Shamash Says...

Good-bye 2007

2007 was an eventful year for Shamash Says. My blogging life was put on hold as I pursued other passions such as art, grad classes, and working on my novel.  I remain anonymous, yet for those of you who know where I live and the recent events in this country Somewhere in Asia, the lines of communication, including the internet, were down for weeks at a time during the past four months. Compared to other years, the number of posts for Shamash Says has decreased, yet my traffic has increased primarily due to google images. In December I reached the image via ffffound

80,000 hit mark. As a way of remembering 2007, I'm following the meme of Jeff and Terry  and have picked the first lines from the first posts of each month. Eclectic, eclectic!

January:
In the Mirror Here are a few of my photography experiments on reflective surfaces.

February:
Five Things You Didn't Know About Me What do a tattooed Hell’s Angel, a parachute, a shot of whiskey, a motorbike, Jimmy Carter, and a cockroach have in common?

March:
Taking Notice “And the days go by, and the years follow the years, and we walk sightless through miracles." -Jewish proverb

April:
Sky Bar: My Favorite Bar on Earth  It’s high. It’s cool. It’s invigorating. It’s how I like my Friday nights in the sexiest city in Asia.

May:
Coaching the Creative Process  Creating art in any form requires showing up regularly at the dance floor, the easel, the musical instrument, the page.

June: The Big Apple Store, Fifth Avenue, NY  We’ve shopped for antiques in Rangoon, silverware in Bangkok, silk in Saigon, but nothing compares to our adventures in the Big Apple.

July:
The Mall of America: Bigger? Better? Best? I realize that I’ve entered this place with the eye of a stranger in a strange land.

August
A Woman Should Have...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE…
A set of screwdrivers,
a cordless drill, and
a black lace bra...

September
Yes, It's True It rained a lot the past few days. What we see on the surface is only a percentage of what might be.

October
"Every community needs a group of angelic troublemakers." -- Bayard Rustin

November
Waking Up with a Bindi Last night I donned one of my saris and headed out to celebrate the Festival of Lights, Indian Devali.

It's been a crazy, wonky year, my friends! May 2008 bring you growth, enlightenment, and a bountiful life of "living in the now."

The Class that Ruined My Blog Life

Over the years blogging had taken me away from my spiral, hardbound notebooks, my multi-colored pens, my propensity to glue things (like ticket stubs, favorite articles, and paraphernalia found on bar counters, restaurants floors, and airplane seat pockets) into my journal . So, when I saw the Split Rock Arts Program offering the course called “The Visual Journal: Exploring Urban Landscape" taught by artist by Julie Baugnet (an artist featured in Drawing from Life by Jennifer New), I caught the first plane to the Twin Cities. I wasn’t disappointed.

(all photos by shamash)

5 Blogs That Make Me Think

  Terry of I See Invisible People bequeathed upon me a Thinking Blogger Award. Thanks, Terry!

Besides Terry, (whose blog I read daily) here are five more awards of my own given out to those people whose provocative insights have deeply affected my perspective and challenged my thinking. They’re worth a read, and truly deserve a Thinking Blog Award.

My oh my!!!

Wanna find out what people are saying about my previous post?

"Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not hers" to "She probably makes patchouli smells and wears unamusing old Birkenstocks" to "I will allow no criticism of the fine people who invented the funnel cake" to "I'm siding with the Mennonites until that woman makes me french toast as delicious as the portion served to me by Mennonites at Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market."

Gratitude for Connections

Remember the birthday? Remember the 6,000th hit? Well, sometime last night, Shamash Says got its 20,000th page view. But the numbers aren't so important anymore. The bloggers are. The connections are.

Over at Lifestylism, Jeremy discusses the balanced life.

Over at The Voices from the Mountain, I get to keep up-to-date with LamaMamaJama, who just started her permaculture-building-family blog this week. (Welcome, sister!:-) Then, Expat accepted a new teaching position over at Expat Nomad, And best of all? Over at think:lab I discover that the writing of my students inspires someone else (other than me!) 10,000 miles away. (That post brought tears to my eyes!) And then, as always, there is the consistant, delicious marriage of visual imagery and insightful content over at Moon River.

So here's to connections, and to so many of you out there whom I've never met. Your writing has influenced my life.

A Year in the Life of Shamash

This week, "Shamash Says" turned one year old. There was no candle on a cake, but instead a birth: to twins! Shamash stayed up till the wee hours of the morning creating two sister professional blogs, and they have all their fingers and toes.

"Shamash Says" began as an experiment to see if a non-tech-geek English teacher could maintain a personal blog. A year ago, Shamash barely knew what the word “blog” meant, yet alone how to act on one. So she entered the blogosphere a bit naïve, and completely unprepared for how blogging would revolutionize her life.

To this day, Shamash knows the names and faces of but two friends who blog. The rest: she met in the blogosphere.

Here’s what happened this past year.

Tag, You're It!

You've just been memed. I found this over at Dana's place:

1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same.

Mine comes from a posting entitled

"Reverse Culture Shock: Surreal Moments in the U.S."- January 2005

"In December, at a stoplight, with the EiffelTower in the distance, I stand behind a shirtless Native-American (click to enlarge photo.)"

Ah, the memories.

I tag Darth Vader,  kristy, terry, Tish G., and Michiel.

Shamash Makes University News

Seems the University of Wisconson Whitewater found one of my blog entries worthy of posting at their site. Check out the September 20th entry: "Is an Academic Blog 'Scholarly'?". What a nice Saturday-morning-over-coffee-surprise to see a link to my blog, especially since I spent a lot of time researching my claim.

-This might be especially interesting to my COHORTS who had to listen to my rant! ;-)

10,000th Hit

Sometime last night, Shamash Says had it's 10,000th hit. My regular readers will remember what happened in May, which was somehow more significant than this number. I'm not sure why. The 10,000th hit came via this yahoo search. Thanks to all of you who take time to read Shamash Says, and especially those who take the time to comment. Blog on!

Is an Academic Blog "Scholarly"?

"Five years from now, professors won't need to be convinced that some academic blogs can be considered scholarly sources. And in ten years? Educators won't be relying solely on university libraries to find an article that has been peer reviewed. By then, the educational academia will have caught up with the professionals who work in law, politics, and journalism."