TRIBUTE -- Anne Arkham

Buddies,

If Anne Arkham currrently has a blogski -- othr than THISn, I mean -- then I dont know about it.  Her blogski from back in th day when she was a Polanski Show playr -- Anne Arkham: Art. Humor. Larceny. -- disappeared from cybrspace quite a while ago.  Nfackt, Im pretty sure AAAHL went Full Nicholson only about eight munts aftr Annes first association wit The Joey Polanski Show.  Thus, most o AAAHLs 18-munth run was awready in th arckives when we at th JPS first met Anne.  Yet Anne Arkham is undeniably a figgr from th JPS heyday.  Her blogski, dspite bein long gone, and her play on th JPS stage, tho long ago ended, I will long remembr strongly and fondly.

Since Annes blogski is no longr viewable, there wont be no pitchrs o Anne in this postski.  Nstead, Ill use some pitchrs thatll sorta help to tell ya some o th things I remembr about Anneski.

Anne livd in Chicaaaago.

Anne probly slept in Chicaaaago too.



Sevral times in th past, I mentiond that Anne is among them whose JPS association can be traced to our meetin up wit th Revrend Anaglyph.  Shortly aftr I intrducd a sidebar link to his blogski, Tetherd Cow Ahead, which link remains securely at th top o th evr-shrinking links-listski, th Revrend went & done sompm that very few JPS afiliates have evr done.  He publishd a post givin th JPS a pretty fine send-up.  Altho that post was publishd in early Decembr o 2005, it containd a link to a JPS post from about a munth and a haff earlyer; and so its on THAT post that we find Anne's first appearance on th Polanski Show stage.

Annes initial play at th Polanski Show was so uncommonly delightful that she quickly helpd prduce one o th few coments-secktions here at JPS that seemd to me so comedickly prfeckt that I atchualy closd th coments-sections to keep em from havin their prfecktion destroyd.  Aint suprising, aftr so early an accomplishment, that Annes blogski got a sidebar linkski shortly thereaftr.  And Anne prfecktd a JPS coments-secktion not just that one time, but also a seckon time some three munts latr.  In th short time she playd wif us, she had a sneaky way o makin some BIG plays!

Anne had a polydactyl cat namd Butkus
(not pitchrd)

When Anne went walkin, her Bud was a sight to see
(neithr walkr nor pooch pitchrd)



Anne Arkham: Art. Humor. Larceny was started, as I recall, right around th same time as Doc Murk's Murk's World, Tomskis Party Vikings -- Tommy's True Tales, and (as it happms) th Revrends Tetherd Cow Ahead.  That was in January o 2005 -- six or sevn munts bfore I startd bloggin.  But I was so takn wif Annes wit that I done sompm that I only done wif one othr blog (i.e., Tomskis) -- I began readin its arckive from th beginning.  And I gotta tell ya, fokes, this only increasd my admiration fer Anneski.

See, by th time I startd playin at Annes place, she was awready quite accomplishd as a bloggr.  Her blogski had a enormous following (judgin by th numbr o reggalr comentrs), and her posts exibitd a characktristic zing.  She had, some woud say, a distincktive "voice."  What I learnd by readin Annes arckive is that good bloggrs aint necesarily born good bloggrs.  And becomin a good bloggr might atchualy take a lil bit o thinkin and a good bit o doin.

Specifickly, I remembr a early post o Annes where she basickly said sompm like, "Now that I gots a blogski, Im gonna hafta look at a few blogskis and see what it is that othr fokes do wit theirs."  And, aftr a bit o explorin & experimentin, she publishd a post (on May 4, 2005) calld "How To Blog," in which she shared her thoughts on what does & what does NOT make fer good bloggin.  (This post, I believe, was among th posts that were quick-linkd in her sidebar, by th time I startd visiting.)

Throughout th five-year run o The Joey Polanski Show, Ive jottd Show-relatd stuff into a notebook -- ideas fer posts, web addresses, tecknickle info, etc. -- and while I was readin Annes arckive, I was, ocourse, takin noteskis.  Thats how I know that "How To Blog" was publishd on May 4, 2005.  I wrote it downski.  And sompm Anne said in that postski -- one of her "DONTs" -- I thought was SPOT ON, especialy as it expressd sompm Ive believd about good bloggin from th time I startd.  I wrote that down tooski.  And so what follows, fokes, may be th only survivin verbatim bit o wisdom from Anne Arkham: Art. Humor. Larceny.

Don't be a link whore.  Do put in some links to the things that interest you, but your original content is what will bring people back.

-- Anne Arkham
"How To Blog"
May 4, 2005

Surely th blogassfear woud be tons bettr if there was just one less link whore in our midst, dontcha agree?

Th notes I jottd down include titles o some othr posts Anne wrote -- like "Toads and Karma" and "How To Bribe a Judge" -- but I also remembr some posts wifout havin to consult my notebook.  I remembr a post about stealing a Picasso from a office reception area, and a post about droppin doggy doo in a banks night-dposit boxski.  Oh, yeah ...  And Scripture Mints ...  I remembr Scripture Mints.

But why do I always think of Anne whenevr th subjeckt o Linear Algebra comes upski?  Hmmm ...

Since she stoppd updatin her blogski, and evn since her blogski disappeard from cybrspace, Anne has two or three timeskis stoppd by th Polanski Show -- sompm which has made me happy -- but Im pretty sure her last bit o reggalr play was her rathr frisky coment on THIS POST.  As a rathr pleasant suprise, she postd a poemski to kick off RIPE IV; and my undrstanding, from readin Tetherd Cow, is that she stays in touch wit th Revrend.  I also recall erstwhile JPS associate, Casey, passin on a bit o happy news about Anne.  Twas nothin specifick, but to th genral effeckt that shes doin okay.  Thats goodski.

And so, as I prepare to leave th Polanski Show stage, I take a figgrative glance tward Chicaaaago, and send a warm thought Annes way.  Durin th short time she graced th same stage, she shone about as brightly as any o us evr does.  Fare thee well, lass.