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20 <script src="http://html5shim.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/html5.js"> </script> 20 <script src="http://html5shim.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/html5.js"> </script>
21 <![endif]--> 21 <![endif]-->
22 </head> 22 </head>
23<body id="about" class="meta"> 23<body id="about">
24 24
25 25
26 <article class="container"> 26 <article class="container">
@@ -31,70 +31,120 @@
31 31
32 <div class="header-extra"> 32 <div class="header-extra">
33 33
34 <!-- epigraph -->
35 <div class="epigraph">
36 by Case Duckworth
37
38 </div>
39 </div> 34 </div>
40 </header> 35 </header>
41 36
37 <a id="src" href="about.txt">&para;</a>
38
42 39
43 <section class="content prose"> 40 <section class="content prose">
44 <section id="introduction" class="level2"> 41 <section id="introduction" class="level2">
45 <h2>Introduction</h2> 42 <h2>Introduction</h2>
46 <p><em>Autocento <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/owh/abt.html">of the breakfast table</a></em> is a hypertextual exploration of the workings of revision across time. Somebody<sup>[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Dealing_with_unsourced_material">citation needed</a>]</sup> once said that every relationship we have is part of the same relationship; the same is true of authorship. As we write, as we continue writing across our lives, patterns thread themselves through our work: images, certain phrases, preoccupations. This project attempts to make those threads more apparent, using the technology of hypertext.</p> 43 <p><em>Autocento <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/owh/abt.html">of the breakfast table</a></em> is a hypertextual exploration of the workings of revision across time. Somebody<sup>[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Dealing_with_unsourced_material">citation needed</a>]</sup> once said that every relationship we have is part of the same relationship; the same is true of authorship. As we write, as we continue writing across our lives, patterns thread themselves through our work: images, certain phrases, preoccupations. This project attempts to make those threads more apparent, using the technology of hypertext and the opposing ideas of the <em>hapax legomenon</em> and the <em>cento</em>, held in tension with each other.</p>
47 <p>I’m also an MFA candidate at <a href="http://nau.edu/CAL/English/Degrees-Programs/Graduate/MFA/">Northern Arizona University</a>. This is my thesis.</p> 44 <p>I’m also an MFA candidate at <a href="http://nau.edu/CAL/English/Degrees-Programs/Graduate/MFA/">Northern Arizona University</a>. This is my thesis. Let me tell you about it.</p>
45 <section id="hapax-legomenon-or-you-are-special" class="level3">
46 <h3><a href="hapax.html">Hapax</a> legomenon, or <em>You are special</em></h3>
47 <p><em>Hapax legomenon</em> (<a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=a%28/pac">ἅπαξ</a> λεγόμενον) is Greek for “something said only once.” It comes from the field of corpus linguistics, where it causes problems for translators of ancient texts. Because it only happens once in its corpus, a <em>hapax legmonenon</em> is an enigma: there’s only one context to guess its meaning from. This means that many <em>hapax legomena</em> remain untranslated, as in Mayan tablets, or are questionably translated, as in the Bible.</p>
48 <p>Given the way we use language every day, treading over the same words and thoughts in a way that is nonetheless comforting, and given the fact that a <em>hapax legomenon</em> is, by its definition, the rarest word in the place it appears, you might think that <em>hapax legomena</em>, as phenomena, are rare. You’d be wrong. In the Brown Corpus of American English Text, which comprises some fifty thousand words, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hapax_legomenon#cite_note-6">about half are <em>hapax legomena</em></a>. In most large corpora, in fact, between forty and sixty per cent of the words occur only once, and another ten to fifteen per cent occur only twice, a fact that I imagine causes translators all sorts of <a href="one-hundred-lines.html">grief</a>.</p>
49 <p>This seeming paradox is reminiscent of another in biology, as summed up by this infographic I keep seeing around the Internet<a href="#fn1" class="footnoteRef" id="fnref1"><sup>1</sup></a>: <img src="https://i.imgur.com/Dub8k.png" alt="Really. I see it everywhere." /></p>
50 <p>Apparently, the chances of you, dear Reader, being born is <a href="music-433.html">something</a> like one in 10<sup>2,685,000</sup>. The chances of me <a href="about-the-author.html">being born</a> is <a href="poetry-time.html">something</a> like one in 10<sup>2,685,000</sup>. The chances of the guy you stood behind in line <a href="yellow.html">for your coffee</a> this morning? His chance of being born was <a href="dollywood.html">something</a> like one in 10<sup>2,685,000</sup>. The thing is, a number like one in 10<sup>2,685,000</sup> stops meaning so much when we take the number of times such a “rare” event occurs. There are about seven billion (or <math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><mrow><mn>7</mn><mo>×</mo><msup><mn>10</mn><mn>9</mn></msup></mrow><annotation encoding="application/x-tex">7 \times 10^{9}</annotation></semantics></math>) people on Earth—and all of them have that same small chance of one in 10<sup>2,685,000</sup> of being born. And they all were.</p>
51 <p>It stops seeming so special after thinking about it.</p>
52 </section>
53 <section id="cento-or-just-like-everyone-else" class="level3">
54 <h3><em>Cento</em>, or <em>just like everyone else</em></h3>
55 <p><em>Cento</em> is Latin, stolen from the Greek κέντρόνη, which means “patchwork garment.” A <em>cento</em> is a poem composed completely from parts of other poems, a mash-up that makes up for its lack of originality in utterance with a novelty in arrangement.</p>
56 <p>If we apply the <em>cento</em> to biology, we can win back some of that uniqueness, we can resolve some of that paradox of the <em>hapax legomenon</em>. Sure, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1%3A9&amp;version=NIV">nothing is new under the sun</a>, but it can be made new if we say it differently, or if we put it next to something it hasn’t met before. We can become hosts to the parties of our lives, and rub elbows with the same tired celebrities everyone’s rubbed elbows with, but make it different. Because <em>we</em> put the <a href="call-me-aural-pleasure.html">tables on roller skates</a>. Because <em>we</em> told <a href="creation-myth.html">the joke</a> this time with a Rabbi. Because <em>we</em> are special <a href="snow.html">snowflakes</a>, and it doesn’t matter that there’s more of us than there is sand on the beaches at Normandy. Because <em>we</em> are still all different somehow.</p>
57 </section>
58 <section id="on-n-grams" class="level3">
59 <h3>On <em>n</em>-grams</h3>
60 <p>What we have so far: - A <em>hapax legomenon</em> technically refers only to <em>one word</em> in a corpus. - A <em>cento</em> technically refers to a poem with <em>whole phrases</em> taken from others, patchwork-style.</p>
61 <p>These concepts get more interesting as we play with their scopes. To do that, we need to take a look at the <em>n</em>-gram.</p>
62 <p>In linguistics and computational probability, an <em>n</em>-gram is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-gram">contiguous system of <em>n</em> items from a given sequence of text or speech</a>. By looking at <em>n</em>-grams, linguists can look at deeper trends in language than with single words alone<a href="#fn2" class="footnoteRef" id="fnref2"><sup>2</sup></a>. <em>N</em>-grams are also incredibly useful in natural language processing—for example, they’re how your phone can guess what you’re going to <a href="mountain.html">text your mom</a> next<a href="#fn3" class="footnoteRef" id="fnref3"><sup>3</sup></a>. They’re also the key to fully reconciling the <em>hapax legomenon</em> and the <em>cento</em>.</p>
63 <p>If the definition of <em>hapax legomena</em> is expanded to include <em>n</em>-grams of arbitrary lengths, including full utterances, complete poems, or the <a href="http://shakespeare.mit.edu/">collected works of, say, Shakespeare</a>, then we can say that all writing is a <em>hapax legomenon</em>, because no one else has said the <a href="http://www.thisdayinquotes.com/2011/07/poetry-best-words-in-best-order.html">same words in the same order</a>. In short, everything written or in existence is individual. Everything is differentiated. Everything is an <a href="island.html">island</a>.</p>
64 <p>If the definition of what comprises a <em>cento</em> is minimized to individual trigrams, bigrams, or even unigrams (individual words), or even parts of words, we arrive again at Solomon’s lament: that no writing is original; that every utterance has, in some <a href="howtoread.html">scrambled</a> way at least, been uttered before. To put it another way, <a href="no-nothing.html">nothing</a> is individual. We’re stranded <a href="riptide_memory.html">afloat on an ocean</a> of language we did nothing to create, and the best we can hope to accomplish is to find some combination of flotsam and jetsam that hasn’t been put together too many times before.</p>
65 <p>This project, <em>Autocento of the breakfast table</em>, works within the tension caused by <em>hapax legomena</em> and <em>centi</em>, between the first and last half of the statement <em>we are all unique, just like everyone else</em>.</p>
48 </section> 66 </section>
49 <section id="genesis" class="level2">
50 <h2>Genesis</h2>
51 <p>This project revolves around two sister concepts: the <em>hapax legomenon</em> and the <em>cento</em>.</p>
52 <p><em>Hapax legomenon</em> (<a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=a%28/pac">ἅπαξ</a> λεγόμενον) is Greek for “something said only once.” It’s used in linguistics to describe words that appear only once in a corpus. If expanded to <em>n-grams</em>, it can be used to describe utterances that occur only once, and this is where it gets interesting. If this line of thinking is taken to its logical conclusion, we can say that all writing, all utterances, are <em>hapax legomena</em>, because they appear only once in the world as they are. In short, everything is individual; everything is differentiated; everything is an island.</p>
53 <p>On the other hand, a <em>cento</em>, from the Latin, from the Greek κέντρόνη, meaning “patchwork garment,” is a poem composed completely of fragments of other poems. It’s a mash-up that makes up for its lack of originality in utterance with a novelty in arrangement. Usually, it refers to taking phrases, lines, or stanzas from other authors’ works, but I don’t see why it couldn’t refer to <em>n-grams</em> or individual words. If <em>this</em> line of thinking is taken to its logical conclusion, we can say that no writing is truly original; that every utterance has, in some scrambled way at least, been uttered before. In other words, nothing is individual. We float on an ocean of language which we did nothing to create, and the best we can hope for is to find some combination that hasn’t been thought of too many times before. As Solomon said, “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1%3A9&amp;version=NIV">There is nothing new under the sun</a>.”</p>
54 <p><em>Autocento of the breakfast table</em> works within the tension caused by these two concepts.</p>
55 </section> 67 </section>
56 <section id="process" class="level2"> 68 <section id="process" class="level2">
57 <h2>Process</h2> 69 <h2>Process</h2>
58 <p>In compiling the works that make up this text, I’ve pulled from a few different projects:</p> 70 <p>In compiling this text, I’ve pulled from a few different projects:</p>
59 <ul> 71 <ul>
60 <li><a href="and.html">Elegies for alternate selves</a></li> 72 <li>[Elegies for alternate selves][elegies-link]</li>
61 <li><a href="prelude.html">The book of Hezekiah</a></li> 73 <li>[The book of Hezekiah][hez-link]</li>
62 <li><a href="table_contents.html">Stark raving</a></li> 74 <li>[Stark raving][stark-link]</li>
63 <li><a href="art.html">Buildings out of air</a></li> 75 <li>[Buildings out of air][paul-link]</li>
64 </ul> 76 </ul>
65 <p>as well as added new articles, written quite recently. As I’ve compiled them into this project, I’ve linked them together based on common images or language, moving back and forth through time. This should give the reader a fair idea of what my head looks like on the inside.</p> 77 <p>as well as <a href="last-passenger.html">new poems</a>, written quite recently. As I’ve compiled them into this project, I’ve linked them together based on common images or language, disregarding the order of their compositions. What I hope to have accomplished with this hypertext is an approximation of my self as it’s evolved, but <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJjcF2DmFFY">all at one time</a>. Ultimately, <em>Autocento of the breakfast table</em> is a <a href="building.html">long-exposure photograph</a> of my mind.</p>
78 <section id="a-note-on-terminology" class="level3">
79 <h3>A note on terminology</h3>
80 <p><em>Autocento of the breakfast table</em> comprises work of multiple genres, including prose, verse, tables, lists, and hybrid forms. Because of this, and because of my own personal hang-ups with terms like <a href="on-genre-dimension.html"><em>poem</em></a> applying to works that aren’t verse (and even some that are<a href="#fn4" class="footnoteRef" id="fnref4"><sup>4</sup></a>), <em>piece</em> applying to anything, really (it’s just annoying, in my opinion—a piece of what?), I’ve needed to find another word to refer to all the <em>stuff</em> in this project. While the terms “literary object” and “intertext,” à la Kristeva et al., more fully describe the things I’ve been writing and linking in this text, I’m worried that these terms are either too long or too esoteric for me to refer to them consistently when talking about my work. I believe I’ve found a solution in the term <em>page</em>, as in a page or <a href="leaf.html">leaf</a> of a book, or a page on a website. After all, the term <em>page</em> is accurate as it refers to the objects herein–each one is a page—and it’s short and unassuming. But it’s probably pretty pretentious, too.</p>
81 </section>
82 <section id="the-inevitable-creep-of-technology" class="level3">
83 <h3>The inevitable creep of technology</h3>
84 <p>Because this project lives online (welcome to the Internet!), I’ve used a fair amount of technology to get it there.</p>
85 <p>First, I typed all of the objects present into a human-readable markup format called <a href="http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/">Markdown</a> by John Gruber, using a plain-text editor called <a href="http://www.vim.org">Vim</a>.<a href="#fn5" class="footnoteRef" id="fnref5"><sup>5</sup></a> Markdown is a plain-text format that uses unobtrusive mark-up to signal semantic meaning around a text. A text written with markup can then be passed to a compiler, such as John Gruber’s <code>Markdown.pl</code> script, to turn it into functioning HTML for viewing in a browser.</p>
86 <p>As an example, here’s the previous paragraph as I typed it:</p>
87 <pre class="sourceCode markdown"><code class="sourceCode markdown">First, I typed all of the objects present into a human-readable markup
88 format called <span class="ot">[Markdown][] </span>by John Gruber, using a plain-text editor called
89 <span class="ot">[Vim][]</span>.<span class="ot">[^5]</span> Markdown is a plain-text format that uses unobtrusive mark-up to
90 signal semantic meaning around a text. A text written with markup can then be
91 passed to a compiler, such as John Gruber&#39;s original Markdown.pl script, to
92 turn it into functioning HTML for viewing in a browser.
93
94 <span class="ot">[Markdown]: http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/</span>
95 <span class="ot">[Vim]: http://www.vim.org</span>
96
97 <span class="ot">[^5]</span>: I could&#39;ve used any text editor for the composition step, including
98 <span class="bn"> Notepad, but I personally like Vim for its extensibility, composability,</span>
99 <span class="bn"> and honestly its colorschemes.</span></code></pre>
100 <p>And here it is as a compiled HTML file:</p>
101 <pre class="sourceCode html"><code class="sourceCode html"><span class="kw">&lt;p&gt;</span>First, I typed all of the objects present into a human-readable markup format called <span class="kw">&lt;a</span><span class="ot"> href=</span><span class="st">&quot;http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/&quot;</span><span class="kw">&gt;</span>Markdown<span class="kw">&lt;/a&gt;</span> by John Gruber, using a plain-text editor called <span class="kw">&lt;a</span><span class="ot"> href=</span><span class="st">&quot;http://www.vim.org&quot;</span><span class="kw">&gt;</span>Vim<span class="kw">&lt;/a&gt;</span>.<span class="kw">&lt;a</span><span class="ot"> href=</span><span class="st">&quot;#fn1&quot;</span><span class="ot"> class=</span><span class="st">&quot;footnoteRef&quot;</span><span class="ot"> id=</span><span class="st">&quot;fnref1&quot;</span><span class="kw">&gt;&lt;sup&gt;</span>1<span class="kw">&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</span> Markdown is a plain-text format that uses unobtrusive mark-up to signal semantic meaning around a text. A text written with markup can then be passed to a compiler, such as John Gruber&#39;s original Markdown.pl script, to turn it into functioning HTML for viewing in a browser.<span class="kw">&lt;/p&gt;</span>
102 <span class="kw">&lt;section</span><span class="ot"> class=</span><span class="st">&quot;footnotes&quot;</span><span class="kw">&gt;</span>
103 <span class="kw">&lt;hr</span> <span class="kw">/&gt;</span>
104 <span class="kw">&lt;ol&gt;</span>
105 <span class="kw">&lt;li</span><span class="ot"> id=</span><span class="st">&quot;fn1&quot;</span><span class="kw">&gt;&lt;p&gt;</span>I could&#39;ve used any text editor for the composition step, including Notepad, but I personally like Vim for its extensibility, composability, and honestly its colorschemes.<span class="kw">&lt;a</span><span class="ot"> href=</span><span class="st">&quot;#fnref1&quot;</span><span class="kw">&gt;</span>↩<span class="kw">&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;</span>
106 <span class="kw">&lt;/ol&gt;</span>
107 <span class="kw">&lt;/section&gt;</span></code></pre>
108 <p>For these files, I opted to use John McFarlane’s <a href="http://johnmcfarlane.net/pandoc/">pandoc</a> over the original <code>Markdown.pl</code> compiler, because it’s more consistent with edge cases in formatting, and because it can compile the Markdown source into a wide variety of different formats, including DOCX, ODT, PDF, HTML, and others. I use an <a href="https://github.com/duckwork/autocento/blob/gh-pages/template.html">HTML template</a> for <code>pandoc</code> to correctly typeset each object in the web browser. The compiled HTML pages are what you’re reading now.</p>
109 <p>Since typing <code>pandoc [file].txt -t html5 --template=_template.html --filter=trunk/versify.exe --smart --mathml --section-divs -o [file].html</code> over 130 times is highly tedious, I’ve written a <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/make/">GNU</a> <a href="https://github.com/duckwork/autocento/blob/gh-pages/makefile">Makefile</a> that automates the process. In addition to compiling the HTML files for this project, the Makefile also compiles each page’s backlinks (accessible through the φ link at the bottom of each page), and the indexes of <a href="first-lines.html">first lines</a>, <a href="common-titles.html">common titles</a>, and <a href="hapx.html"><em>hapax legomena</em></a> of this project.</p>
110 <p>Finally, this project needs to enter the realm of the Internet. To do this, I use <a href="https://github.com">Github</a>, an online code-collaboration tool that uses the version-control system <a href="http://www.git-scm.com">git</a> under the hood. <code>git</code> was originally written to keep track of the source code of the <a href="http://www.linux.org">Linux</a> kernel.<a href="#fn6" class="footnoteRef" id="fnref6"><sup>6</sup></a> I use it to keep track of the revisions of the text files in <em>Autocento of the breakfast table</em>, which means that you, dear Reader, can explore the path of my revision even more deeply by viewing the <a href="https://github.com/duckwork/autocento">Github repository</a> for this project online.</p>
111 <p>For more information on the process I took while compiling <em>Autocento of the breakfast table</em>, see my <a href="process.html">Process</a> page.</p>
112 </section>
113 <section id="motivation" class="level3">
114 <h3>Motivation</h3>
115 <p>Although <code>git</code> and the other tools I use were developed or are mostly used by programmers, engineers, or other kinds of scientists, they’re useful in creative writing as well for a few different reasons:</p>
116 <ol type="1">
117 <li><strong>Facilitation of revision.</strong> By using a VCS like <code>git</code> and plain text files, I can revise a poem (for example, “[And][]”) and keep both the current version and a [much older one][old-and]. This lets me hold onto every idea I’ve had, and “throw things away” without <em>actually</em> throwing them away. They’re still there, somewhere, in the source tree.</li>
118 <li><strong>Future proofness.</strong> By using a simple text editor to write out my files instead of a proprietary word processor, I’ve ensured that no matter what may happen to the stocks of Microsoft, Apple, or Google in the following hundred years, my words will stay accessible and editable. Also, I don’t know how to insert links in Word.</li>
119 <li><strong>Philosophy of intellectual property.</strong> I use open-source, or libre, tools like <code>vim</code>, <code>pandoc</code>, and <code>make</code> because information should be free. This is also the reason why I’m releasing <em>Autocento of the breakfast table</em> under a Creative Commons <a href="license.html">license</a>.</li>
120 </ol>
66 </section> 121 </section>
67 <section id="technology" class="level2">
68 <h2>Technology</h2>
69 <p>Because this project lives online, I’ve used a fair amount of technology to get it there. First, I converted all the articles<a href="#fn1" class="footnoteRef" id="fnref1"><sup>1</sup></a> present into plain text files, which are viewable from <a href="index-txt.html">here</a>. Then, I used John McFarlane’s venerable document preparation system <a href="http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/">pandoc</a>, along with a <a href="https://github.com/duckwork/autocento/blob/gh-pages/makefile">makefile</a> to compile the text sources to HTML using <a href="https://github.com/duckwork/autocento/blob/gh-pages/template.html">this template</a>. The compiled HTML is what you’re reading now.<a href="#fn2" class="footnoteRef" id="fnref2"><sup>2</sup></a></p>
70 <p>To host the project, I’m using <a href="https://github.com/">Github</a>, an online code-collaboration tool with the version control system <a href="http://www.git-scm.com/">git</a> under the hood. This enables me (and you, dear Reader!) to explore the path of revision even more, from beginning to end, based on my commits to the repository. You can view the repository and its changes and files at <a href="https://github.com/duckwork/autocento">my Github profile</a>.<a href="#fn3" class="footnoteRef" id="fnref3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
71 </section> 122 </section>
72 <section id="using-this-site" class="level2"> 123 <section id="autocento-of-the-breakfast-table-and-you" class="level2">
73 <h2>Using this site</h2> 124 <h2><em>Autocento of the breakfast table</em> and you</h2>
74 <p>All of the articles on this site are linked together hypertextually (i.e., like a webpage). This means that all you need to do to explore the creative threads linking these articles together is to start clicking links. However, if you find you’re looping around to a lot of the same articles, you can head back to the <a href="first-lines.html">index</a> and click through the titles in order—that article contains the titles of all the other works in this project.</p> 125 <section id="using-this-site" class="level3">
75 <p>Alternatively, you can click the lozenge (◊) at the bottom of each page. It’ll take you to a random article in the project, thanks to <a href="https://github.com/duckwork/autocento/blob/gh-pages/trunk/lozenge.js">this javascript</a>.</p> 126 <h3>Using this site</h3>
76 <p>If you want to experience the earlier projects in something resembling the original orders, previous and next links are provided at the bottom of each page, next to the lozenge. Sometimes, there are more than one of each of these, or there are none, dependant on the structure of their original project.</p> 127 <p>Since all of the objects in this project are linked, you can begin from, say, <a href="in-bed.html">here</a> and follow the links through everything. But if you find yourself lost as in a funhouse maze, looping around and around to the same stupid <a href="dollywood.html">fountain</a> at the entrance, here are a few tips:</p>
128 <ul>
129 <li>The ξ link at the bottom of each page leads to a random article.</li>
130 <li>The φ link at the bottom of each page leads to its back-link page, which lists the titles of pages that link back to the page you were just on.</li>
131 <li>Finally, if you’re really desperate, the ◊ link sends you back to the <a href="index.html">cover page</a>, where you can start over. The cover page links you to the <a href="_toc.html">table of contents</a>, as well as the indexes of <a href="first-lines.html">first lines</a>, <a href="common-titles.html">common titles</a>, and <a href="hapax.html"><em>hapax legomena</em></a>.</li>
132 </ul>
77 </section> 133 </section>
78 <section id="things-still-to-do" class="level2"> 134 <section id="contact-me" class="level3">
79 <h2>Things still to do</h2> 135 <h3>Contact me</h3>
80 <p><em>Autocento of the breakfast table</em> is a work in progress. The first draft is completed, but some revision and aesthetic work remains to be done for me to consider it fully “<a href="published.html">published</a>” (what does this word mean in 2015?). You can see the full list of to-dos by visiting the <a href="https://github.com/duckwork/autocento/issues">issues page</a> of the Github site.</p> 136 <p>If you’d like to contact me about the state of this work, its history, or its future; or about my writing in general, email me at [case dot duckworth plus autocento at gmail dot com][].</p>
81 </section> 137 </section>
82 <section id="contact-me" class="level2">
83 <h2>Contact me</h2>
84 <p>If you’d like to contact me about the state of this work or my writing in general, you can email me at <script type="text/javascript">
85 <!--
86 h='&#x61;&#x75;&#116;&#x6f;&#x63;&#x65;&#110;&#116;&#x6f;&#46;&#x6d;&#x65;';a='&#64;';n='&#x63;&#x61;&#x73;&#x65;';e=n+a+h;
87 document.write('<a h'+'ref'+'="ma'+'ilto'+':'+e+'" clas'+'s="em' + 'ail">'+e+'<\/'+'a'+'>');
88 // -->
89 </script><noscript>&#x63;&#x61;&#x73;&#x65;&#32;&#x61;&#116;&#32;&#x61;&#x75;&#116;&#x6f;&#x63;&#x65;&#110;&#116;&#x6f;&#32;&#100;&#x6f;&#116;&#32;&#x6d;&#x65;</noscript>.</p>
90 <!-- links & footnotes -->
91 </section> 138 </section>
92 <section class="footnotes"> 139 <section class="footnotes">
93 <hr /> 140 <hr />
94 <ol> 141 <ol>
95 <li id="fn1"><p>I’ve decided to use the word <em>article</em> instead of <em>poem</em>, because not all of the texts included are poems; and instead of <em>piece</em>, because <em>piece</em> is vague and, to my mind, pretentious. I’m aware that the true <a href="http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=article">etymology</a> of <em>article</em> does not reflect my use of it, namely “a little chunk of art”, a la the (personal folk) derivation of <em>icicle</em>, <em>treicle</em>, etc.<a href="#fnref1">↩</a></p></li> 142 <li id="fn1"><p>Which apparently, though not really surprisingly given the nature of the Internet, has its roots in <a href="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/abinazir/2011/06/15/what-are-chances-you-would-be-born/">this</a> blog post.<a href="#fnref1">↩</a></p></li>
96 <li id="fn2"><p>The great thing about <code>pandoc</code> is that it can compile to, and convert between, about fifty formats or so. This means that if, in the future, I choose to convert this project to a printable form (for example PDF, ODT, or even DOCX), I’ll be able to with a fairly small amount of work.<a href="#fnref2">↩</a></p></li> 143 <li id="fn2"><p>For more fun with <em>n</em>-grams, I recommend the curious reader to point their browsers to the <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=technically+refers&amp;case_insensitive=on&amp;year_start=1600&amp;year_end=2008&amp;corpus=15&amp;smoothing=3&amp;share=&amp;direct_url=t4%3B%2Ctechnically%20refers%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Btechnically%20refers%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BTechnically%20refers%3B%2Cc0">Google Ngram Viewer</a>, which searches “lots of books” from most of history that matters.<a href="#fnref2">↩</a></p></li>
97 <li id="fn3"><p>For more information on the technological aspect of this project, see the <a href="https://github.com/duckwork/autocento/blob/gh-pages/README.md">README.md</a> file at the root of the github repo.<a href="#fnref3">↩</a></p></li> 144 <li id="fn3"><p>For fun, try only typing with the suggested words for a while. At least for me, they start repeating “I’ll be a bar of the new York NY and I can be a bar of the new York NY and I can.”<a href="#fnref3">↩</a></p></li>
145 <li id="fn4"><p>For more discussion of this subject, see “<a href="arspoetica.html">Ars poetica</a>,” “<a href="howtoread.html">How to read this</a>,” “<a href="manifesto_poetics.html">A manifesto of poetics</a>,” “<a href="onformalpoetry.html">On formal poetry</a>,” and <a href="statements-frag.html#declaration-of-poetry">The third section</a> of “Statements: a fragment.”<a href="#fnref4">↩</a></p></li>
146 <li id="fn5"><p>I could’ve used any text editor for the composition step, including Notepad, but I personally like Vim for its extensibility, composability, and honestly its colorschemes.<a href="#fnref5">↩</a></p></li>
147 <li id="fn6"><p>As it happens, the week I’m writing this (6 April 2015) is <code>git</code>’s tenth anniversary. The folks at Atlassian have made an <a href="https://www.atlassian.com/git/articles/10-years-of-git/">interactive timeline</a> for the occasion, and Linux.com has an interesting <a href="http://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/185-jennifer-cloer/821541-10-years-of-git-an-interview-with-git-creator-linus-torvalds">interview with Linus Torvalds</a>, <code>git</code>’s creator.<a href="#fnref6">↩</a></p></li>
98 </ol> 148 </ol>
99 </section> 149 </section>
100 </section> 150 </section>
@@ -108,15 +158,7 @@
108 <a href="#" id="lozenge" title="ERROR">&xi;</a> 158 <a href="#" id="lozenge" title="ERROR">&xi;</a>
109 </div> 159 </div>
110 160
111 <a class="prevlink" href="first-lines.html"
112 title="Previous article in About Autocento">
113 Index of first lines
114 </a>
115 161
116 <a class="nextlink" href="common-titles.html"
117 title="Next article in About Autocento">
118 Index of common titles
119 </a>
120 </nav> 162 </nav>
121 163
122 164
diff --git a/about.txt b/about.txt index d4fd965..86ebd2a 100644 --- a/about.txt +++ b/about.txt
@@ -1,21 +1,14 @@
1--- 1---
2title: Autocento of the breakfast table 2title: Autocento of the breakfast table
3id: about
4subtitle: about this site 3subtitle: about this site
5genre: prose 4genre: prose
6 5
7epigraph: 6id: about
8 content: by Case Duckworth 7toc: "_about Autocento_"
9 8
10project: 9project:
11 title: About Autocento 10 title: Front matter
12 class: meta 11 css: front-matter
13 next:
14 - title: Index of common titles
15 link: common-titles
16 prev:
17 - title: Index of first lines
18 link: first-lines
19... 12...
20 13
21## Introduction 14## Introduction
@@ -23,110 +16,269 @@ project:
23_Autocento [of the breakfast table][]_ is a hypertextual exploration of the workings of revision across time. 16_Autocento [of the breakfast table][]_ is a hypertextual exploration of the workings of revision across time.
24Somebody^[[citation needed][]]^ once said that every relationship we have is part of the same relationship; the same is true of authorship. 17Somebody^[[citation needed][]]^ once said that every relationship we have is part of the same relationship; the same is true of authorship.
25As we write, as we continue writing across our lives, patterns thread themselves through our work: images, certain phrases, preoccupations. 18As we write, as we continue writing across our lives, patterns thread themselves through our work: images, certain phrases, preoccupations.
26This project attempts to make those threads more apparent, using the technology of hypertext. 19This project attempts to make those threads more apparent, using the technology of hypertext and the opposing ideas of the _hapax legomenon_ and the _cento_, held in tension with each other.
27 20
28I'm also an MFA candidate at [Northern Arizona University][NAU]. 21I'm also an MFA candidate at [Northern Arizona University][NAU].
29This is my thesis. 22This is my thesis.
23Let me tell you about it.
30 24
31## Genesis 25[of the breakfast table]: http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/owh/abt.html
26[citation needed]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Dealing_with_unsourced_material
27[NAU]: http://nau.edu/CAL/English/Degrees-Programs/Graduate/MFA/
32 28
33This project revolves around two sister concepts: the _hapax legomenon_ and the _cento_. 29### [Hapax][] legomenon, or _You are special_
34 30
35_Hapax legomenon_ ([ἅπαξ][] λεγόμενον) is Greek for "something said only once." 31_Hapax legomenon_ ([ἅπαξ][] λεγόμενον) is Greek for "something said only once."
36It's used in linguistics to describe words that appear only once in a corpus. 32It comes from the field of corpus linguistics, where it causes problems for translators of ancient texts.
37If expanded to _n-grams_, it can be used to describe utterances that occur only once, and this is where it gets interesting. 33Because it only happens once in its corpus, a _hapax legmonenon_ is an enigma: there's only one context to guess its meaning from.
38If this line of thinking is taken to its logical conclusion, we can say that all writing, all utterances, are _hapax legomena_, because they appear only once in the world as they are. 34This means that many _hapax legomena_ remain untranslated, as in Mayan tablets, or are questionably translated, as in the Bible.
39In short, everything is individual; everything is differentiated; everything is an island. 35
36Given the way we use language every day, treading over the same words and thoughts in a way that is nonetheless comforting, and given the fact that a _hapax legomenon_ is, by its definition, the rarest word in the place it appears, you might think that _hapax legomena_, as phenomena, are rare.
37You'd be wrong.
38In the Brown Corpus of American English Text, which comprises some fifty thousand words, [about half are _hapax legomena_][].
39In most large corpora, in fact, between forty and sixty per cent of the words occur only once, and another ten to fifteen per cent occur only twice, a fact that I imagine causes translators all sorts of [grief][].
40 40
41On the other hand, a _cento_, from the Latin, from the Greek κέντρόνη, meaning "patchwork garment," is a poem composed completely of fragments of other poems. 41This seeming paradox is reminiscent of another in biology, as summed up by this infographic I keep seeing around the Internet[^1]\:
42It's a mash-up that makes up for its lack of originality in utterance with a novelty in arrangement. 42![Really. I see it everywhere.](https://i.imgur.com/Dub8k.png)
43Usually, it refers to taking phrases, lines, or stanzas from other authors' works, but I don't see why it couldn't refer to _n-grams_ or individual words.
44If _this_ line of thinking is taken to its logical conclusion, we can say that no writing is truly original; that every utterance has, in some scrambled way at least, been uttered before.
45In other words, nothing is individual.
46We float on an ocean of language which we did nothing to create, and the best we can hope for is to find some combination that hasn't been thought of too many times before.
47As Solomon said, "[There is nothing new under the sun][nothing-new]."
48 43
49_Autocento of the breakfast table_ works within the tension caused by these two concepts. 44Apparently, the chances of you, dear Reader, being born is [something][s1] like one in 10^2,685,000^.
45The chances of me [being born][] is [something][s2] like one in 10^2,685,000^.
46The chances of the guy you stood behind in line [for your coffee][] this morning?
47His chance of being born was [something][s3] like one in 10^2,685,000^.
48The thing is, a number like one in 10^2,685,000^ stops meaning so much when we take the number of times such a "rare" event occurs.
49There are about seven billion (or $7 \times 10^{9}$) people on Earth---and all of them have that same small chance of one in 10^2,685,000^ of being born.
50And they all were.
51
52It stops seeming so special after thinking about it.
53
54[Hapax]: hapax.html
55[ἅπαξ]: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=a%28/pac
56[about half are _hapax legomena_]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hapax_legomenon#cite_note-6
57[grief]: one-hundred-lines.html
58[being born]: about-the-author.html
59[for your coffee]: yellow.html
60[s1]: music-433.html
61[s2]: poetry-time.html
62[s3]: dollywood.html
63
64### _Cento_, or _just like everyone else_
65
66_Cento_ is Latin, stolen from the Greek κέντρόνη, which means "patchwork garment."
67A _cento_ is a poem composed completely from parts of other poems, a mash-up that makes up for its lack of originality in utterance with a novelty in arrangement.
68
69If we apply the _cento_ to biology, we can win back some of that uniqueness, we can resolve some of that paradox of the _hapax legomenon_.
70Sure, [nothing is new under the sun][], but it can be made new if we say it differently, or if we put it next to something it hasn't met before.
71We can become hosts to the parties of our lives, and rub elbows with the same tired celebrities everyone's rubbed elbows with, but make it different.
72Because _we_ put the [tables on roller skates][].
73Because _we_ told [the joke][] this time with a Rabbi.
74Because _we_ are special [snowflakes][], and it doesn't matter that there's more of us than there is sand on the beaches at Normandy.
75Because _we_ are still all different somehow.
76
77[nothing is new under the sun]: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1%3A9&version=NIV
78[tables on roller skates]: call-me-aural-pleasure.html
79[the joke]: creation-myth.html
80[snowflakes]: snow.html
81
82### On _n_-grams
83
84What we have so far:
85- A _hapax legomenon_ technically refers only to _one word_ in a corpus.
86- A _cento_ technically refers to a poem with _whole phrases_ taken from others, patchwork-style.
87
88These concepts get more interesting as we play with their scopes.
89To do that, we need to take a look at the _n_-gram.
90
91In linguistics and computational probability, an _n_-gram is a [contiguous system of _n_ items from a given sequence of text or speech][ngram-def].
92By looking at _n_-grams, linguists can look at deeper trends in language than with single words alone[^2].
93_N_-grams are also incredibly useful in natural language processing---for example, they're how your phone can guess what you're going to [text your mom][] next[^3].
94They're also the key to fully reconciling the _hapax legomenon_ and the _cento_.
95
96If the definition of _hapax legomena_ is expanded to include _n_-grams of arbitrary lengths,
97 including full utterances, complete poems, or the [collected works of, say, Shakespeare][],
98 then we can say that all writing is a _hapax legomenon_,
99 because no one else has said the [same words in the same order][].
100In short, everything written or in existence is individual.
101Everything is differentiated.
102Everything is an [island][].
103
104If the definition of what comprises a _cento_ is minimized to individual trigrams, bigrams, or even unigrams (individual words), or even parts of words, we arrive again at Solomon's lament: that no writing is original; that every utterance has, in some [scrambled][] way at least, been uttered before.
105To put it another way, [nothing][] is individual.
106We're stranded [afloat on an ocean][] of language we did nothing to create, and the best we can hope to accomplish is to find some combination of flotsam and jetsam that hasn't been put together too many times before.
107
108This project, _Autocento of the breakfast table_, works within the tension caused by _hapax legomena_ and _centi_, between the first and last half of the statement _we are all unique, just like everyone else_.
109
110[ngram-def]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-gram
111[text your mom]: mountain.html
112
113[same words in the same order]: http://www.thisdayinquotes.com/2011/07/poetry-best-words-in-best-order.html
114[collected works of, say, Shakespeare]: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/
115[island]: island.html
116
117[scrambled]: howtoread.html
118[nothing]: no-nothing.html
119[afloat on an ocean]: riptide_memory.html
50 120
51## Process 121## Process
52 122
53In compiling the works that make up this text, I've pulled from a few different projects: 123In compiling this text, I've pulled from a few different projects:
124
125- [Elegies for alternate selves][elegies-link]
126- [The book of Hezekiah][hez-link]
127- [Stark raving][stark-link]
128- [Buildings out of air][paul-link]
129
130as well as [new poems][], written quite recently.
131As I've compiled them into this project, I've linked them together based on common images or language, disregarding the order of their compositions.
132What I hope to have accomplished with this hypertext is an approximation of my self as it's evolved, but [all at one time][].
133Ultimately, _Autocento of the breakfast table_ is a [long-exposure photograph][] of my mind.
134
135[new poems]: last-passenger.html
136[long-exposure photograph]: building.html
137[all at one time]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJjcF2DmFFY
138
139### A note on terminology
140
141_Autocento of the breakfast table_ comprises work of multiple genres, including prose, verse, tables, lists, and hybrid forms.
142Because of this, and because of my own personal hang-ups with terms like [_poem_][] applying to works that aren't verse (and even some that are[^4]), _piece_ applying to anything, really (it's just annoying, in my opinion---a piece of what?), I've needed to find another word to refer to all the _stuff_ in this project.
143While the terms "literary object" and "intertext," à la Kristeva et al., more fully describe the things I've been writing and linking in this text, I'm worried that these terms are either too long or too esoteric for me to refer to them consistently when talking about my work.
144I believe I've found a solution in the term _page_, as in a page or [leaf][] of a book, or a page on a website.
145After all, the term _page_ is accurate as it refers to the objects herein--each one is a page---and it's short and unassuming.
146But it's probably pretty pretentious, too.
147
148[_poem_]: on-genre-dimension.html
149[leaf]: leaf.html
150
151### The inevitable creep of technology
152
153Because this project lives online (welcome to the Internet!), I've used a fair amount of technology to get it there.
154
155First, I typed all of the objects present into a human-readable markup format called [Markdown][] by John Gruber, using a plain-text editor called [Vim][].[^5]
156Markdown is a plain-text format that uses unobtrusive mark-up to signal semantic meaning around a text.
157A text written with markup can then be passed to a compiler, such as John Gruber's `Markdown.pl` script, to turn it into functioning HTML for viewing in a browser.
158
159As an example, here's the previous paragraph as I typed it:
54 160
55* [Elegies for alternate selves][elegies-link] 161~~~markdown
56* [The book of Hezekiah][hez-link] 162First, I typed all of the objects present into a human-readable markup
57* [Stark raving][stark-link] 163format called [Markdown][] by John Gruber, using a plain-text editor called
58* [Buildings out of air][paul-link] 164[Vim][].[^5] Markdown is a plain-text format that uses unobtrusive mark-up to
165signal semantic meaning around a text. A text written with markup can then be
166passed to a compiler, such as John Gruber's original Markdown.pl script, to
167turn it into functioning HTML for viewing in a browser.
59 168
60as well as added new articles, written quite recently. 169[Markdown]: http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/
61As I've compiled them into this project, I've linked them together based on common images or language, moving back and forth through time. 170[Vim]: http://www.vim.org
62This should give the reader a fair idea of what my head looks like on the inside.
63 171
64## Technology 172[^5]: I could've used any text editor for the composition step, including
173 Notepad, but I personally like Vim for its extensibility, composability,
174 and honestly its colorschemes.
175~~~
65 176
66Because this project lives online, I've used a fair amount of technology to get it there. 177And here it is as a compiled HTML file:
67First, I converted all the articles[^1] present into plain text files, which are viewable from [here][text].
68Then, I used John McFarlane's venerable document preparation system [pandoc][], along with a [makefile][] to compile the text sources to HTML using [this template][].
69The compiled HTML is what you're reading now.[^2]
70 178
71To host the project, I'm using [Github][], an online code-collaboration tool with the version control system [git][] under the hood. 179~~~html
72This enables me (and you, dear Reader!) to explore the path of revision even more, from beginning to end, based on my commits to the repository. 180<p>First, I typed all of the objects present into a human-readable markup format called <a href="http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/">Markdown</a> by John Gruber, using a plain-text editor called <a href="http://www.vim.org">Vim</a>.<a href="#fn1" class="footnoteRef" id="fnref1"><sup>1</sup></a> Markdown is a plain-text format that uses unobtrusive mark-up to signal semantic meaning around a text. A text written with markup can then be passed to a compiler, such as John Gruber's original Markdown.pl script, to turn it into functioning HTML for viewing in a browser.</p>
73You can view the repository and its changes and files at [my Github profile][].[^3] 181<section class="footnotes">
182<hr />
183<ol>
184<li id="fn1"><p>I could've used any text editor for the composition step, including Notepad, but I personally like Vim for its extensibility, composability, and honestly its colorschemes.<a href="#fnref1">↩</a></p></li>
185</ol>
186</section>
187~~~
74 188
75## Using this site 189For these files, I opted to use John McFarlane's [pandoc][] over the original `Markdown.pl` compiler, because it's more consistent with edge cases in formatting, and because it can compile the Markdown source into a wide variety of different formats, including DOCX, ODT, PDF, HTML, and others.
190I use an [HTML template][] for `pandoc` to correctly typeset each object in the web browser.
191The compiled HTML pages are what you're reading now.
76 192
77All of the articles on this site are linked together hypertextually (i.e., like a webpage). 193Since typing `pandoc [file].txt -t html5 --template=_template.html --filter=trunk/versify.exe --smart --mathml --section-divs -o [file].html` over 130 times is highly tedious, I've written a [GNU][] [Makefile][] that automates the process.
78This means that all you need to do to explore the creative threads linking these articles together is to start clicking links. 194In addition to compiling the HTML files for this project, the Makefile also compiles each page's backlinks (accessible through the &phi; link at the bottom of each page), and the indexes of [first lines][], [common titles][], and [_hapax legomena_][hapaxleg] of this project.
79However, if you find you're looping around to a lot of the same articles, you can head back to the [index][] and click through the titles in order---that article contains the titles of all the other works in this project.
80 195
81Alternatively, you can click the lozenge (&loz;) at the bottom of each page. 196Finally, this project needs to enter the realm of the Internet.
82It'll take you to a random article in the project, thanks to [this javascript][]. 197To do this, I use [Github][], an online code-collaboration tool that uses the version-control system [git][] under the hood.
198`git` was originally written to keep track of the source code of the [Linux][] kernel.[^6]
199I use it to keep track of the revisions of the text files in _Autocento of the breakfast table_, which means that you, dear Reader, can explore the path of my revision even more deeply by viewing the [Github repository][] for this project online.
83 200
84If you want to experience the earlier projects in something resembling the original orders, previous and next links are provided at the bottom of each page, next to the lozenge. 201For more information on the process I took while compiling _Autocento of the breakfast table_, see my [Process][] page.
85Sometimes, there are more than one of each of these, or there are none, dependant on the structure of their original project.
86 202
87## Things still to do 203[Markdown]: http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/
204[Vim]: http://www.vim.org
205[pandoc]: http://johnmcfarlane.net/pandoc/
206[HTML template]: https://github.com/duckwork/autocento/blob/gh-pages/template.html
207[GNU]: https://www.gnu.org/software/make/
208[Makefile]: https://github.com/duckwork/autocento/blob/gh-pages/makefile
209[first lines]: first-lines.html
210[common titles]: common-titles.html
211[hapaxleg]: hapx.html
212[Github]: https://github.com
213[git]: http://www.git-scm.com
214[Linux]: http://www.linux.org
215[Github repository]: https://github.com/duckwork/autocento
216[Process]: process.html
88 217
89_Autocento of the breakfast table_ is a work in progress. 218### Motivation
90The first draft is completed, but some revision and aesthetic work remains to be done for me to consider it fully "[published][]"
91(what does this word mean in 2015?).
92You can see the full list of to-dos by visiting the [issues page][issues] of the Github site.
93 219
94## Contact me 220Although `git` and the other tools I use were developed or are mostly used by programmers, engineers, or other kinds of scientists, they're useful in creative writing as well for a few different reasons:
95 221
96If you'd like to contact me about the state of this work or my writing in general, you can email me at <case@autocento.me>. 2221. **Facilitation of revision.**
223 By using a VCS like `git` and plain text files, I can revise a poem (for example, "[And][]") and keep both the current version and a [much older one][old-and].
224 This lets me hold onto every idea I've had, and "throw things away" without _actually_ throwing them away.
225 They're still there, somewhere, in the source tree.
2262. **Future proofness.**
227 By using a simple text editor to write out my files instead of a proprietary word processor, I've ensured that no matter what may happen to the stocks of Microsoft, Apple, or Google in the following hundred years, my words will stay accessible and editable.
228 Also, I don't know how to insert links in Word.
2293. **Philosophy of intellectual property.**
230 I use open-source, or libre, tools like `vim`, `pandoc`, and `make` because information should be free.
231 This is also the reason why I'm releasing _Autocento of the breakfast table_ under a Creative Commons [license][].
97 232
98<!-- links & footnotes --> 233[license]: license.html
99[of the breakfast table]: http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/owh/abt.html
100[citation needed]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Dealing_with_unsourced_material
101[NAU]: http://nau.edu/CAL/English/Degrees-Programs/Graduate/MFA/
102 234
103[ἅπαξ]: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=a%28/pac 235## _Autocento of the breakfast table_ and you
104[nothing-new]: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1%3A9&version=NIV 236
237### Using this site
238
239Since all of the objects in this project are linked, you can begin from, say, [here][possible-start] and follow the links through everything.
240But if you find yourself lost as in a funhouse maze, looping around and around to the same stupid [fountain][] at the entrance, here are a few tips:
241
242- The &xi; link at the bottom of each page leads to a random article.
243- The &phi; link at the bottom of each page leads to its back-link page, which lists the titles of pages that link back to the page you were just on.
244- Finally, if you're really desperate, the &loz; link sends you back to the [cover page][], where you can start over.
245 The cover page links you to the [table of contents][toc], as well as the indexes of [first lines][fl], [common titles][ct], and [_hapax legomena_][hl].
246
247[possible-start]: in-bed.html
248[fountain]: dollywood.html
249[cover page]: index.html
250[toc]: _toc.html
251[fl]: first-lines.html
252[ct]: common-titles.html
253[hl]: hapax.html
254
255### Contact me
256
257If you'd like to contact me about the state of this work, its history, or its future; or about my writing in general, email me at [case dot duckworth plus autocento at gmail dot com][].
258
259[^1]: Which apparently, though not really surprisingly given the nature of the Internet, has its roots in [this][born-blog] blog post.
260
261[born-blog]: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/abinazir/2011/06/15/what-are-chances-you-would-be-born/
105 262
106[elegies-link]: and.html 263[^2]: For more fun with _n_-grams, I recommend the curious reader to point their browsers to the [Google Ngram Viewer][], which searches "lots of books" from most of history that matters.
107[hez-link]: prelude.html
108[stark-link]: table_contents.html
109[paul-link]: art.html
110 264
111[text]: index-txt.html 265[Google Ngram Viewer]: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=technically+refers&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1600&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Ctechnically%20refers%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Btechnically%20refers%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BTechnically%20refers%3B%2Cc0
112 266
113[pandoc]: http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/ 267[^3]: For fun, try only typing with the suggested words for a while.
114[makefile]: https://github.com/duckwork/autocento/blob/gh-pages/makefile 268 At least for me, they start repeating "I'll be a bar of the new York NY and I can be a bar of the new York NY and I can."
115[this template]: https://github.com/duckwork/autocento/blob/gh-pages/template.html
116[Github]: https://github.com/
117[git]: http://www.git-scm.com/
118[my Github profile]: https://github.com/duckwork/autocento
119 269
120[index]: first-lines.html 270[^4]: For more discussion of this subject, see "[Ars poetica][ars]," "[How to read this][how-read]," "[A manifesto of poetics][manifesto]," "[On formal poetry][formal-poetry]," and [The third section] of "Statements: a fragment."
121[this javascript]: https://github.com/duckwork/autocento/blob/gh-pages/trunk/lozenge.js
122 271
123[published]: published.html 272[ars]: arspoetica.html
124[issues]: https://github.com/duckwork/autocento/issues 273[how-read]: howtoread.html
274[manifesto]: manifesto_poetics.html
275[formal-poetry]: onformalpoetry.html
276[The third section]: statements-frag.html#declaration-of-poetry
125 277
126[^1]: I've decided to use the word _article_ instead of _poem_, because not all of the texts included are poems; and instead of _piece_, because _piece_ is vague and, to my mind, pretentious. 278[^5]: I could've used any text editor for the composition step, including Notepad, but I personally like Vim for its extensibility, composability, and honestly its colorschemes.
127 I'm aware that the true [etymology](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=article) of _article_ does not reflect my use of it, namely "a little chunk of art", a la the (personal folk) derivation of _icicle_, _treicle_, etc.
128 279
129[^2]: The great thing about `pandoc` is that it can compile to, and convert between, about fifty formats or so. 280[^6]: As it happens, the week I'm writing this (6 April 2015) is `git`'s tenth anniversary.
130 This means that if, in the future, I choose to convert this project to a printable form (for example PDF, ODT, or even DOCX), I'll be able to with a fairly small amount of work. 281 The folks at Atlassian have made an [interactive timeline][] for the occasion, and Linux.com has an interesting [interview with Linus Torvalds][], `git`'s creator.
131 282
132[^3]: For more information on the technological aspect of this project, see the [README.md](https://github.com/duckwork/autocento/blob/gh-pages/README.md) file at the root of the github repo. 283[interactive timeline]: https://www.atlassian.com/git/articles/10-years-of-git/
284[interview with Linus Torvalds]: http://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/185-jennifer-cloer/821541-10-years-of-git-an-interview-with-git-creator-linus-torvalds
© 2022 C. Duckworth. generated by cgit. comments, issues, and patches welcome at < git at acdw dot net >.