MY HABITATS
A leopard adorns this accesspage, this homepage, of my website. An opportunistic, single and versatile hunter, the leopard is often used in heraldry, on coats of arms in tracing geneology and to indicate a particular ancestry. The first use of a leopard on this opening page was largely accidental, but its use has proved fortuitous. When my son, Daniel, and I were creating the second edition of this website in 2001 a photo of a leopard was available and we stuck it in to provide a visual stimulus. I kept it in this website's 3rd edition and again in this 4th edition as part of my introduction, my homepage. The leopard is the smallest of the four "big cats," the others being the lion, tiger and jaguar. What follows at this site is a collection of writings from an animal who, like the leopard, is quite solitary or, should I say, has become more solitary with age. I have developed, like the leopard, what I like to think is an agile and versatile, opportunistic and stealthy style, an ability to adapt, again like the leopard, to many habitats. Like the leopard, though, I do not always catch my prey, even after more than half a century of hunting for my survival and for the pure pleasure of existence.
My habitats were, for decades, mainly social ones, although there has always been a strong element of the solitary in my habitation. The places I have come to occupy are increasingly literary habitats, especially as I entered the middle years(65-75) of late adulthood, the years from 60 to 80 according to some human development psychologists. Like the leopard I eat meat but, unlike the leopard, I do not climb trees, at least not any more, not since the early 1950s when, in the early years of my middle childhood the ages from 6 to 12---again according to one of the many models of human development in the lifespan---I used to climb apple and cherry trees near my home in southern Ontario Canada. Nor do I ever eat humans.
THIS LEOPARD AND ME
The leopard and I also part company in that I write poetry and prose. Leopards can be observed in their private habitats and I, too, welcome visitors to mine. Except for the snow leopard, the leopard is a relatively abundant species. Ron Prices are also abundant and over 3000 of them can now be found in cyberspace: some of notoriety, some of fame, and most virtually nameless and traceless among the burgeoning billions now on our planet. Of course this anonymity has been the case with most humans who have ever lived. Like the snow leopard, though, my life is increasingly endangered as I head into the late evening of my life and the inevitability of death. All of us, all humans, have lives which are engangered since we are all going to die. The species though, it is my view, is on its way to a Golden Age, a future that is unimaginably glorious in spite of appearances to the contrary at this juncture in history. As the famous paleontologist Teilhard de Chardin has argued, it is the utopians who are the realists. I take deep satisfaction from the advances in society that have been made in the last 150 years, say, since Darwin's Origin of the Species(1859) and Einstein's publications at the turn of the 20th century as well as a host of other contributors to our knowledge. I take particular satisfaciton from the processes that have been knitting together the peoples and nations of the world, again, in spite of appearances to the contrary. The issues and questions in relation to progress and the very meaning of history, of course, are complex. I deal with them, among a vast array of other subjects in various ways at this website.
MY VISITORS
Few of my visitors come to my literary habitat, my study, and when they do I can not show them 'my etchings.' What one writes is not like what one draws, paints or sculpts. Words on a page are for the private delectation of readers in their private spaces and, increasingly, in public and electronic spaces. My words can be observed by the millions on the internet for those who are interested. Collectors from charitable organizations, and those who have some cause to tell me about, come to my door. The only ones who come in the door, and not just to the door, are a few family members and friends. Occasionally a big crowd comes into my home but not nearly as often as big crowds once did. As I say, my life-style, my modus vivendi, is much more solitary now, a suitable one for the full-time writer and poet I have become.
MY CAMOUFLAGE AND MY READERSHIP
The camouflage of the leopard makes sightings rare. I, too, have a certain camouflage or protection that takes the form of my books as well as my hard copy and electronic files, my prose and poetry, my many intellectual pursuits: learning and the cultural attainments of the mind. But all is not camouflage at this site. Readers will come across a mild confessionalism, a confessionalism to partly satisfy curiosity and whet the whistle of readers. Readers will find at this site a wide range of subject matter, causes to which I am committed and interests in which I have been engaged, some for decades. Readers can access this content by clicking on the subject titles at the top of this page or by scrolling down and clicking on the topics below. Hopefully, readers with an interest in one or more of these sections or sub-sections, in one or more of my concerns or enthusiasms, in one or more of my interests and the causes to which I have been involved with most of my life in various ways, can get that same curiosity satisfied, those same whistles whetted. Given the burgeoning quantities of information now available on every conceivable topic on the internet, I will only gain a coterie of the 2 billion users who now come into cyberspace. I have millions of readers after more than 10 years in cyberspace, after engaging in what are called search engine optimization techniques, and after registering at over 8000 web sites. Whatever need I once had for recognition, for a readership, has been satisfied to the full. I write now largely for pleasure and, if readers come along, that is a bonus. I don't mind bonuses.
MY ANNUAL EMAIL AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY
To read more of this introductory, this access, page of my website go to:http://www.ronpriceepoch.com/welcome.html For the 6th edition of my annual email for 2011/12, last updated on 15 May 2012, go to the sub-section of this site entitled 'Autobiography' at: http://www.ronpriceepoch.com/auto.html That annual email has received more than 1550 hits in the 23 weeks it has been in cyberspace, more than justifying my placing it on the internet. Having that many hits is a modest figure in a world where many successful sites get millions of hits. If I was into popularity and aiming to be either famous or rich, I'd pack-up and stop all this writing. I'd work in the garden with my wife, do more cooking and invest my enthusiasms in sport and watching TV, and some fancy or not-so-fancy, expensive or not-so-expensive, hobby apparatus. I'd also occupy myself with a variety of forms of entertainment and educating myself with my several interests as is the occupation and lifestyle of millions and billions on the planet.
The second edition of my annual email/letter for 2012 is found at: http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=3452639#post3452639 My annual email for 2012 does not deal with the same details about my family and my general activities as was the case with my annual email for the previous year. There is no need to repeat those details that were found in that 2011/12 annual communication again. My 2012/3 annual email/letter has moved on to other topics and subjects. Readers wanting information about my family and my daily life can obtain those details at the annual email link for 2011 found above which had, as I say, more than 1550 hits.
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