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Update as of March 4, 2011: In all fairness to those of you interested in this site’s writing content, you should know that this aspect of the site has more or less fallen into disuse. I no longer find time to write newsletters, and as a result, the activity on this site has dwindled to virtually nothing.
Everything you read below formed an accurate picture through the end of 2008, but by 2009, I was transitioning from teaching college into a career in web development, always a hobby of mine and one of the main ways I put myself through undergraduate school. I continue to work at IWS at the time of this update.
All that said, you are still welcome to contact me for any reason. If you are here because you’re interested in software development, I’m prettily happily employed at the moment, but still consider proposals.
Perhaps one day I will again focus on inspiring people with words: I’m afraid the words I do write these days tend to take on a more technical flavor. If I’m not writing code, I’m writing about it. :)
EricHello!
Mr. Renaissance: Spiritual and Philosophic Reflections was first launched on March 8th, 2001; it has steadily grown since that time, now parked at its third domain, mrrena.com, via 1&1. It is the not-for-profit project of one person, namely myself: Eric Knickerbocker, a per-course philosophy instructor at Missouri State University with a dual bachelor’s degree in both philosophy and literature and a master’s degree in literature; I am also a freelance web developer. Mr. Renaissance started out as a way to post my amateurish and rather artless pre-college writing. As time went on, however, my writing began gaining increasing poise and confidence, no little reflection, I am certain, of the multiplying literature classes—or the college environment in general, for that matter. To date, the pages on this site number well over five hundred.
Within a year of Mr. Renaissance’s inception, a newsletter of sorts emerged, remaining unofficial and nameless until it eventually evolved into Le Penseur Réfléchit, the bi-weekly Mr. Renaissance newsletter. Back issues can be accessed via the newsletter archives, and if you would like a freshly formatted Le Penseur Réfléchit to land in your inbox every other week, simply subscribe, totally free of charge. Addresses are not sold or given out for any reason; the address you provide will be used for the exclusive purpose of mailing you your newsletters.
Curious about the Le Penseur Réfléchit name? Read more about its significance here; to hear it pronounced (nearly correctly—laughs), click the small bronze square here » .
There are other sides to the site as well, including Monsieur Renaissance : le forum de discussion, the site’s public discussion forum, in which rare is the day that there is a not an active discussion taking place: the forum has proven to be perhaps the most popular part of the site to date, discussions often starting from the Le Penseur Réfléchit newsletter, but certainly not limited to it.
For articles ranging from research papers, essays, memoirs, inspirational writings, and poetry, click on any of the Misc./Archives links throughout this site. Particularly for (but certainly not limited to) those who subscribe to the newsletter, a discussion forum is available, which allows readers to participate. If you like quotations, Monsieur Renaissance : la page des citations might interest you; if you’re a poetry buff, try Onerous Musicalis for style. There is also a links page to help acquaint you with other quality sites on the Internet, several library collections, and a virtual potpourri of other reference material. If you are the sort of person who likes to let things happen as they will, you might want to try out the random link available at the bottom of all the web pages—you decide: is it chance or providence that determines the page upon which you land?
Note that all original material—that is, material written by myself (Eric)—has an open copyright that allows for unlimited distribution and re-posting for not-for-profit purposes, provided you credit the source. Note that you may, however, need to seek permission to re-post anything written by another author, as there are a few such pieces on this site. As always, you are welcome and invited to link to any page at any time for any reason. And would you like to inform your friends away from the computer? You can now download and print a PDF page of plain Mr. Renaissance business cards.
So to a parting question plenty of people have pondered: what is the significance of the name Mr. Renaissance? The answer is found in its definition, as the term renaissance refers to rebirth or reawakening—a second youth—a title first adopted as an artistic chapter title to describe a part of my life entailed in an autobiography I wrote in 1998.
Eric
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