CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
The caption says, "Xmas tree," but "you must not take things too literally" (Ulric De Lazie, Dreams Within Dreams, 1864). So if it isn't literally a Christmas tree, the photo suddenly becomes rather more intriguing. See The Collected Lost Meanings of Christmas.
We're sometimes asked what our teachers must have been like. From Tulane's 1988 yearbook. See this remarkable guide to practial magick you can do with a pencil and paper: The Pencil Witch.
It's true that "nobody — but nobody can intimidate you without your permission" (the 1986 yearbook of Clarke College). That's why we offer a permission to intimidate slip. Give it to anybody you wouldn't mind being intimidated by.