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.
An illustration from an 1887 issue of Frank Leslie's Pleasant Hours magazine. The caption reads: "The rain came on so suddenly, and there I was on the tower, amid the wet ivy, with that stupid boy, who couldn't be made to understand a thing."
An illustration from an 1899 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. The caption reads: "Tears mingled with the raindrops on her cheeks as his 'Happy New Year, lady,' followed her down the gloomy street."
"You are the sky. Everything else—it's just the weather." —Pema Chödrön
"This world is made of clouds and of the shadows of clouds. It is made of mental landscapes, porous as air, where men and women are as trees walking, and as reeds shaken by the wind." —John Cowper Powys, Wolf Solent