Irwin
Courterly

Irwin Courterly Contributors

Editors

Both Jennie Abbott and Robin Brooks graduated from Smith College in 1995. Now, Jennie is a technical writer and Robin is a political officer in the Foreign Service, having completed her Ph.D. in Political Science at UC Berkeley.

Contributors

Last updated: 1999

Geoff Abbott lives in New Jersey and has recently scrambled up the side of the Information Highway. Look for him baking bread, reading, or waiting in line at Port Elizabeth. Letters to the Editor (Oct. 97), Pair a Dimes Still Good (Oct. 97), and Letters to the Editor (Nov. 97).  

Jordan Abbott lives in NYC and works for City Harvest. You can email her by clicking here: Email Jordan Take the Weather with You (Aug. 97)

Margarita Assenova is a journalism Fellow at Stanford University. The New Apartheid in Europe: Kosovar Albanian Students Stand Up for Their Rights (Nov. 97)  

Simona Assenova is a Senior at Palo Alto High School, applying to California universities. On American Schools (Oct. 97) and My New Life (Dec. 97)

Is it a race car? Is it a flash of lightning? No, it's Dianne Brooks, the speed walker. Off to the coffee shop or over to Auntie's, she keeps a brisk pace. Famous for her poetry and award-winning essays, Ms. Brooks teaches high school English in Pueblo, Colorado. Paradigms Shift in Pueblo Schools (Sept. 97).

Tom Clement is a recovered lawyer, and now enjoys his work as a Senior Software Developer at Aptero. An intense pianist, Tom also enjoys scuba diving, rollerblading, and listening to his friend Ezra's band, Trout Fishing in America. Squash Soup recipe (Oct. 97)

Lissanna Follari lives and works in New Jersey. She married Steve in August 1997, and lives with him and their two Beagles. An Emotional, No-Win Debate (Nov. 97)

Robert J. Hawkins, retired from Reader's Digest, occupies his time with copious reading, tutoring students, and delivering rural route mail as a substitute postal carrier. Early Entrepreneurs (Aug. 97), Vegetables with Virtue (Oct. 97), and Rural Farming (Feb/Mar. 98)

Leta Herman is a syndicated columnist who happens to be married to Neal Parks, artist and mother of one of the world's best 4-year-olds: Dunan Herman Parks. Waldorf School or No School (Sept. 97), Put your hoes down… (Oct. 97), and Fear of Becoming My Mother (Feb/Mar. 98)

Dave Hoffman, off to Kazakhstan, speaks for himself. From Russia with Love (Nov. 97)

Jane of all trades and master of some, Amanda Kabak earnes her keep as a database guru in Boston. A self-proclaimed dieting artist, she is working towards eventual publication of her stories and books. The Merger (Dec. 97)

Sarah Kelley, Yale graduate and seamstress extraordinaire, lives in Berkeley and works for a costume shop in the Bay Area. Sarah enjoys good food--and good singing. Thai… for Brunch? (Oct. 97)

Even in a potentially restrictive office setting, Jolene Ronsley's exurberant personality and colorful soul flavor the lives of everyone who meets her. When uncaged, Ms. Ronsley sings, enjoys listening to music and writing poetry, researches alternative approaches to healthy eating, and tries to live joyously. Her IC debut poem is featured as part of the Tori Amos concert review in the Fall 1999 issue.

Tamara Llosa-Sandor is one of the last remaining dwarfs from the wizard of oz. Tamara attends Smith College (class of 2002). She is not old enough to vote yet, and occasionally finds herself hopelessly lost in the vicious cycle of image control so won't explain herself further at this time. Orange Sherbet and The Prisoner (Feb/Mar. 98)

Janet "Planet" Miller can't wait until movies can be downloaded from the Net so she can watch every black-and-white film ever made, except those starring June Allyson. She also enjoys performing exhaustive analyses on Japanese junk food products whenever she gets a chance. Iced Tea (Oct. 98)

Victoria Shin graduated from Smith in 1995, and lives in New York, teaching the tricks of the trade to aspiring graduate students at Kaplan. Vicki has applied to prestegious philosophy graduate programs around the country, and plans to return to academia next September. Standardized Tests: A Necessary Evil (Sept. 97)

Yun Woo, also a Yale alum, recently relocated to the SF Bay Area and is employed at Snapweb. He also enjoys good food and wine, and good folk singing. Who's Going to Pick Up the Bill? (Sept. 97) and Thai… for Brunch? (Oct. 97)

 

The Irwin Courterly's history:

Once upon a time (October 1996), I was playing around in Word and discovered the newsletter template, so I started writing my weekly letters to my dad in a newsletter format. After a couple months I got Robin to write the Robin Report, and we had fun using excessive "journalistic" style--writing about ourselves in the third person, always using clever names for the columnists. Over our 1996 holidays-at-both-family-homes I thought it would be nice to send it to Robin's mother, too, and pretty soon we included my mom, our siblings, and generalized our publication a little for that 6-person audience.

Shortly after I started my job at Mosaix we switched from being weekly to monthly, because I didn't have as much spare time in front of a computer. And then even once a month is a challenge (as you can tell by the combined issues earlier in 1998)! Luckily I get some help from other authors. It's hard to imagine how we got enough text together with just two of us writing! I think they were shorter then, with a larger font.

Then during the Summer of 1997 I finally got around to finding out about the free Web space at Angelfire (that was the first one I'd heard about) and left it under construction for a while, then started with the July 1997 issue on the Internet. Little by little I learned new HTML tricks (though I still want to figure out cgi for input forms!) and kept adding issues as they were ready. I still send try to send hard copies to the Original Six. I got pretty good at doing search-and-replace in Word for paragraph marks (convert to <p>), italics, etc. and I copy the links and the line between each article, test it, and post it. Now I use FrontPage, though, which is my favorite HTML editor (in my limited experience). 

The Irwin Courterly still doesn't have a clear description because for a while we had themes, then we got back to the sort of random-and-whimsical type of stuff in January 1998. I like having an alternative writing outlet, and I love being an editor! Leta, my friend/coworker, a real columnist, likes to write for us because it's low-pressure and we always accept her articles. So, if you ever want to contribute something, let me know! Or give me your URL when you get your own Web page up and I'll add a link!

--Jennie, IC Web Editor