We've moved!

Hello friends and followers,

Thanks for reading along for the past couple of years.

After some consideration (and much prodding from WordCamp peeps), I have finally transferred my content of book reviews, being silly, what I'm up to and what I've been reporting on to aprilmrobertson.wordpress.com.

I hope you'll join me to continue the conversation there!

Much love,

April

Super Sad True Love Story

I've been taking my time reading Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart because it's such a good read. It's set in a futuristic America, and it brings a lot of subtle attention, well-made points to the shallowness of our digital-reality-obsessed generation. (And yes, sorry for saying these words on a blog.) Below are a few of the snippets that have hit home the most.

I felt scared, not because of the military operation outside, but because I knew that i could never leave her. No matter how she treated me. No matter how bad she made me feel. Because in her anger and anxiety there was familiarity and relief.

Eunice had no idea what the hell she was doing. And neither did I.

With just a few morning kisses on my eyelids, unbidden, welcome kisses, Euny could transform me for the rest of the day into the opposite of Chekhov's ugly Laptev. I would greet the food deliveryman in my boxershorts, forgetting my usual timidity at showing my hairy legs, reveling in the idea that on the couch behind me this little girl...was fully ensconced within her digital reality but also within the walls of my apartment. I would hand the deliveryman his ten yuan-pegged dollars with my chest thrust forward, with a Joshie-grade smile on my face, the smile of one of life's easy champions. I am a man, and this is my money, and here is my future wife, and this is my charmed life.

We argued daily. She never backed down. A fighter to the very last. This is how a human being is forged after an unhappy early life.This is the independence of growing up, of standing up for yourself, even if against a phantom enemy.

I saw that there were at least two truths to my life. The truth of my existence and the truth of my demise.

Single Parent Scholarship Fund

I had the pleasure of meeting a lot of sweet single parents Thursday who were awarded with scholarships for the upcoming school year. Arvest, Walmart and Sam's Club sponsored the event and the leaders of all local colleges were present to cheer on the hard-working students.

Here's my story on the benefit in Rogers.

Vic Juris in concert

FAYETTEVILLE-The Summer Jazz Concert Series concluded with a performance by legendary guitarist Vic Juris Saturday evening at the Starr Theater.

Juris was accompanied by Darren Novotny on drums and Dr. James Greeson, a well-known local composer and music professor at the University of Arkansas, on bass. After only one rehearsal, the trio performed a variety of old favorites, cover songs from the jazz greats and original works.

“Juris has played alongside the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Eddie Jefferson, Sarah Vaughn (and many more,” said Robert Ginsburg, president of the Northwest Arkansas Jazz Society.

At age 59, Vic Juris doesn’t seem to be slowing down one bit. He plays music with his whole body, getting up on the tips his toes at different points of the song, almost as if he’s physically striving to reach the next note. His shoulders squeeze, stretch, arch and recede. You don’t see him play so much as sense him playing. Watching him perform is an enigmatic experience that makes you feel as if you’re peeking into a private practice room because when the song ends, it’s as if he suddenly realizes that other people are in the room. He looks up and smiles as if spotting an old friend and thanks you for being there, as if it wasn’t already a treat for the audience.

Novotny, Greeson and Juris made quite the team, moving in perfect parallel, the music seamless. Songs ended without the tell-tale signs of guitar strings catching on stray fingers. Instead, the trio intuited each others’ moves, complimenting them. The bass and the guitar seemed to play such vastly different roles, as if they were in different spheres, playing the song in some sort of universal way, letting waves of familiarity and fresh riffs pass in sync.

As Juris introduced his Novotny and Greeson for the evening, he talked about the experience of being an on-the-road musician, whose accompaniment is always changing. “Sometimes you play (music) with people...” he said, skeptically trailing off to imply that he’s seen some lacking performers in his day. “But man, (James and Darren) they’ve been great.”

Juris's sense of humor shone through his way of giving songs titled, a practice especially made clear by performances of his original songs “Victim” and “Sweet 16.”

“The song I’m going to play next is one I wrote about my current girlfriend,” Juris said about the song Sweet 16. “The song has 16 bars.”

Similarly, “Victim” was named after himself (Vic) and the trumpet player in his band, Tim.

Using distortion pedals and looping his music, the tones coming from Vic’s guitar are as smooth as an electric keyboard, but the overall effect is somehow big, even in a song as quaintly titled as Sweet 16. It’s a large force-to-be-reckoned with sound and still smooth around the edges.

Juris played theme and variations on Homeward Bound, paying homage to his childhood influence, Paul Simon; a Django Reindhart song “Nuages” and “Wave,” a Brazilian song which had a hidden little riff of “Fly Me to the Moon.”

Styles tossed back and forth from traditional jazz to folk songs, straying for an occasional bossa nova, and cover songs derived from Bill Evans and Miles Davis repertoires.

The nearly two hour performance coasted by gracefully with his effortless transitions from cozy to grooving. The curtains fired up red during his solo pieces and rained down blue during trio performances. He kept tones so pure that the audience squeezed closer together, couples held hands and inched their chairs closer, and no one seemed ready to leave when it was over.

The Color of Hope

Last night the Color of Hope brought loads of financial aid to the Arkansas Children's Hospital and its centers in Northwest Arkansas. For more on the evening's lovely festivities, you'll have to read my story in The City Wire. But I have to say the part that stole my heart was when little Ireland climbed on stage and ambled about just like any other healthy two-year-old while her parents described the process of finding a heart donor for her.



Another fun thing: everything was green. It was like St. Patty's revisited. Green dresses in all shapes, sizes and styles, green CAKE, green martinis...

How to ease back into running

With roughly ten weeks until the next half-marathon, I've been easing myself back into a training schedule. As I've explained before, I'm a runner who hates running.

Like a friend of mine recently pointed out,
1. it's boring as all get out
2. no one at the gym knows how long I've been here, so I could just leave
3. I could be eating brownies right now.


photo from facebook.com/clubhausfitness

Here are a few things I've been doing to transition back into the lifestyle, after hanging with cyclists a little too long (who are super friendly & like to offer you beer and cookies while fixing your bike).

I'm taking the stairs at work...every time I change floors or buildings, instead of most of the time.

I'm eating a breakfast with protein every morning, so that I don't get tired (read: discouraged) in the middle of the day, or during the only moment I'd have for a workout.

I'm stocking up on some new music for my ipod, since Bon Iver doesn't make the most encouraging running partner.

photo from freecodesource.com

I'm making my weekly workouts more visual, so I can keep track of my progress without having to think about what day of the week it is or date it is.

This includes expanding my running wardrobe (cutting down on middle-of-the-week-laundry) with these fun shirts from One More Mile Running.

They add a quirky twist that the pile of 5k and half-marathon shirts don't quite afford, and are certainly more interesting than the classic black-on-black workout clothes that are out there.

photo from someecards.com












Another visual way: keeping my training schedule easily accessible (having one copy at my desk and one on my refrigerator), ready to mark off!

What helps you get back into the spirit of running?

A few takeaways from WordCamp Fayetteville

photo by Nathan Allen, WordCamp Fayetteville 2012, facebook.com/wcfay

The 2012 WordCamp Fayetteville was a nice intersection of information and networking for bloggers, entrepreneurs, developers and content creators. I enjoyed getting to know the writers of the Belford Group, developers at Sharp Hue, working with my colleagues from University Relations and many more.


Below are just some tidbits that I found helpful from the Content Creator speakers. Hope they are helpful to you, too. Notes are separated by lecture title and speaker.

The Power of Your Story
by @KimanziC
Why do you want to be heard? Fame, money, impact?
Social media opens the door for the little guys, the ones without substantial money to get started. The good news is that you don't need a huge following just to be heard.

How active are your followers? Are they commenting, retweeting?
How do you make the connection, why people should read

You can create the work you love.

If you're miserable, (change it).

Guest posting is effective.
Tell your story: why do you write? Once people know, they will want to read the rest. People decide based on emotions. The best products connect you with a story

It's not about how big your audience is. It's about how active they are.

Network by using your story.

No matter what the subject, connect it to your experiences.

Keynote speaker @CoryMiller303 of iThemes
-What can you devote five years to?
Your work should make people's lives better.
-What does your perfect playground look like? Base your goals on getting there.
-How are you going to make money? Take care of those you love. Passion without profit is a hobby
-Who's your pirate crew? If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together (African proverb). Decide who your team is and how you can work together.
-What would you give up to get it? My secret motivating kick in the pants- fear of regret.
-What are you doing NOW to achieve your dream? Do one thing today that makes the biggest impact. Vision without execution is hallucination- Einstein

The How and Why of Multi-Author Blogging
by Kyle Judkins, of Lost in Technology

Main road: blogging about your interests
Pros: more content, expand topics, increased network, become an editor, become a manager
Cons: loss of control, loss of voice, share the wealth, become an editor, become a manager

Pitfalls: expectations
Don't be too nice. If your writers need help, teach them.
Models:
1. Partners
2. Revenue share: for larger blogs

3. Finding authors:
-post on your own blog
-job boards (like Problogger)
-guest blogging (like My Blog Guest or Blogger Link Up)
-look for passion
-turnover happens, expect it

4. Paying authors:
-start at $10/post
-reinvest your freelance revenue or your own money
-taxes 1099
-build a template for paying them
--create an onboarding letter and writing guidelines. It will save both of you time.

5. Collaboration
Google Docs, Facebook groups help this so that authors stay longer, but it takes work

Multi-author plugins, such as edit flow: calendar, editorial comments; user role editor: a little complicated; audit trail

Resources
bit.ly/multiauthor
This presentation
payroll example
new writer template

The King & Uncle Sam, Linkbuilding for WordPress,
by Rebecca Haden of Haden Interactive
All websites need linkbuilding
-Links are a vote of confidence for search engines.
-Links can send traffic.
-Links increase authority.
Everything should be as simple as possible. No simpler. -Einstein
Create something that people will want to link to.

Use your settings
-use permalinks to create easy URLs (or "pretty links")
-allow trackbacks and pingbacks
-check your privacy settings to make sure the box is unchecked, allow search engines to find you

Linkbuilding Plugins are for internal links
NRelate
Broken Link Checker
Internal Link Builder
Linkbox Inserter (Ultimate SEO)
Related Content by WordNik

Problems with H3 headings can be caused by your plugins. Plugins can make your widgets.

Widgets: create category feeds

When posting:
"Title Edit" to improve your title
"Link to existing content" for fast internal links
Use categories and tags

80% of web traffic in the world comes through Google

Put as much effort into your comments as you do your posts.

In the Eye of the Beholder: Imagery in WordPress by @DesertRoseJenne

She often doesn't write until she finds the image.
Some basics: Copyright protects art. Reproduction is making copies. Distribution is who uses and shares the photo. Broadcasting is public sharing of photo. Adaptation is changing, distorting or editing the work.
Disclaimers do not explain away copyright.

Fair use only applies to copy-written work; lack of copyright symbol does not indicate fair use; commercial and non-commercial use.

Factors determining fair use
purpose of use (for profit or not?)
percent of total material (you can use approximately three lines of material before you're infringing)
effect on fair-market value
transformative
Kelly vs. Arriba 2002 "thumbnails are ok"
Digital Millenium Copyright Act (1998) DMCA

Derivative Creations (originals repurposed)
-stock photo galleries, such as istock, Dreamstime, Jupiter, Getty
-Library of Congress Prints and photos
-Creative Commons
-MS Office Clip Art
-Flickr/Tumblr: give them credit
-Ads, Etsy

Use with care:
Bing Free Image
Google Images
other blogs
Facebook
Pinterest
Models (get a release)

Greenlight:
non-profit
educational or personal use

When choosing an image look for: feeling words, action words, human, color, unique images, dimension, color, texture, theme, relevance

Google Advanced Settings: reuse- copy &/or modify images; commercial reuse/repurposes

Editing images: PowerPoint; faststone.org (full version 4.6)

Giving credit: creator's name, image title, description, website, publication date
or at least title, link to person's work & website where found

Expand your horizons:
-use watermarks & web addresses on your images
-put a copyright on your work
-set your own terms
-say "All Rights Reserved"
-Donate to Image Sharing Sites

Life is easy

Probably my favorite excerpt from this weekend's read:

"I laughed and said, Life is easy.

What I meant was, Life is easy with you here, and when you leave, it will be hard again."

-No one belongs here more than you. Stories by Miranda July

An Ode to my Alma Mater

A couple of weeks ago, I posted this picture of my name on the University of Arkansas senior walk to my Facebook page. It got lots of positive feedback, even though I was really posting for my enjoyment: all that work to earn an undergraduate degree and a decent portfolio...and here it is "etched in stone." Then one of my friends responded a few days later with "April, I love you but when I saw your 'etched in stone' pic, I wanted to throw up."

There are plenty of things that can go wrong on any campus. My experience as an employee has been vastly different from my experience as a student- and each of those came with good & bad experiences, like all other things in life. Unfortunately, this friend has a reason to especially despise the University. And I just have to say that I'm not simply wearing some rose-colored glasses around here.

This week, I've been logging extra, extra miles of walking because I can't renew my parking permit. Until now, I've had a faculty yellow zone sticker, which affords me a parking space at a reasonable distance.

However, currently I don't qualify as a "faculty/staff" member or a "student," even though you could say I'm both.

I work 40 hours a week on campus. I have for a long time. These days, those 40 hours are split evenly between two offices. Last year, they were split between even more offices.

I'm not eligible for health insurance, retirement matching or any of the benefits that "real" University employees supposedly get.

Now that I've been offered free tuition, I'm waiting on the denial or acceptance of my graduate school application packet. Until I know, I'm neither a "fully-appointed" employee" or a "student eligible to be enrolled." Which means I can't even park legally anywhere near my office without paying a ton.

Yesterday I walked three miles just getting from one office to the next and to lunch.

~

All that considered, I'm still glad I went to the U of A for my undergraduate degree.

Just because it can be very frustrating to work for an organization that only sees you as employee 50439852089485 who is not eligible for benefits, doesn't mean that I didn't do my best as a student, enjoy my writing workshops, learn some great skills, make helpful connections, or even enjoy my time here. And it doesn't mean that I don't like my job. I'm grateful, and lucky to get to do something I enjoy.

When I arrived on campus as a student, I immediately felt more comfortable on campus to do my best work. It wasn't stifling as one campus I'd lived on, where I constantly had someone looking over my shoulder (even though I did nothing but study and practice music there) and it challenged me more than the summer courses I took on another campus. What's more, it's relatively close to home. As a 17-yr-old high school graduate who was strongly encouraged by family to stay in-state, this was the best possible option for me.

The U of A gave me the resources to turn my writing into an effective, marketable tool.

It felt like a long, tedious process some days, but I worked hard, enjoyed what I was doing and met a lot of interesting people. The professors in print journalism have gone out of their way to help me a number of times and in recent years I've done the same for them.

This campus is a good place to continue your education and make the connection from your hopes and dreams to something to use in the real world.

And even if your university gained a bad reputation along the way for incidents like those of Penn State, is that really a reason to discredit all the other people who continue their dedication to their subject, who are hard-working, intelligent and helping those around them? Shouldn't they be proud of their work anyway?

Dream Big!

This weekend's benefit for the Children's Safety Center was a light-hearted and enjoyable event that raised more than $35,000 for the abused children of northwest Arkansas. Mr. Happy (the band shown above) was the entertainment for the evening, playing covers for an audience with some sweet dance moves.

If you're interested in giving to the Children's Safety Center, but weren't able to attend Saturday, the local botique Tesori has a promotion to benefit them, as well. Buy a shopping bag and the proceeds go to the safety center, while the shopping discounts go to you on purple bag days.

Birthday Shenanigans

My birthday began with a short and sweet trip with my family to the Botanical Gardens for the Sunday morning farmer's market, followed by a pleasant brunch at the Little Bread Company.

I got this goofy little card from my coworkers, with several comments of "they should've named you July!" and "skip the social media, go crazy in the physical world!"

Between meet-ups with friends, I took a nap on my birthday present.

It's a beautiful cherry wood four-poster bed with a wrought iron headboard.

In the afternoon, a couple of my friends from home drove in and we caught up over some lovely entrees and martinis at Bonefish Grill.

In a dual celebration of my birthday and Dr. Khadka's new research job in Germany, we celebrated with a delicious chocolate-covered chocolate cake.

Having been stuck living inside a GRE study book for too long, I didn't check which restaurants would be open on a Sunday, so our festivities at Theo's were cancelled along with the back-up plans for Bordino's and/or the Wine Cellar.

So instead, we hit up Brewski's, like the old days, and after some persistence from a certain friend, we spent an evening belting Tracy Chapman at Infusions.

Thanks to Zak for the following pictures.

Mitsi is a ghost, apparently.

Singing "I get by with a little help from my friends"

I don't know what's going on with Camilla here, but I like it.

The karaoke queen herself.

"Fast Car"

Infusions is in this narrow little cupboard of a place on Dickson Street. They have cheap drinks and crazy lights.

The pianist of Revolution Butterfly joined us and even took a solo himself.

Zak taking too much liberty with the camera.

Best birthday yet.

Little did we know we'd be back so soon for Camilla's birthday...

misplaced contrition

You're done with him, then?
(he asked.) She looked out the window
and said nothing

Sybok warp-drives to Arkansas

I met the original Sybok on Saturday during another City Wire excursion, but my favorite part of his public conversation was the discussion of his life- not just the experiences on the set of Star Trek- and his easygoing manner.

Larry Luckinbill married Lucie Arnaz, the daughter of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, the stars of I Love Lucy.

“She married me because I didn’t know her folks,” he said. “I had heard of the show, but never watched it, and I didn’t care.

“The first time we went out, I took her into the mountains to look at the leaves and she took a bunch of pictures. On the way back, she said ‘you remember the episode…’ and I said ‘no, I don’t,’” he said.

It seemed to baffle or fascinate her.

“A lot of people around her just wanted to be close to stardust.”

Luckinbill strongly heeded his down-to-earth country folk quality back then and continues to live proudly by it now.

“I’m from Arkansas, where everybody’s equal,” he said to the audience as he propped his feet up on an ottoman and adjusted his baseball cap.

“When I met Desi and Lucy, I wasn’t going to tapdance for them,” he said. “First of all, I’m a terrible tapdancer.”

If Luckinbill’s life is ever featured in a movie, he would like Brad Pitt to play himself because he has respect for him as an actor. But in truth, “I would want to play it,” he said, smiling.

Meeting Sybok

I met Sybok (from Star Trek) today.
Turns out he graduated from the University of Arkansas and makes April jokes, too.

"What's your name?"
"April"
"Have you ever been to Paris?"
"I haven't, but Ella & Billie tell me it's a feeling you can't reprise."

At least his is original...



















Laurence Luckinbill was super down-to-earth. We were supposed to meet in the basement of the library, where he could speak behind a podium to rows and rows of people in a very clearly marked audience area. Instead, he asked to move us to the cheery reading room, where the sunlight filters in through the broad windows and we could all chat in a semi-circle of comfy chairs.

He spoke candidly about his time as Sybok, his acting career, his marriage to the daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and said of Arkansas, "This place is a dream place. You're lucky to live here."














Someone in the audience told me that when he stepped back onto his old stage here on campus, he looked around and said, "This is where I was born. Right here."

Summer Salsa

The EOA Children's House is a great organization that provides therapy and education for very young, disadvantaged children who need stability in their lives.

The Summer Salsa event at George's Majestic Lounge celebrated their work Saturday night by raising money for basic, functional costs related to the organization, such as the transit that picks up each student directly from their homes.

Here are a couple images that I love that went unpublished.

This shot doesn't have the greatest composition or lighting, but I think it captures the energy and fun of Ultra Suede: a cover band that brought lots and lots of audience members (I'm talking as many as they could possibly fit) on stage to dance, shake some tambourines and sing.

















Some of the audience members went into diva mode.
I love it.

Ghost of Fayetteville Past and Present

I got a sneak peek into the kitchen at Ella's Restaurant on another City Wire excursion. Executive chef and restaurant owner, Bill Lyle was kind enough to share his story with me, give insights on his next business project and explain why Ella's has a personal, local touch that sets them apart.



Many of Ella's employees have worked there for years, a big testament to the restaurant's working atmosphere.






I love that Carnall Hall has so much history behind it and continues to be a part of Fayetteville and the campus, even more than a century after being a girls' dormitory.







You can meet the chef at the local farmer's market, when he's picking up ingredients for the next tasty dish.

Books in Bloom

I went to the Books in Bloom festival at the historic Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs out of curiosity (and to cover it for the City Wire), not thinking I'd find anything in particular that I'd want to read. My book wish-list and must-read list from friends is already out of hand, but the event was so diverse, it was difficult to choose which author to talk to at which times. There were five hour-long premiere presentations by the most well known authors, a reading tent that constantly housed an author reading snipets of their works and booths for each author to talk with readers informally.

So much to do, see, read! So little time!

Crescent Dragonwagon spoke dynamically about the role of food in life, a world of sensory memories and coming to terms with the death of friends and of ourselves.

You don't exactly hear Crescent speak, so much as experience her speaking- her wild and quick movements, the sweeping of arms, the clanking of bracelets, swishing of her long print skirt against her striped blazer, the brilliance of her smile against her fiery red hair. She has an amzingly adept form of storytelling, not just on paper in any of her 50 books, but in person, in acting it out.

I sat too close to the front of the room, so during one of these acted out stories, I was inadvertenly grabbed by the elbow and became a character in the story, in front of a full room of 70+ people. Gotta keep an eye on those authors and reporters.

The author of this book is a psychic, who claimed to have seen the stories appear on her windshield while driving along I-40 past Eureka Springs. When her blackout ended, she said she was in New Mexico (even though she wasn't planning on going to New Mexico.) Logistical problems aside (How did running out of gas not bother her trance? Didn't she get hungry? Didn't she go above or severely below the speed limit at some point?) it's an interesting story. Really hope I never have to pump out a novel based on such a strong mental intervention...

These two ladies have a great arrangement as co-authors. Day after day, they meet in the same coffeeshop for scones and coffee, while one relates to the other what she'd like to say. Since her sight is so poor, she can't do any of the writing or typing herself. How awesome is it that she can continue to relate her stories? As a historian and deep family roots in Eureka, I'm sure they're invaluable to the town.

After the event, I took a break to stroll around Eureka. For now, I'm just redecorating, but I'm having plenty of daydreams of living in a place that doesn't have a stranger constantly singing karoke upstairs; somewhere with a patio and enough space to entertain.

I love these little splashes of red here and there.

Earth laughs in flowers

Below are just a few of my personal images from Gardens Uncorked! at the Compton Gardens in Bentonville earlier this month, which I covered for the City Wire.

This sweet couple serving wine poured generously and made everyone feel welcome, stopping people to talk along the garden trail. They asked me why I kept writing things down, and encouraged me to think about advertising for the City Wire on billboards and other physical media, to reach a wider audience ("those who don't use the internet much"). I did my best to take their advice and not mention that I didn't have anything to do with advertising or editorial decisions.

The meadow was chock full of different plant species. Foxglove was everywhere.

These had beautiful markings on the inside.

My personal favorites seemed to glow as the light was dying.

Inbetween taking advantage of the blueberry brie, hors d’oeuvres and champagne, this lovely jazz duo (often seen at Legacy Blues) kept the atmosphere warm as we moved inside for dinner.