So, what exactly is a “sparkle j” and how is it that something so cool could have existed without your having known about it?

Life as sparkle j began unassumingly enough with my becoming the makeshift choreographer of an insanely funny murder mystery disco zombie revenge play written by a guy who knows a guy I know. Determined to make my way onto the stage, I performed as “break dancer number two” in the background of one of the little dance numbers. Needing a name to put in the program, a few of us sitting around one night after rehearsal came up with “sparkle j” for no other reason than the fact that I happen to like glitter a heck of a lot and my name starts with the letter “J” and the fact that “glitter j” didn’t quite have the same ring to it. Thus, sparkle j was born.

I’ve always wanted one of those “look at me, I’m really good at this one thing” kind of websites. Alas, I’m not one of those kind of people. I’m more of a “frightfully eclectic so I spend my time doing many different things less than masterfully” kind of person. For example, I have a collection of several musical instruments (most of which I don’t play that often). I sometimes paint, draw, sing, dance, drum, make books, knit, sew, turn ribbons into flowers, roller skate, crochet, and glue shit to shit. I also like to jump on the trampoline while listening to They Might Be Giants. I am also a fledgling archivist, having graduated from library school December 2007. I am looking for a full time archives job while piecing together a living from three part time jobs. Oh, and I also play roller derby.

Originally, this website contained only four pages, perhaps a dozen photographs, and maybe a couple of crappy “essays.” I built it in 2000 using the very limited templates that came free with my ISP. Due to the irritation caused by using those templates, the site lay dormant on the web until 2002, when I secured my own domain name and purchased some web space of my very own. In Spring 2003, sparkle j dot com actually began to have some content. Most sections, other than the journal (using Grey Matter) and photography projects, weren’t properly developed. Major renovations to consolodate the content (and arrange it so that I’d actually make regular updates) began in the Spring of 2005. After a while not using any software and coding it myself, in 2006 I decided to leap out of my mid-1990s ways and use WordPress to build the site. I also now use Flickr to host my photos, though the old ones are still on the server, the poor, lonely orphans.

Sparkle J Dot Com has sort of evolved into a public scrapbook, journal, and notebook.

(updated: 9 September 2008)