Me
I am Diana Barnes-Brown, a writer. I have a background in poetry, applied linguistics, nonfiction writing, qualitative data analysis, and critical/feminist media analysis, so I tend to write, or write about, these kinds of things. I also write about other things.
Me, Cardboard Gun
(photo credit: Willie Petersen)
Some things that I love are: meritocracy, hot sauce, pit bulls, conscientious omnivores, yelling at the television, sandwiches, good design, spies and detectives, hotel bars, language, packages from distant places, and comedy that is well written and performed.
I have lived in Boston, Honolulu, and New York City, and Portland, OR. For money, I have been a soda jerk, a call center operator, a retail clerk, a waitress, a housekeeper, and a writer/editor. For meaning, I write.
The Purpose of the Project
My main focus, in life and also here, is uses of language that make the world more beautiful, more precise, and more equitable (though not necessarily in that order).
“Tries Really Hard”
This is the language I chose to title my web (ad)venture because 1) I do try really hard and 2) so should you. It’s a long slog, people. Don’t give up on the hard stuff.
And yes, it’s ungrammatical. I know this about it. That’s partly why I chose it, in fact. It’s an example of a term in which idiom-based connotation trumps by-the-book grammar. You are welcome to not read this rationale and then go on in the comments thread of a post you dislike about what a hypocrite I am to use an ungrammatical title for a blog that is, at least in part, about language, but I would advise you to do so only if you are quite sure that can beat me in a semicolon-off.
Other Miscellany
- If any wealthy benefactors should read this web (ad)venture and decide to shower me with gifts, please consider sending me here.
- Trolls get banned. All MRAs are trolls, therefore all MRAs get banned.
