
Time: Feb 24, 2021 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5043835087

Meeting ID: 504 383 5087
Passcode: crawfish
One tap mobile
+16468769923,,5043835087#,,,,*84836164# US (New York)
+13017158592,,5043835087#,,,,*84836164# US (Washington DC)

Dial by your location
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+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
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+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
Meeting ID: 504 383 5087
Passcode: 84836164
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbeq6ALiZq

The Book

next book

The Yellow House is a critically acclaimed memoir by Sarah R. Broom. It’s set in the New Orleans East neighborhood. Bring your thoughts on the book and Da East, 7pm Wednesday!

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NEXT BOOK and GATHERING – The Yellow House: A Memoir 24-Feb https://ebranley.com/blog/2021/01/27/next-book-and-gathering-the-yellow-house-a-memoir-24-feb/ https://ebranley.com/blog/2021/01/27/next-book-and-gathering-the-yellow-house-a-memoir-24-feb/#respond Wed, 27 Jan 2021 22:54:51 +0000 http://ebranley.com/?p=1000 NEXT BOOK!   More NOLA Book Club! Our next book for NOLA Book Club will be The Yellow House, by Sarah M. Broom. A 2019 National Book Award winner, “The Yellow House” is a memoir of a family living in a shotgun house in New Orleans East. Our Gathering (via Zoom) to discuss “The Yellow […]

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NEXT BOOK!

nola book club

 

More NOLA Book Club!

Our next book for NOLA Book Club will be The Yellow House, by Sarah M. Broom. A 2019 National Book Award winner, “The Yellow House” is a memoir of a family living in a shotgun house in New Orleans East.

Our Gathering (via Zoom) to discuss “The Yellow House” will be WEDNESDAY, February 24th. That’s the week after Mardi Gras.

Get the book

You can purchase “The Yellow House” through all the usual suspects. Since NOLA Book Club fully and passionately supports Local/Indie booksellers, may we suggest (if you’re local to New Orleans) these shops:

We had a lot of fun discussing Maurice’s novel last week. This story will be quite of a change of pace from “We Cast A Shadow.” It’s guaranteed to get you choked up a bit if you have memories of Da East. Since Ms. Broom received a great deal of recognition for “The Yellow House,” some of you may have already read the book. That’s great! You’ll have a month to refresh your memory and be ready to talk it up.

The Yellow House: A Memoir

next book

Here’s the trailer for the book:

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Winner of the 2019 National Book Award in Nonfiction

A brilliant, haunting and unforgettable memoir from a stunning new talent about the inexorable pull of home and family, set in a shotgun house in New Orleans East.

In 1961, Sarah M. Broom’s mother Ivory Mae bought a shotgun house in the then-promising neighborhood of New Orleans East and built her world inside of it. It was the height of the Space Race and the neighborhood was home to a major NASA plant–the postwar optimism seemed assured. Widowed, Ivory Mae remarried Sarah’s father Simon Broom; their combined family would eventually number twelve children. But after Simon died, six months after Sarah’s birth, the Yellow House would become Ivory Mae’s thirteenth and most unruly child.

A book of great ambition, Sarah M. Broom’s The Yellow House tells a hundred years of her family and their relationship to home in a neglected area of one of America’s most mythologized cities. This is the story of a mother’s struggle against a house’s entropy, and that of a prodigal daughter who left home only to reckon with the pull that home exerts, even after the Yellow House was wiped off the map after Hurricane Katrina. The Yellow House expands the map of New Orleans to include the stories of its lesser known natives, guided deftly by one of its native daughters, to demonstrate how enduring drives of clan, pride, and familial love resist and defy erasure. Located in the gap between the “Big Easy” of tourist guides and the New Orleans in which Broom was raised, The Yellow House is a brilliant memoir of place, class, race, the seeping rot of inequality, and the internalized shame that often follows. It is a transformative, deeply moving story from an unparalleled new voice of startling clarity, authority, and power.

See you on Wednesday the 24th of February!

 

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NOLA Book Club is THURSDAY! @MauriceRuffin https://ebranley.com/blog/2021/01/19/nola-book-club-is-thursday-mauriceruffin/ https://ebranley.com/blog/2021/01/19/nola-book-club-is-thursday-mauriceruffin/#respond Tue, 19 Jan 2021 13:25:32 +0000 http://ebranley.com/?p=996 NOLA Book Club!   NOLA Book Club – Thursday at 6pm! We’re approaching the time for our first book discussion! Thursday evening at 6pm CST, we’ll talk about We Cast A Shadow by Maurice Ruffin. Here’s the ZOOM info: Edward Branley is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: NOLA Book Club – We […]

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NOLA Book Club!

nola book club

 

NOLA Book Club – Thursday at 6pm!

We’re approaching the time for our first book discussion! Thursday evening at 6pm CST, we’ll talk about We Cast A Shadow by Maurice Ruffin. Here’s the ZOOM info:

Edward Branley is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: NOLA Book Club – We Cast A Shadow
Time: Jan 21, 2021 06:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5043835087

Meeting ID: 504 383 5087
Passcode: shadow
One tap mobile
+16468769923,,5043835087#,,,,*450291# US (New York)
+13017158592,,5043835087#,,,,*450291# US (Washington D.C)

Dial by your location
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
Meeting ID: 504 383 5087
Passcode: 450291
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbeq6ALiZq

Let’s get Unc and VP Harris inaugurated tomorrow, then see you for book talk on Thursday!

 

 

 

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NOLA Book Club! https://ebranley.com/blog/2020/12/06/nola-book-club/ https://ebranley.com/blog/2020/12/06/nola-book-club/#respond Sun, 06 Dec 2020 15:57:52 +0000 http://ebranley.com/?p=986 NOLA Book Club is off and running. NOLA Book Club! I’ve been wanting to do this for some time. With the Christmas and New Year’s holidays approaching, now is the time to kick off NOLA Book Club. The Concept This is quite the selfish concept on my part. I’m always looking for challenges to my […]

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NOLA Book Club is off and running.

nola book club

NOLA Book Club!

I’ve been wanting to do this for some time. With the Christmas and New Year’s holidays approaching, now is the time to kick off NOLA Book Club.

The Concept

This is quite the selfish concept on my part. I’m always looking for challenges to my literary tastes. I grew up on a steady diet of science fiction and fantasy. So much of that genre, particularly “hard” SF stories, were written by white male authors. Fantasy, less so, but the authors are almost all white. Same for the non-SFF fiction I read. So, I want to expand.

Now, if you’re like me, you need to be pushed outside your comfort zone. I procrastinate a lot. The best way for me to get things done is with deadlines. That’s why teaching works so well for me. I have to show up to start class.

The Club

While I have a good routine when it comes to reading, NOLA Book Club offers an expansion of that routine. Additionally, this concept gives me the chance to meet and engage people. I’ve kicked this idea around with Mandy Pumilla of Royal Brewery for a while now. Mandy hosted a book event for me at the brewery a couple of years back. It’s a great place to sit around and talk.

Since sitting around and talking in person won’t happen for a while yet, NOLA Book Club will start virtual, most likely on Zoom.

First Book – January 2021

For the club’s first book and discussion, we’ll read We Cast A Shadow, by Maurice Carlos Ruffin. Maurice’s book is a great start because:

  • It’s good
  • Folks interested in the club may have already read it
  • A re-read to get started means we can start the February book read early
  • Did I mention it’s a good book?

Maurice is the kind of author that I might not have read, if I didn’t know him personally

So, We Cast A Shadow is a great start. It’s easily acquired, both as an ebook and real paper.

First Meeting

We’ll target Thursday, January 21, 2021, 6pm, for our first gathering (via ZOOM)

NOTE: This date and time are a target. Once we have a core group, this is subject to change.

Administrivia

NOLA Book Club will run here (ebranley.com). I’ve got my personal site set up as a WordPress “network” site, so it will be easy to move it to its own website as the project grows.

Twitter: @booknola

ZuckerBook: NOLA Book Club

We’ll use hashtag #NOLAbookclub on social media.

Joining NOLA Book Club

How to join the club:

  1. Read the book!
  2. Join us on 21-January to discuss our first book.
  3. Suggest books and participate in club discussions on social media

And here we go!

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Talents Snippet 20201204 https://ebranley.com/blog/2020/12/04/talents-snippet-20201204/ https://ebranley.com/blog/2020/12/04/talents-snippet-20201204/#respond Fri, 04 Dec 2020 12:00:10 +0000 http://ebranley.com/?p=982 Become a Patron! Support Edward's projects via Patreon To view this content, you must be a member of Edward's Patreon at $1 or more - Click "Read more" to unlock this content at the source

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Become a Patron! Support Edward's projects via Patreon
To view this content, you must be a member of Edward's Patreon at $1 or more
- Click "Read more" to unlock this content at the source

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Birthday Month Thoughts https://ebranley.com/blog/2020/11/05/birthday-month-thoughts/ https://ebranley.com/blog/2020/11/05/birthday-month-thoughts/#respond Thu, 05 Nov 2020 18:25:25 +0000 http://ebranley.com/?p=976 Birthday Month celebrations, maybe it’s time to change? I‘m sure you also have friends who declare their “birthday week,” or “birthday month.” I usually roll my eyes and wish my friends all the happiness in the world. I’m way too introverted to celebrate my birthday on that day, much less for seven or goddess help […]

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Birthday Month celebrations, maybe it’s time to change?

I‘m sure you also have friends who declare their “birthday week,” or “birthday month.” I usually roll my eyes and wish my friends all the happiness in the world. I’m way too introverted to celebrate my birthday on that day, much less for seven or goddess help me, thirty days. The novel coronavirus changed my thinking on this a bit.

You know this quarantine/social distancing/lockdown hits hard when introverts develop a need to get out. My regular dose of #peopling, a #daydrinkin lunch once a month or so, morphed into #Zoomdrinkin. I miss seeing those four to six friends. Those little zoom images are some comfort, but, yeah, no.

Additionally, I declared “office hours,” where, when I checked in at a coffee shop, anyone was welcome to pull up a chair. Didn’t matter what I was working on, I’d put it aside for a little human interaction. Now? On the occasions when I go to a coffee shop, I’m outside and don’t-come-near-me. I look forward to that changing at some point in 2021.

Which brings me to my birthday, which was last Monday, 2-November. Between teaching out of town and elections, the boys at uni, celebrations almost always happened on weekends. Friends? Maybe when we had #daydrinkin several weeks later.

So, I resolve to change this in (hopefully) 2021. If we get to a more-open situation with covid, November becomes my “birthday month.” I want to do things in reverse, though. I want small-occasions with friends. Coffee, lunch, maybe sitting at my “thinking spot” along the lakefront. It shouldn’t be about me as much as about us. Catching up in person. Hugging more than we would normally, to make up for almost two years of this distancing nonsense. Early morning at Blue Dot. Mid-morning at a coffee place. Lunch. Stuff in the afternoons, on days when I’m teaching. Make it so, Number One.

 

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Black Waterman Hemisphere #FountainPenFriday https://ebranley.com/blog/2020/08/28/black-waterman-hemisphere-fountainpenfriday/ https://ebranley.com/blog/2020/08/28/black-waterman-hemisphere-fountainpenfriday/#respond Fri, 28 Aug 2020 23:26:13 +0000 http://ebranley.com/?p=963 My black Waterman Hemisphere is the most expensive fountain pen I own. Black Waterman Hemisphere Our second #FountainPenFriday features my most expensive pen, a black Waterman Hemisphere. As mentioned in first installment of this series, I lose pens. I leave them lying around and forget to pick them up. I’ve been known to walk away […]

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My black Waterman Hemisphere is the most expensive fountain pen I own.

black waterman hemisphere

Black Waterman Hemisphere

Our second #FountainPenFriday features my most expensive pen, a black Waterman Hemisphere. As mentioned in first installment of this series, I lose pens. I leave them lying around and forget to pick them up. I’ve been known to walk away from dinner at the bar of a restaurant like Marcella’s in Columbus, Ohio, leaving the pen sitting there. It’s why I regularly carry pens that cost less than twenty dollars.

Keeping a good pen

Black Waterman hemisphere

Refillable cartridges allow the writer a wider selection of ink colors.

I belonged to a chapter of Business Network International (BNI) in the early 2000s. Writing occupied my time, both course development for clients and working on the streetcar book. Since attending BNI meetings became part of my regular routine, looking professional was important. A good pen projects a professional appearance. While the risk of losing a pen always dogged me, attending events around New Orleans made it easier to keep track of them. Hanging on to a fountain pen is actually pretty easy. When asked, “May I borrow your pen?” the answer, “All I have is a fountain pen” facilitated a polite way to decline. So, I splurged and bought a hundred-dollar pen.

Waterman

black waterman hemisphere

Refilling with basic blue Waterman ink.

Stores like Office Depot offered a decent selection of fountain pens, Waterman’s selected provided me with choices within $100-$200. Paranoia about losing pens ruled the moment. I chose one on the lower end of the price range.

My black Waterman Hemisphere is skinny. Hemispheres fit nicely in a shirt pocket. Ink cartridges served me well at first. After a while, however, desire to change it up more nudged me into bottled ink. I bought a couple of refillable cartridges at the store. Now I could alternate between blue and red. As you saw last week, I’ve branched out beyond Waterman ink, thanks to my friend (and next week’s #FountainPenFriday guest blogger, Jeff Rochlin, host of The Relief Valve Podcast.

My black Waterman Hemisphere sits on my desk these days. That’s a good place for it, since most of the work is via remote now. And I still don’t take it with me out of the house much. I might lose it!

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Rosewood BMHS Pen – #FountainPenFriday https://ebranley.com/blog/2020/08/21/rosewood-bmhs-pen/ https://ebranley.com/blog/2020/08/21/rosewood-bmhs-pen/#respond Fri, 21 Aug 2020 18:36:05 +0000 http://ebranley.com/?p=954 An inexpensive Rosewood BMHS pen kicks off our #FountainPenFriday series Rosewood BMHS Pen Every year, Brother Martin High School hosts their “Extravaganza,” an evening of food, drink, music, and dancing, wrapped around a huge silent auction. Prior to the Extravaganza itself, the school holds a “patron party” a couple of hours before the main event. […]

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An inexpensive Rosewood BMHS pen kicks off our #FountainPenFriday series

rosewood bmhs pen

Rosewood BMHS Pen

rosewood bmhs pen

Every year, Brother Martin High School hosts their “Extravaganza,” an evening of food, drink, music, and dancing, wrapped around a huge silent auction. Prior to the Extravaganza itself, the school holds a “patron party” a couple of hours before the main event. Since this party was a gig for the Crusader Jazz Band, we paid up. We didn’t want to miss our now-26yo kiddo (class of 2012) playing a band gig!

rosewood bmhs pen

Because patron party attendees put up extra for more food, more drink, and the Jazz Band, they receive a party favor. It’s usually some sort of branded memento. A few years ago, that memento was a small desk set, with a rosewood pen and letter opener. Both items were laser-carved with the school’s shield and name. Somewhere along the line, my firstborn (class of 2006) swiped the rosewood BMHS pen that came with the set. One Fall, I mentioned the theft to the family. Wife went out on Amazon and bought me a rosewood fountain pen to once again complete the set.

Inexpensive Fountain Pens

I’ve been in love with fountain pens since my University of New Orleans days. I was pen-less one day, right before a test. So, I went to the UNO Bookstore to pick up an inexpensive pen. I chose a plastic UNO-branded Paper-Mate pen. It was on sale, and when I got to class, I discovered why. It was a fountain pen! While that wasn’t exactly what I wanted, it worked. I hung on to that pen for twenty-five years, losing it in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

When I began traveling extensively, delivering computer training in different cities, I didn’t want to bring an expensive pen with me. So, I bought cheap fountain pens like that UNO pen. Lose one? I’ll survive. Over time, I upgraded a bit, opting for heaver pens of better quality. As eBay grew in popularity, I discovered it was easy to buy cheap, serviceable pens.

Completing the set

I keep the rosewood pen here on my desk at home. Since it was a gift, I’d hate to lose it.

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description: Wide crawl of the web for May 2021
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-16.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.18 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.2-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: https://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/