My first Bosworth post

This is an exciting moment for me. As a graduate student, a pretentious schmo, a blogger, and an e-zinist, I suppose I do enough writing to kill a small horse. Somehow, though, here I am doing some more writing. But not just any writing. This is my first blog on the Bosworth website.

I've thought for at least forty-eight seconds about what material would be best for my Bosblog kickoff, and I settled on a story I've told several people but wanted to publish on my website. I'm glad I'm doing it here, because I'm not sure where else it would have fit.

As some of you know, I launched Bosworth on April 1, 2007. My friend and former colleague Marina Hall, of Utah State University, showed glowing support and offered to have her intern Leisa write a press release for the English department website. I jumped at the opportunity to get a little publicity. Leisa was a true professional, e-mailing me the very next day with a list of questions. Here's what they were about:

I understand you're the proofreader for the magazine? Do you also write articles?

Who are the other writers for the magazine?

How did the idea to start this online magazine come about?

The name "Bosworth" comes from an ancestor of yours named Edward Bosworth? (I read that in the magazine history, but I thought I had better ask you whether it's actual fact)

I was told you're working on a PhD; is that correct? What are you studying, and what is your master's degree in?

With nothing but love and respect for Leisa, it seemed as though she was taking the website very literally. I assumed she wanted to take nothing for granted, so I wrote back, telling her that most of the "information" on the site was as reliable as Bill O'Reilly's fact checker. I also responded to her interview questions as facetiously as possible. Here's what I wrote:

1. I started out around February, looking for a hobby that combined by desire to express myself creatively with my quirky sense of humor. Plus, I wanted something that didn't require me to wear pants between Thursday and Sunday. The idea to do a humor magazine had been in the back of mind for a while, but I'm not sure what finally kicked me into gear.

2. When it came time to put the magazine together, I wanted to delve as far into the realm of absurdity as I could. The magazine is meant to feel like a cross between "Deep Thoughts," "The Muppet Show," and the 19th-century magazine "Punch." It boasts a cast of fictitious characters, starting with Archibald Bosworth, a cultural elitist who tackles important issues like, "Meeting People in Bars." He's accompanied by an A&E columnist known only as Dagonet, an advice columnist named Virginia Perkins Plath, a travel writing goat named Ned, and a few others. The whole idea became pretty hokey at some point, but I figure I'll just keep adding characters until the website turns to into a delicious casserole.

3. Since Bosworth is fictitious, so is his ancestry. I did hope in the back of my mind that people looking for information on Kate Bosworth/The Battle of Bosworth would stumble on my site and think it was real. That would be funny, especially if it ended up in someone's history paper. The back story about me being beaten up by a band of street toughs called the Allegros is also fraudulent.

4. I'm currently in my first year at the University of Iowa, working toward a PhD in English. I plan to specialize in 19th- and 20th-century American literature, with an emphasis in the culture surrounding magazine literature.

Once again, I must stress how helpful, professional, and wonderful Leisa was. She had drafted a press release by April 4 and it went live April 5. I was touched by how seriously she took me (this seldom happens to me, even in real life) and was tickled by the final product, which very skillfully worked around my facetiousness. Take a look at the final product, if you like. The press release is available here.