The Last Morsel began in 2001 as a brief addition to a larger enterprise, World Wide Recipes. Its concept was not neatly defined, which suited me perfectly well. My job was to provide a nugget of fun or information or humor or subdued culinary seduction - whatever I desired - in prose or poetry or song, my choice - as a conclusion, a dessert so-to-speak, to a newsletter chock full of recipes. I was a bit apprehensive at first, never having previously published anything not graded by a teacher or professor. And I admit it took me quite awhile before I felt at ease with my job.
Actually, without concrete limits, I sometimes still am not sure of what I contribute. At first I was a little uneasy about trying to be "politically correct" in every conceivable area. A few critical emails about my choices of quotes felt demeaning. Religious references in particular seemed to engender ire on various fronts, even though I professed no affiliation with any group(s). With an undergraduate degree in English and a graduate degree in Psychology, I consider myself a literary liberal. A free thinker. I consider all things to be parts of some greater body of knowledge. I do not limit myself to conservative, mainstream reading and/or writing.
Now over ten years into this "research", I am still trying to find my way. So much of what I find depends on mood and/or what I have available. Resources are limitless, of course, but my time is not. I still meet Monday through Friday deadlines with my publisher, but I also supplement this web page which, I admit, needs modernizing. If I need to learn the mechanics of web design, I am resigned to learning what I can. The longer I live, the more I realize I need to do lots of things for myself.
One aspect NOT included in the aforementioned WWR are my weekend Morsels, generally entitled "Food for Thought." Most have nothing to do with food, per se. Food for the mind, for the heart, for the conscience, for the sense of humor, for some secret sense of sarcasm/ subtle wicked wit - this is what my weekends are about. There is no censure. There need not be any restriction or conformity.
My compensation for what I do? Mostly personal satisfaction. I do, however, receive a tiny commission from Amazon.com based on items (ANY items purchased from Amazon) sold through my links. In addition to daily quotations, please also check out a larger reference collection, currently loosely termed "Other Stuff" on the main page. The "Find a Morsel" page will guide you to previous Morsels (February 2001 to present) via topic, author, title, key words, and various other indicators.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me.
Thanks, and enjoy!
Barbara |
