Annotated Bibliography

English 316, Advanced Prose

Professor Cora Agatucci

1. Best's Studio Inc. "The Ansel Adams Gallery." Created 2002-2003. 5 May 2003.
<http://www.anseladams.com>

Ansel Adams is most famous for his nature and landscape photography, especially in Yosemite National Park. The web site offers a biography of Ansel, virtual exhibits, original prints, related links, workshop information and numerous galleries for viewing and purchasing prints. The site is well organized and easy to follow and offers a wide variety of outside links related to black and white photography and photographers.

I chose this site because Ansel's work inspires me to be a photographer. Also, although I’m not allowed to sell prints on the web, it’s helpful to see how the purchasing galleries are set up and organized. Basically, Ansel was a photo guru and he had a lot to do with the appreciation and preservation of a number of America's national parks.

2. Smith, Marylin. "Noah Smith". Created November 2001. 5 May 2003.
<http://www.noahsmith.org/index.htm>

This site is very personal to me. I have known Noah since kindergarten and in a freak accident last year a wheel flew off a trailer on the freeway, bounced over the center divider and struck the roof of Noah's truck as he was driving to Eugene. He is now struggling to learn to walk again. Noah's effort is an inspiration to me and I like to look on his site to see his recovery progress and read comments in the guestbook. The site also has links to pictures of his progress, upcoming fundraising events and related foundations. The site could be more organized and user friendly but I can only imagine how busy Noah's parents are with helping him rehabilitate.

3. Glayden, Greg. "Mt. McKinley Journal". Created May 1997. 8 May 2003.
<http://www.peakbagger.com/journal/mck0.htm>.

This web site is an individual's experience at Mt. McKinley, Alaska. The author documented a 20 day expedition to the summit of America's tallest peak in journal/story form, with numerous pictures. The site is organized so that each day of the experience has its own link from the main page and each link leads to a somewhat extensive journal entry accompanied by appropriate photos.

Of course, I find the pictures the most interesting part of this site. The journal entries are very long, which, for readers who don't personally know the author, probably discourage visitor reading. Also, although the photos do correspond to the journal entry for each day, I think some sort of specific label next the each image would strengthen the site. I find the author of this site inspiring. As I followed links provided in his pages, I found out how many places he has been around the world. The author has clearly devoted his life to traveling the world and appreciating nature and living an interesting life.

4. London, Barbra. John Upton. "Photography: The Fifth Edition". New York, NY: Harper Collins, 1994.

This book was the text for a photography class I took last year. It covers basic photographic principals like aperture, shutter speed, exposure, light and composition, as well as more advanced photographic and development techniques. Perhaps one of the best aspects of the book is the excellent pictures in it that provide examples for certain techniques and strategies. I have referred to it a number of times since the class, which I rarely do with the text books I don't sell back to the bookstore. I learned a lot from the book and much of the material still offers me new insites and techniques to consider.

5. Popular Photography & Imaging. Vol. 67.No.4. April 2003

This magazine is dedicated to providing pictures, contests, articles and products to amateur and professional photographers. Each issue is loaded with beautiful photographs from a number of mediums of photography including digital, color, black-and-white and computer enhanced. The back of each issue contains detailed descriptions of products and often provides pictures of new cameras, lenses and other equipment. I often browse through resent publications of this magazine to get ideas for photo projects and read how-to articles.

6. Whirligig Studios. "Time Pieces: Personal Biographies". Created 1994-2003. 1 May 2003.
<http://www.timepiecesbios.com/index.html>

Ultimately, this site is selling products and workshops on how to create oral histories. It discusses the importance of keeping histories and biographies and persuades readers to consider documenting history a vital part living a fulfilling life. Sections like "Personal Biographies", "life writing workshops" and "memoir editing" offer specific information on what "Timepieces", the site creator, offers. Functionally, the site is well organized and easy to follow.

This site is relevant to my final projects for both Multicultural Literature and Literary Genres classes. I plan to create a sort of oral history of homeless people. This site is valuable to my project because it can offer me some hints on how exactly to go about my project. Unfortunately, the specific, helpful material has to be purchased from the web site, which means I have very limited access to the organization's material. Still, some basic principals of creating oral histories are helpful.

7. Bay Area Holocaust. "Oral History Project". Created 1997-2003. 7 may 2003.
<http://www.bahohp.org/>

"The Bay Area Holocaust Oral History Project is a non-profit organization that gives a home to lost memories by conducting detailed oral history interviews with survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust." This site is a specific example of an oral history project and offers some very powerful personal testimony. The site has in depth histories of four individuals who survived concentration camps, a time line of historical events 1933-45, and a bullitin. Within the individual testimonies of the site are links to digital recordings and film of the individuals speaking of their experiences, which gives browsers a very personal, intimate experience of the survivor's experience.

This is a powerful site because of the seriousness of the subject matter. There are few Holocaust survivors left so the preservation of their stories and experiences is invaluable. I hope for my project to offer a hint of this web pages sense of preservation of history and respect for individuals who beat the odds and survived through incredible circumstances.

8. Street Roots. "Street Roots: Joe Gould's Secret". Created 2002. 10 May 2003.
<http://www.streetroots.org/books/>

This site focus on exposing the art, creations and lifestyles of eccentric and talented people of street cultures around the country. At this particular time the site features a summary of a book written about an educated homeless man who was seen as somewhat of a guru to people he encountered. Apparently he wrote hundreds of pages of manuscripts about his life on the streets and, in particular, the conversations he had with others. Author Joseph Mitchell shadowed Gould, the guru, for a period to capture his life in sort of an oral history. The site is helpful to me because it is an example of how an author can step out of his/her comfort zone and capture a story from the stories perspective rather than looking merely writing about something he hasn't actually seen or experienced. I hope to do something similar on the streets in the future.

9. Homeless, Joe. My Life on the Street: Memoirs Of A Faceless Man. New Jersey: New
Horizon Press, 1992.

This book is the account of a homeless man on the streets of New York City. "Joe Homeless", the author's alias, was at one point a "productive" member of society. He had a job and a home and nice things. But through a number of circumstances Joe wound up on the streets and he began to record conversations on an old tape recorder he found. Years later he became a mild street celebrity and Joe eventually gathered enough quality material and connections to publish his account of his years living on the streets.

The book is powerful because it comes from a person that had to survive on the streets unlike some pieces written from authors who merely spent time on the streets but never really experienced homeless life. It helps me with my oral history project because it is an excellent example of an individuals story brought out in the open- which is what I would like to accomplish.

10. Hombs, Mary. Mitch Snyder. Homelessness in America: A Forced March to Nowhere.
Washington, D.C. The Community for Creative Non-Violence. 1982.

This book is difficult for me to read. I skim through it and look at the pictures and read phrases and it truly sends chills down my spine. It makes me feel guilty for being as fortunate as I am, and, even more, it makes me feel guilty for the time I waste on myself.

The book is divided into sections like, "A basis for understanding", "The Woman Who Died in a Box", "A Quiet Violence", "Life on the Streets", and "Oral Testimony". These chapters discuss, among many other things, policies that harm or ignore homelessness, homeless situations in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, D.C., and North Carolina, protests and individual accounts of life on the streets. Perhaps the most moving aspect of the book is the pictures that put faces on a problem that, according to the book, the wealth of the nation prefers to ignore, discard and push into the dark corners of society. I plan to read the entire book, not for any school project I'm trying to finish but because I feel like homelessness is a problem I've ignored long enough and as I come into an age and intelligence that makes possible my doing something for the situation I feel responsible to live in ignorance of this matter no longer.

11. Portland Rescue Mission. "Portland Rescue Mission." 14 May 2003.
<http://www.portlandrescuemission.org>

History: founded in 1946, operates entirely on voluntary contributions- 24-hours a day-365 days a year.

Annual report: 173,491 meal served in 2002,

Detailed virtual tour of mission.

Updated reports about programs and services and upcoming events.

Donate on line, rescue mission outlet, e-mail list, Drive away hunger program,

12. Oregon Economic Wellbeing. "Homelessness in Oregon." 14 May 2003.
<http://www.hcs.state.or.us/economicwellbeing/homeless_in_oregon.html>

Provides statistics, census link, extensive research results, and offers links to a number of partners and relevant sites.

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