To live in a pristine land ... to roam the wilderness ... to choose a site, cut trees, and build a home ... Thousands have had such dreams, but Richard Proenneke lived them. In 1968, at 51 years of age,
Richard Proenneke retired to Upper Twin Lakes, Alaska and using nothing but hand tools,
built a cabin where he lived for the next 30 or so years. He
filmed the cabin's construction (as well as much of nature's wonder) and kept meticulous notes on the back of wall calendars. In 1973,
Sam_Keith produced a book
(One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey) based on Proenneke's journal entries and photography. In 1999, at the age of 82, Proenneke could no longer endure the harsh winters of Alaska and moved to California to be with his family. He
died there on Easter Sunday, 2003.
posted by a_day_late
on Feb 10, 2005 -
16 comments
Quantum Diaries - follow physicists from around the world as they experience the World Year of Physics 2005.
posted by Gyan
on Feb 1, 2005 -
4 comments
Ivan Noble's Tumour Diary The BBC's Ivan Noble has been keeping an online diary of his fight against a malignant brain tumour. Alas, his illness is now getting the better of him, and this will be his final column.
He has been, at times, an inspiration, incredibly brave and totally honest about his illness. As a former colleague, he shall also be remembered fondly.
Start from
the beginning, it's a must read.
posted by scaryduck
on Jan 27, 2005 -
10 comments
Nick Nolte's (baffling) blog. Then I saw a middle-aged woman wearing a black t-shirt that had the word "Ferrari" printed on it. Maybe it was Ron's influence, but I found the woman mesmerizing and depressing but otherwise encouraging about the direction of human events. What a strange shirt, diary. Worn without irony or malice. Anyway, Manolo won't go clean out the bird cage, so later days.
Nolte's blog is not as cute as
Melanie Griffith's, though.
(via laobserved)
posted by matteo
on Oct 15, 2004 -
31 comments
This is Jon's diary. Jon is in prison on money laundering and drugs charges. "My new co-habitants are enduring the twin evils of a broken swamp-cooler and a cockroach infestation. A neighbouring asthmatic inmate happily described how he inhaled a cockroach that had crept into his nebulizer. He could feel the insect crawling around inside him and promptly vomited his stomach contents. Unfortunately the cockroach was not ejected, as it was lodged in his lung."
posted by urban greeting
on Sep 9, 2004 -
13 comments
?????? ????? - Name:Zena Amaar / Location:baghdad, Iraq
I am 13 years old. I am in the 2nd class in AL-MUTAMAYSAT secondary school whech means the secondary school for excellent student.
I spend most of my time working on computer and reading stories, i have a library of about 75 books some of them are stories and the others are poetical books. Also i help my mother in housework.
My father is a lucturer in the colleg of engineering. At the same time he is postgradute student. He is working hardly to get the PhD in computer engineering.
My mother is assestant prof. in the colleg of engineering.
I have only one brother. He is in the primary school in the 4th class. I love my family so much. (via
sylloge :)
posted by kliuless
on Jul 13, 2004 -
14 comments
Martha Ballard's Diary Includes a transcription of the diary (written between 1785-1812), images of the original MS, and a number of contextual documents and photographs, plus many other things. (Those of you who enjoy old diaries should bear in mind that one of the greatest diarists of them all,
Samuel Pepys, has a
blog.)
posted by thomas j wise
on Jun 12, 2004 -
5 comments
Diaries of the Lewis and Clark Journey. American Journeys has a collection or primary source documents about the Lewis and Clark Journey across America, including the diary of Sergeant Charles Floyd (the only member of the expedition to die en route), Jefferson's letter to Clark where he suggests the expedition, and 63 engravings of Places and People. If you're into history, you might also want to vote on
Wisconsin Turning Points, a ballot to determine the most interesting topics in Wisconsin History.
posted by rev-
on May 21, 2004 -
3 comments
Bob Graham, Florida senator and Democratic presidential aspirant, burned 246 calories on his exercise bike on Feb. 7, 1999. Good thing, because he weighed in that morning at 187, up one pound from the previous day. How do we know this? Because over the past 26 years, Graham has
filled box after box with
journals capturing an incredible, some say obsessive, level of
detail about his daily life. Quirky, sure;
parody friendly, no doubt; but will the GOP be successful in using it to
paint him as crazy?
(Salon daypass req. for last link)
posted by luser
on Jun 3, 2003 -
17 comments
Iraqi teen shares her diary of war In an Iraqi teenager's youthful hand, Amal wrote her war diary, committing to the pages of her orange journal the emotions of a family at Baghdad's ground zero. Amal's diary - often written by lamplight using the floor as a table - charts how some Iraqis' thinking has been transformed in a month.
posted by turbanhead
on May 3, 2003 -
6 comments
The (not so) Secret Weblog of Laura Palmer brings back many memories of trying to work out who the real murderer was, and being deeply infuriated with how the story ended. As Agent Cooper puts it:
"I know that good is stronger than evil and yet sometimes it's difficult to see it. Even in a place like Twin Peaks." [via Caro]
posted by feelinglistless
on Apr 8, 2003 -
17 comments
"My daughter can't be bulimic. I don't diet. We don't talk about calories or fat or weight loss. Much of our family life centres around food. Look at my job as a restaurant critic!" Joanne Kates is the restaurant critic for the
Globe and Mail; her daughter suffered from anorexia. Today, the
Globe published their story in their own words.
posted by mcwetboy
on Jan 25, 2003 -
8 comments
Even though Anne cannot possibly know on her birthday that only a month later she will have to go into hiding, she begins her new diary with the following extremely significant sentence:
"I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support."
60 years ago today,
Anne Frank started
her diary while in hiding.
posted by mathowie
on Jul 12, 2002 -
38 comments
"You were not responsive, lying on a bed of sheets covered with blood." A young woman crashes her car, is airlifted to the hospital, and goes on life support. Her parents continue her 10-year-old diary during her stay in intensive care. Years later it's all posted to the web.
posted by D
on Feb 21, 2002 -
3 comments
We Live In... Hell? Tanya Corrin on Josh Harris as profoundly fucked company: "By day 60, I had to get out. By day 78, still unable to find an apartment, I chose couch surfing instead of remaining in a very public nightmare."
On the one hand, deeply satisfying; on the other, deeply sad.
posted by holgate
on Feb 24, 2001 -
13 comments
I'm not Brad F'n Pitt. Everyone's favorite fake celebrity diary has cleared house today, leaving one of the most contrite apologies I've ever seen. Methinks one of the real Pitt's handlers caught an eyeful of the fictionalized accounts of constant drug use, the assorted sex with various celebrities (including Willard Scott), and Jen Aniston's shower habit and slapped a cease and desist on "Pitt." Although the main link's been deactivated,
the entries are still there.
posted by solistrato
on Dec 15, 2000 -
9 comments
