Who I am

Currently 90% retired. Yay! Social Security!

Writer, bookkeeper, community organizer, geek.

I keep my writing at ClaryBooks.com. I've worked extensively as a consultant, manager, and participant in online community. Way back in the Dark Ages before computers, I used to be a photo-typesetter.

And I spent most days and nights working in and organizing co-ops, real life communities, and peace and justice trainings.

Things I've Done
Time does fly, doesn't it?

Clary Books. Ongoing from 2011.
Website and blog where I write about the process of self-publishing. Not entirely defunct.

Compass Rose Internet Sales. 2005-2010.
An online retail business, selling imported and handcrafted items for home and garden, including fabrics, wall decor, and historical artwork.

Various contracts. Over the years.
Contract work in writing, research, transcription, and copy editing, when the time and money fit.

BBI Systems, Inc. May 2002 to February 2005.
BBI Systems provides community management and hosting services to various large corporations. For several years, I worked part-time as a chat monitor for AOL US Teen Chats, AOL UK Kids and Teens Chats, and also did some message board moderation for MTV.com. When the contract was transferred to LiveWorld, I moved on to new things.

Smart Computing/PC Novice. 1999-2001.
See publications list. Freelance writing, for articles on technical subjects geared to an audience of new computer users; subjects such as online finance, online research, web site reviews, software and hardware how-to's.

Go.com (Infoseek/Disney). June 1999 to Jan. 2001.
Worked as Host Manager, with responsibility for adminstration and oversight of the hosts and hosted forums. Began as Chat Room Host working daily with Go.com's online community site, then moved to Chat Room Manager, working with Go.com community hosts doing daily online chats.

Smart Business (formerly PC Computing). 2001.
See publications list. Freelance writing, for articles on technology and the Internet.

Petopia.com. Sept. 1999 to May 2000.
Sysop/host for community message boards.

Netscape Community Forums (Professional Connections). Feb. 1998-Mar. 1999.
Initially worked as a consultant, reviewing the Product Center Forums and advising the vendors/hosts during the beta stage of the PC site. After the site went live, I worked as Hub Guide for the Computing, Internet and Web forums, with responsibilities including writing bi-weekly publicity for the forum web pages, community participation and acting as an advisor to hosts. The Community Forums were part of the popular Netscape Netcenter site, until AOL bought them and shut us down.

Miscellaneous Web Things

Weblog. Jan. 2004 to 2009. World Turning. News and Views on Ecology and the Environment.
This wore me out. I moved on to pure ranting.

The Webby Awards. 2005, 2006. Provided web site reviews for the initial site selection for the Webbys, mostly in the business, non-profit, and community categories.

Utne Communities. 2001. Community management team based around the Utne Reader and the Utne Cafe. Provided community organization, hosting, and management for non-profit and educational organizations.

Web Internet, LLC. Mar.-Apr. 1999. Web site reviewer. Wrote short web site reviews for a catalog of shopping sites.

WellEngaged. Sept. 1998-Jan. 1999. Site monitor for E*Trade discussion forums, monitoring for SEC violations, spam, etc.

MediaCity/ISPChannel. July 1998-Sept. 1998. Production/web research for new set of cable TV-related web sites, with emphasis on building community contacts in various locales.

Electric Minds. May 1997. Contract host of on-line conference for IBM's chess match "Deep Blue vs. Kasparov". Worked as part of a group of hosts providing round-the-clock attention to the conference, which was visited by more than 100,000 people over 10 days.

What I Did Before That
The 15 20+ years before that.

The Nature Conservancy. Sept. 1990-May 1997.
Boulder, Colorado. Hydrology Technician. Administrative and research assistant in biohydrology. Organized the office, various databases, and performed statistical analyses. As part of a TNC Science Dept. team, co-authored articles which appeared in Conservation Biology, Natural Areas Journal, and Regulated Rivers. Also helped to complete one major project for the EPA. Organized biohydrology conferences and classes, performed some teaching and presentations.

New Society Publishers. Feb.-July 1990.
Santa Cruz, California. NSP publishes books on nonviolent social change and cooperative decision-making. Worked in both direct mail marketing and production, including copyediting, layout and design, and proofreading of books and marketing materials. Also involved with accounts and invoicing, customer service. Trained and supervised volunteers.

Tucson Cooperative Warehouse. Feb. 1986-Feb. 1990.
Tucson, Arizona. A consumer-owned natural foods wholesaler. Various duties in warehousing and purchasing departments, including orders and customer service, tracking work schedules and error rates. Purchaser for refrigerated and frozen food products, among other things, with over 50 vendor accounts and more than 500 customer accounts, with responsibility for over $1.5 million in sales. Publicity and marketing of new products, set sales with retail accounts. Constant phone contact with both customers and sales personnel. Trained and supervised clerical help and assistant purchasers.

New West Trails. Aug. 1982-Nov. 1986.
Tucson, Arizona. A non-profit publication collective which provided typesetting, layout and design services for political and non-profit organizations. Produced type and layout for flyers, newspapers, books, brochures and all manner of printed materials. Business tasks included budgeting and accounts receivable, sales and expense ledgers. Copyediting, proofreading, customer service, training of new collective members. Consensus decision-making through collective meetings.

Food Conspiracy Cooperative. May 1980-May 1982.
Tucson, Arizona. A consumer-owned natural foods store. Worked in all phases of the business, from cashier-stocker to order receiving and price control, to accounting services such as accounts payable, cash flow budgets, invoice reconciliation. Served twice on Management Team and twice on the Hiring Committee. Trained and supervised new workers. Consensus decision-making through collective meetings.

East Wind Community/Community Products, Inc. Feb. 1977-Feb, 1980.
Tecumseh, Missouri. A living community in the Ozarks which runs a hammock-production business and small working farm. Primary duties were in management and community planning, primarily in the Labor Department as asst. manager and manager. Preparation of work schedules for over sixty members for all community work including farm and childcare, long-term planning for labor and financial budgets. Trained new members in these areas of work. Some bookkeeping: general ledger, labor accounts.

Some other things I've done
Heart and soul.

Fierce Planet, a blog about politics. 2004 and ongoing.

The WELL, an online conferencing system with several thousand members. 1993-present. This has been my online home for years, and I've hosted many forums there, including the "Science Fiction TV" conference, "Women on the WELL", "Water", "Media", and "Muse" conferences. Co-host of the Spirituality Conference at the WELL-sponsored "State of The World" Forum, member of judges panel for the first annual Well writing awards, and for a time worked on the Tips Team.

Movement for a New Society. 1980-1987. Tucson, Arizona and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. MNS was an organization which performed nonviolent direct action and trained others in nonviolent action and cooperative decision-making. With others, edited and produced internal newsletter (The GrapeVine) and the external newsletter (Dandelion). Trained many people in meeting facilitation, mediation, nonviolent direct action techniques. Member of Tucson local Coordinating Council and National Coordinating Council. Facilitated dozens of meetings with sizes ranging from 10 to 100, conducted mediations and counseling sessions.

Where I've Studied
Formally, I mean.

University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 1993-1996. Majored in Environmental Conservation and Geology, with coursework in hydrology, soils, population biology, limnology and basic ecological principles. No degree.

Short intensive courses in statistics (1993 - Institute for Professional Education) and wetland soils (1995 - Institute for Wetland and Environmental Education and Research).

University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio. 1971-1976. Majored in experimental psychology. Various honors. No degree.

Notes

You sure have done a lot of weird stuff. What can I say? I'm a generalist. I always have been.

Why jnfr? Because I'm a lazy git. I started writing it that way when I lived at East Wind, and never broke the habit.

Ok I admit it. When I build computers I let Fabrice set the boards in the slots. I have trouble with that. And we tag team driver conflicts sometimes, cause it's so crazy-making.

2020 Ok also: we never have to manage driver conflicts anymore. Windows has evolved!

I may be one of the only people who still have a web page constructed of tables.

Also: One more hooray! for Social Security.

Publications
Technical and scientific, mostly.

See fiction at Clary Books.

See non-fiction at Clary Books.

View my previous publication list.

How to reach me

Send email here.
View my home page. All love to the Well.
Yes, I am on Facebook, but not often.
Yes, I am on Twitter, a lot.
I post sometimes on Tumbler. Mostly political pictures. I keep photos on Flickr, too.

Last update: May 2, 2024