User:JComet
About Jonnie Comet[edit]
Pleased to be here! I am a literature scholar and educator, designer, yachtie, musician, and author.
Scholarly focus areas (ask me about):
- British literature 1550s-1920s; the Bronte sisters; Jane Austen; Anne Radcliffe & the Gothic; Romantic poetry; Shakespeare; Dickens; Poe; The Great Gatsby; Colette
- British society, culture, history, 1470s-1830s; North American history, 1610s-1780s; German history 1870s-1930s, rise of Naziism; Russia 1880s-1920s, the last Tsar & family; rise of Bolshevism; Victoriana; Georgian/Augustan era; Tudor/Stuart dynasty
- Christianity, the Reformation, Anglican Church
- North American & Caribbean slavery; abolition; African-American history; equal rights movement
- history, arts, culture, geography of: England, London, Philadelphia, New Jersey shore
- maritime history; naval vessels & warfare esp. 1910s-1940s
- sailing, sailboats, sailors; landsailing; yacht design & construction
- art and architecture, esp. 1660s-1870s; Palladianism; residential and small-commercial construction
- sport & military aircraft (anything piston-engined!); flying; US Army Air Corps/Air Force
- rock music esp. 1960s-1980s; guitars, design, users, history; sound reinforcement; analog recording
- anime & manga; J-pop; Japanese culture; kendo; romaji
- educational strategies and curriculua; adolescent psychology; Kohlberg; Chomsky; David Fink
- English & American grammar & usage (and differences between); journalism & editing
I hate politics, because I am level-headed, mature, rational, and capable of seeing worth in others' ideas and points of view; so please don't ask me about that.
Interest in Wikipedia[edit]
As an educator I constantly admonished (lazy) secondary students to stop citing 'Wikipedia' as a (primary) source for their research papers! I have called Wikipedia 'the world's greatest research paper' and consistently make the point that this is all work done by other people for your behalf, so we all ought best to kindly cite their work if only out of respect. I also happen to despise plagiarism; so there's that too.
As a contributor I tend to examine grammar, punctuation, spelling and style/usage, mainly with a point to improving clarity and readability. I won't twiddle with facts unless I truly have something more meaningful to add (or if I recognise a glaring error, which has happened). I typically tick these as 'minor edit' and cite 'no factual changes' to keep revert snerts from going off too much.
- I've not been citing or ennumerating articles to which I've contributed, merely because I hadn't seen the need before creating a proper User page (Oct 2018). Maybe before long I'll delve into that list. Just keep in mind that, to me, it's not about me or my taking credit; it's about the meaningfulness of the article, especially as it's seen by the reader. Good, clean, informative writing and editing should be the metaphysical goal of Wikipedians everywhere. For now I hope my edits will be straightforward and essentially transparent - you won't even know it's been edited unless you're one of those who 'falls in love' with what he or she writes to the point that you'd prefer that it stay awkwardly worded, because you wrote it and that's what's important to you. But, just as in performing arts, ego has no place in good journalism.
Cometworks[edit]
Writing is both an avocation and a business!
I have authored several fiction series, what I have called 'literary fantasy for the real world' or rather 'social fiction' (as opposed to 'science fiction'). Most of these are out in part and may remain ongoing for some time to come. Quite a few focus on a fanciful British territory in the South Pacific, with interrelated characters and story arcs.
I also have about 90-odd (rock) songs to my credit, from the days when I performed and recorded regularly (bass, vocals, piano, guitar(s), drums; in that priority). Most were copyrighted under my legal name (not pen name) but some still surface in funny places from time to time.
I have a background in architecture and am working on publishing a catalogue of residential designs. Many of these date back to the 1970s; many are 'sets' from my fiction works. This work is ongoing as well.
Being both a surfer and a sailor I am keenly aware of the relationship between the two and have designed and built both surfboards and sailboats over most of my life.
As part of an editorial team I've been developing a stylebook for fiction writers, in the main based on a somewhat more easily-understood and more consistent form of the Queen's English. One of the major sources of editorial defence has been The Great Gatsby- an American book written in essentially British English (as are most of my own). Much of what I contribute on Wikipedia will be based on what's been learnt in working on that stylebook; but, again, it is meant to be so smooth it's unnoticeable. If the style seems glaring and intrusive, I probably had nothing to do with it!
Editorial philosophy[edit]
I'm interested to hear from fellow grammarians and scholars about just about anything. I'll look forward to being of help and to soliciting help from others in order to uphold the best editorial standards of Wikipedia and the world: fairness, truthfulness, gentleness and helpfulness.
- My works and I are generally searchable on the Web, including at Fandom and some other 3rd-party sites.
- Much thanks to Sergecross73 as I've modelled this page on the code he's used for his own (easy HTML). Ta for that, mate!