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Rants and Raves

A casual blog reporting on the life and times of Caroline C. Blaker

New carolinecblaker.com is in development

In: Career management, My Career, Web Development

New carolinecblaker.com is in development

The design and implementation of this website has served me well for over 3 years, but let's face it. Standards have changed, expectations have risen, and my skills have skyrocketed. Time for the design to reflect the best of what I have to offer.

This website is my first website. As someone who builds websites every day in a high-demand environment, I have a fondness for this one that supercedes my love for my work (which I LOVE a LOT.) In the past, it has been the canvas for my development skills. If you have been visiting for more than a few years, undoubtedly you remember it being riddled with bugs, impossible to use, or just having one of those “what was she thinking?“ moments. As it turns out this problem is systemic for artists, but I’m not just an artist. I’m a professional web developer AND artist. I have the time, the

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Support an Artist While Spending Nothing

In: Career management, Opinion

Support an Artist While Spending Nothing

One way to support an Artist is to buy art. If this isn't an option for you, there are costless ways to make a huge difference in an artist's career path. Any person who loves the art of an artist can make a huge difference.

Many people feel that supporting an artist beyond compliments and verbal encouragement is out of their reach if they don’t have money to buy artwork. While the best way to support an artist is to (buy art and) support their livelihood, here are a few things that are free, that make a huge difference to the artist you would like to support.

  1. Share their work ~ Do you have a Facebook account? Twitter? StumbleUpon? Guess what - if you said yes, you also have a network outside of the reach of the artist you would like to help, and chances are your network and you share a lot of common
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The logo: What you don’t know about it

In: Anecdotes, Self Reflection

The logo: What you don’t know about it

My logo is one of the few works that have stuck with me since the age of 18, and among the only illustrations I have ever done.

Two-dimensional design is a notoriously difficult class for incoming freshmen at any art school, and here I found myself; second semester, under the tutelage of one of those “never gives an A” teachers, learning the basics of radial and symmetrical designs in black and white. Oh, and three days prior, I had been diagnosed with Mono(nucleosis) as every college student at some point is: first, you drink your neighbors water instead of your own, never mind that this person should not have been out in public let alone working at the phoneathon. Then, a month later, there’s a brick wall that

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I am a Native European

In: Opinion, Self Reflection

I am a Native European

Otherwise known as “White American” or Caucasian.

My contemporary struggle with cultural identity began with my husband and ended with my vacation to Europe. Over the span of nearly four years, I examined why my now-husband’s proximity to his (Native American) culture evoked jealousy behind the gratitude I felt for his happiness and sense of identity with his tribes and with the earth. I wanted an identity with the earth. I wanted to be close to a rooted ancestry group. I wanted what he had - but not exactly what he had. No matter how much I wanted, pleaded or begged, I wouldn’t be allowed in anyway. As I began to learn more about the

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