Sunday, February 12, 2012

Editor's Note

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Hey guys,
I've been really busy the past couple of weeks, so I've been slacking a bit on the blog. I think I'm mostly caught up. Someone asked me yesterday how long I've been running Frozen Tropics, and I answered with a month and year. I'm not sure it ever really sunk in for me how long it's been. The first post still in existence is from December 2nd 2004. That's more than seven years ago. We've come a long way since that time. BTW, this note is actually post  number 5,506.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

congrats, you've made this a better neighborhood through your efforts. hope you're not thinking of retiring...

inked said...

I'm good for now. It was just interesting looking at the numbers.

Anonymous said...

Your blog is a great neighborhood resource, Inked. Thanks for all of the hard work that you put into it!

inked said...

It's definitely a project, but it's fun too.

heyktb said...

Thanks Elise for your blog. We moved here this past April and I 've enjoyed referring to Frozen Tropics ever since to read about
stuff that's going on in the neighborhood. Quick question...where did the "frozen tropics" name come from?

Grateful Deaf said...

"Frozen Tropics"? I'm guessing the name is taken from both the climate of the Caribbean Trinidad and what it could be like here in DC.

Unless there's a drink on H St. that inspired the name of this blog?

In any case, I thought it was a cool name when I found this blog in 2005 and I still think it is.

I rarely comment here but count me as a grateful reader!

inked said...

heyktb & Greatful Deaf,

The name thing is slightly nerdy. I was an English major in college. Second semester of my senior year I took the following English classes:

The Romantics: that semester we studied gothic lit. That includes the concept of the sublime and its tendency to elevate humans to their highest potential. That concept involves extremes and opposites, like a storm (what happens when hot and cold fronts meet). The meeting of hot and cold to me suggests something that is not static, but constantly in flux.

Caribbean lit: We focused mostly on Trinidad and Jamaica (I took a lot of Latin American history, which sometimes included the Caribbean). There's an idea in lit crit of Jamaican lit that (as a former British colony) you had these Jamaican kids reading books like Jane Eyre that featured depictions of snow. The result is sometimes referred to as the snow falling on the cane fields. It's something unreal, and something that reminded me of the cold front and the sublime.

Then it is also Tropics because I live in Trinidad, and Frozen because it's memorialized in a way. It's documented. We live in an ever changing neighborhood, so it seem appropriate to reference both the idea of something constantly in flux, and the sublime (because hopefully we can all rise to the occasion and become better people through examining and and working on that change).

The handle inked is a remnant of an old email address from college: inked78@hotmail.com. Inked is a play on the abbreviation for incorporated (inc.) and also a reference to a printing press. I.e., a booked is inked when it is printed. I was born in 1978, so inked78.

That was probably a longer explanation than you expected, but that's the answer. I named my blog after semi-obscure English major shit.

diane on I St NE said...

Thanks for all of the great stuff you do and post

inked said...

I do appreciate the thanks, particularly when I have to deal with all the maintenance work I sometimes put off.

H Street Landlord said...

Yes, many thanks. I have been reading since 07...

heyktb said...

from the perspective of a teacher, nerdy is good...

Tom A. said...

Thanksa for the great community resource and mouthpiece!

I'm gld to see you're finally taking advertising. You deserve a bit of income from this!

Anonymous said...

I always figured Inked just had some really wild tattoos we just couldn't see in her normal street attire! :)

so? said...

Inked,

I'll concur with previous sentiments about the validity of your literary enjoyment and with the statement from anon 2:24. You have made this a better neighborhood. Conversations with friends confirm that this blog provides information that encourages neighbors to increase their involvement in the neighborhood. I've spoken with local business owners who believe that you've guided customers to new businesses, and likely helped increase investment in the area. We all benefit from your project - thank you for everything.

Arch_NME said...

I thought the same thing Grateful Deaf though about the blog name. That it was some kind of reference the actually island of Trinidad vs the weather up here. Though I always kind of wondered because DC really isn't very frozen 90% of the year. I figured maybe you just started the blog on a snowy day though. Interesting to finally know the actual story.

Also, I imagined you were covered in tats, thus your chosen handle.

smash said...

I also want to chime in, Inked, and thank you for all the work and love you have put into this blog. As a future Trinidad resident (closing March 9th!) your blog has been an invaluable resource to me as I get to know more about my future neighborhood. My husband and I were already interested in Trinidad based on price and location alone, but Frozen Tropics has helped me see how much more there is to enjoy here and we look forward to making it our home for many, many years to come.

Also, the extra-long nerdy explanation of the name just makes me love it more! As a fellow lit nerd (French/Francophone lit here) I congratulate you on an incredibly thoughtful and clever moniker!

Alan Page said...

I've been coming here since the beginning, although only using my born name fairly recently. Ha.

That name explanation is golden, by the way. Awesome.

Anonymous said...

your blog is really great. Thanks for doing it. It's also alot better than other neighborhood blogs.

claudiac said...

Thanks for your great efforts and for keeping us updated on all the matters related with neighborhood!! Your doing a great contribution to the community.