Mar Phaedriel, born Sharon K., will be your hostess while you visit this excuse of a user page. Please make yourself comfortable, and while you look around, allow me to quote the memorable words of Dr. Hannibal Lecter as reminder of the conduct I expect my visitors to observe: Discourtesy is - unspeakably ugly to me. Like my beloved grandpa once told me, a grain of kindness is all it takes to turn thorns into flowers. I was born somewhere in the late 1970s, with a mixed descent composing of a quarter Finnish, a quarter Irish and half Comanche. After a quiet and lovely childhood spent at a sleepy, yet beautiful town where my folks still live, I moved to the most wonderful city in the United States, where I currently live and work. Before you ask me, like many people do every now and then - yes, I do have a Comanche name. But please, even if you're curious, I'd prefer not to be requested to say it. Some things, especially very intimate ones, are better left unsaid. Thank you so much for understanding, my friends! Wikipedia and my interestsI am a Wikipedia Administrator, which basically means I'm here to help you in any possible way I can. So, if you came here looking for assistance, you're not going to get shy on me now, are you? Please, give me a call and I'll do my very best, I promise. In September '07, I also became an administrator at Simple English Wikipedia. If you haven't yet, I encourage you to visit the place, and make a contribution or two if you have some time to spare. It's a beautiful project with plenty of future, and a small, hard working community. Your help would be most appreciated. Thank you! I discovered Wikipedia by accident when searching for information about Quanah Parker back in September '05, but although I kept coming every now and then, it wasn't until December that I got caught in the Wiki-web. I registered on Wednesday 7th, and made my first edit here. At first, my intention was simply to write an article about the Peoria War; but then I felt like writing another, and then another, and then... At this point, I experienced the evolution most of us here go through at some point of our wiki-career, and Wikipedia became a part of me for good. Languages and History play a very important role in my life, and if I could pass my time learning every language known to men, I certainly would. My ancestry also compels me to research and write about the Comanche and other Native American tribes and the Indian Wars, along with many other related topics. I founded the WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North America and created the Indigenous peoples of North America Portal, which became Featured in August '06. There's so much information to upkeep and update, so many great pictures to classify and upload, so many beautiful cultural manifestations to write about, that I've engaged myself in a life-time task... and I love it! A few short facts about yours truly
In need of a new userpage design?Hey! Even Jimbo uses my design now! :) I take great pleasure in helping other users in need, and I simply love to design Wiki pages. So please, if you want me to lend you a hand with your own user page, just give me a call and I'll see what I can do. Results not guaranteed! Some of the userpages I've designed
Status: NOT taking up requests until I clear the following (if I've agreed to make yours and haven't added it here for a couple of days, please remind me!) Current active requests: Anecdote, Laleena, Jonathan, PrestonH, Skeeker, SarekOfVulcan, Angel David, Freechild Spot #1 on my favorite vandal listI have lost count of the times this page has been vandalized, but there's always some vandal who, rather than offending, manages to make me smile. So here it is: the ever coveted first place goes to this gentleman *applause*. Brief list of devoted impersonators and the like: [1] [2] [3] [4]. And the ultimate tribute! :) |
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Today is One Night In Gloomily the clouds are sailing But such wild, such bitter grieving Life with thee is only springing; Ah, he sees no brighter morrow! Happy Day, ONIH!
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The purpose of this Soundtrack of Wikipedians is to try and provide a collection of those songs that you, the people with whom I spend big part of my time, listen and enjoy. I believe that one learns a great deal about a person, and can also understand his/her character and ideas better, if one gets to know "their" music. It'd be very nice if as many Wikipedians as possible could find this space and gift us all their all-time favorites, those songs that define their mood and character, those that make them daydream or feel better, those that bring them dear memories... or simply that music that they really like! And of course, anyone can change their selection at any time since we all evolve from day to day, and our music with us. |
Friends I miss with all of me
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Starry little treasures
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Being Indian is...
Forever!
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My thoughts on Wikilove
Some time ago, I discovered a link at a user page to a certain website caught my attention. The sharp criticism of Wikipedia that I saw at that webpage didn't surprise me in the least; we are all rather used to the rants against our project and our community that seem to flourish in the web these days. However, there was a particular phrase that caught my attention immediately, and while I really didn't care much about the other accusations, incredibly enough, this one was actually able to hurt me: Wikipedia is not a place for happy people. No matter how much I try to push this idea out of my mind, every now and then, I find myself thinking about it. Sometimes I gain enough trust in ourselves to push it far to the bottom of my mind. Other moments, like now, I simply can't. While we're all human, and may (and do) give in to anger, bad mood and hurting speech from time to time, I can hardly think that the reason why we all ended up editing this encyclopedia was to unleash our frustration unto others. And if somebody did, well... the choice of a place to do such thing is odd, to say the least. Since I joined Wikipedia a couple of months ago, I must tell that never, ever, I've felt diminished nor discriminated in any way by another user; yet I know that it is in my personality to choose dialogue and a friendly approach, and that's simply not the way we're all made - it's in our human nature to be different from each other, and that makes none of us any better than the other. However, I did see, and continue to witness almost everyday, the misjudgments, the unfairness, the elitism, the hurting irony that comes from the mouths of brilliant people towards their peers - or worse, against the newcomers who try in good faith to be heard. I have no intention to judge any members of our community - reprehensible as it is, fighting fire with fire is a natural human instinct, and nobody's free of sin. And that's where we all have the chance to make a small, yet decisive difference: Love - or in our case, Wikilove. Just a little bit of it can make a valuable contributor, a great person, a knowledgeable editor reconsider his/her decision of leaving for good after an edit war or a failed RfA. Just 30 seconds of translating that smile and that hug that you wish you could give in person into a simple edit, can make a big change... in the quality of our encyclopedia. Just an hour ago, I received an email from somebody who basically told me to shove my attempt of cheering him up in a dark and moist place of my anatomy... on St. Valentine's day... the irony! I feel discouraged - how could I possibly feel otherwise? Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you simply want to dismiss any future attempts of sending a kind word, or a smile to someone who's obviously down? That's exactly how I feel now - but I won't do such a thing. I may be down, but I'm not dead - and my heart's alive and well, and I won't let it bleed for long. I do not take the Internet so seriously as to make me cry, so whatever this gentleman's intentions were, I'm sorry - he failed. But as long as I'm a member of Wikipedia, I will believe in Wikilove; and as long as my heart beats, I will continue to believe in Love. Now that, I do take seriously. And no member of our community, no matter how respected he is, will ever dissuade me... because I want to believe that Wikipedia can be a place for happy people. Sharon - Feb. 14, 2006 |
This page is best viewed using Mozilla Firefox. This design was inspired in Sebmol's and Kylu's userpages. Thank you! | |||||||
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I agree to multi-license all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages, as described below:
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