The Contemplator is usually working, and if not, then busy contemplating - meditating - vegetating (whichever syntax you prefer to use) and can't believe anyone would really want to spend time reading a biography when there's so much more to do here... But I am willing to share a bit about how I came to be the "Contemplator."
My name is Lesley. I was born and raised a Navy Junior - so no where was home. I was fortunate enough to live in Vietnam and Japan as a child and traveled a good bit as a tourist - when Mom and Dad were paying the bills instead of me.
I got married right out of college and was a stay-at-home mom for as long as I could possibly be. During that time I earned my M.A. (in History from Shippensburg University), worked occasionally as a part-time computer trainer and volunteered for a local women's shelter, giving presenations and teaching programs in middle and high schools. I was atae kwon do student long enough to get my black belt and teach a women's class for a while. I also took pa kua for several years, something I continued to practice for a very long time, though not for the martial aspect. Financial necessity drove me to full-time work. I worked at a couple of sales jobs in the computer industry just long enough to decide that wasn't what I wanted to do.
The next adventure was teaching. My mother had been a teacher and I'd enjoyed teaching computer courses, programs in schools, and martial arts. I decided to go back to complete the requirements for my teaching certificate at Wilson College (Secondary Social Studies). I had a terrific time taking classes with some great professors. I also had a fantastic teacher intern experience (thank you, Ellen) and then a couple of long term substitute position for a local school district.
However, I didn't find a full-time position, so my last occupational adventure - one I am still living, was a position with the Government - first as a contractor, and then as a Fed. I was fortunate enough to have found a job I loved even more than I did teaching. I switched to a position in policy a few years later, which is home. It combines research, analysis, and writing. I engage with an extraordinary community.
This page started when I was a stay-at-home mom - and on a whim because I wanted to learn HTML. For the first few weeks it was Contemplations. Then I discovered background music - and midis. Then I discovered Barry Taylor's music...
I've always enjoyed folk music. Mom used to play the piano and Dad used to sing songs out of the Navy Song book such as Abdul Abulbul Amir and Maid of Amsterdam, especially at parties... Although I took guitar lessons in the early 70s and learned some folk tunes then, I'd never developed much talent or learned anything of music theory, so I wrote Barry for permission to use his files and for a couple of months (with permission) just copied music from his and Brian Hick's ReelMusic site.
Barry persuaded me that I could enter single line melodies on a computer - and amazingly, I could. I sent him melody lines and he'd magically make it into something incredible. I then found a program to scan sheet music and purchase a ton of music book printed before 1927 (which meant they were in the public domain). It didn't always work well, but it was wonderful when I'd scan a new song in and it came to life.
My love of history meant I was curious about the history behind the music. I thought other people might be curious too - and if they weren't it didn't much matter - I would at least learn something! So I started researching the origin of the songs and the historical background. I couldn't always find the history I was looking for on the Web, so I started my History Pages. The history of a couple of ballads led me to Child Ballads. And then I heard the music of Carolan for the first time and created a page for Carolan too.
My pages are now less about contemplating than about music and history. I've enjoyed the transition and love the music and history. I keep the title and I keep the Contemplations (though I don't update them any more) because those were my roots.
Occasionally, when things go wrong and I have to completely rework the site, I think about giving the site up. HTML has moved beyond my skills and it's a struggle to fix things that go wrong. And it's embarrassing when it's a mess! But then I find some energy and some time and persevere until I figure out some rudimentary way to fix things. I still love the site and maybe when I retire I will find some new software to scan some more songs from my books and more history to research!
All that's left to say is Welcome to Contemplations of the Marianas Trench - my sojourn into the web, music, and history.y
