Author: arnsona

Decorum

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Shall one keep this thought, of decorum, in mind when presenting oneself online? Some say yes. Some say no. I am at a crossroads of throwing off my mantle of “safe” and really leaning in to my creative side with this site.

This site holds most of my endeavors from the start of my adult life in college through the present. It still works like a blog, so check out the categories and tags on the side as well as the links tab at the top.

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It seems l have not touched this site in a year. What has been happening? And, before that, why do I never reach out and create anymore? Isn’t it time? If not, when is it time?

Too many questions.

Within the last two and 1/2 years, I have been working as an assistant in research at a university in town. I use all my creative thinking to solve problems, devise solutions, communicate and build connections throughout the world through the work. I was also hired to help build an annual research showcase event AND be the staff editor (as opposed to the faculty editor) of the annual newsmagazine. I cannot post the actual images what I helped create (the links are on the Links Tab above) due to copyrights and agreements with said university.

One thing I can “tout”: I took the cover photo of the annual newsmagazine this year. That is a first! I am pretty proud of that.

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Now, back to “decorum”. AI is all the rage here in 2025. I have learned how to navigate the use of generative AI in my work life. Can AI have decorum? I suppose you can give it parameters when prompting. And, I suppose it can build itself around these parameters if you include them every time you write a prompt. It may also ask about them eventually if you forget to add them one time. I suppose I have trained my AI to have some when I speak to it with formality and type “please” and “thank you” while interacting with it. I may be too formal for this day an age! Though, I have my reasons to include these words.

The humans of Western Culture of 2025 seem to have relaxed the formality of everything: the written word, the clothes worn on the body, the lines between private and public, the lines between the creative and the profane. I feel I move with “the times” though I suppose my tendency for decorum, in a professional setting especially, could be thought to be out of touch. I would counter with “not necessarily”. Wouldn’t someone rather have a respectful discourse over email than one that may be filled with casual wording and closeness that isn’t warranted? Warmth, certainly! As in when speaking to someone new, the casualness takes time to build- if it ever does!

Writing with warmth, inclusiveness, intelligence, and interest is a skill that is learned. And it is not easy.

Does this blog, this web site, “speak” to those people I have a professional relationship with? Rarely, though many have seen bits and pieces of what it holds. If these people were to read it, I would hope that it would show heart, depth, humor, and decorum.

I will continue to hold this site as a repository of my public work. If I get a wild hair, I may keep it private for now.

Hello World!

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This little corner of the WWW has been in existence since 2015. It has been a repository of my writing prowess for quite a while- yet, it only shows examples of the many projects I have created throughout the years.

I have come again to my little corner in hopes that it inspires me to write. I hope you are visiting and it inspires you in some way.

I am here to say, “Hello World!” Again.

Ghostwriting

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Ghostwriting Copyright February 2016 ARLADEAN ARNSON

I have been very busy this last six months. I have been ghostwriting. And, with ghostwriting, you cannot claim the piece as your own nor can you post these pieces to your blog or portfolio.

What is ghostwriting? It is a situation where a writer gets paid to produce written pieces for someone else to claim authorship. The “author” in these cases could be another writer that is behind in his schedule and needs someone to help him catch up with orders. Or, the “author” is a company’s marketing department that needs some content for the company website. Yet another example of an “author” could be some non-writer, such as a celebrity in politics or Hollywood, who wants to “tell the story” of his success.

Ghostwriting is far from uncommon. And, I have whipped up some really good pieces.

I have been lucky to write high-end fashion blog articles:

“These older classic shapes are festooned with country emblems embroidered in bright cheerful colors. Other touches, like tassels, add to the sheer fun in wearing these garments!”

Here is a small quote for another blog article to support a children’s event here in Raleigh:

“Sports are always in season here in North Carolina!  The Bulls put on a great baseball show in Durham and the Carolina Hurricanes will thrill you with their hockey moves! If your child likes to cruise the sidewalks, there are several skate parks around town. And the Triangle area boasts five North Carolina State Parks and numerous local parks! Plenty of hiking and biking trails and even fishing and kayaking activities are available.”

I have covered varied subjects and formats in these pieces. One of my favorite things to write is web pages. I cannot show you these. But, I am proud to say they get rave reviews.

So, if you don’t see a post from me for a while, it doesn’t mean that I am not writing and learning and helping others. It just means I am doing it in a spooky fashion!

Online Article – GENEALOGY: THE TIME TO START IS NOW!

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Genealogy: the time to start is NOW! July 2013 Written for personal blog Copyright ARLADEAN ARNSON

You want to let your children know where they come from, and, hey, so do you! But where do you start? You know there are online websites and books and things, but you just don’t have any time for those. You have CHILDREN and a family!

The easiest way to start is probably on your social calendar already. The picnics and family reunions that are popping up this time of year, especially around The Fourth, are the BEST time to start on your new hobby: genealogy.

Before going to the gathering do some preliminary note taking. Write down what you do know about your or your significant other’s (SO) family. You probably know your/SO’s mother and father’s name and where/when they were born; write down all siblings and their partner’s names, birthdates and wedding anniversaries, and children’s names, birthdates. You are off to a great start!

Now, try and remember the next generation BACK:  your/SO’s grandfathers and grandmothers names. Names are a great start. Hopefully, you may remember their birthdays, anniversaries, death dates, etc. Even bits and pieces can help put the puzzle together.

If you cannot remember this information, you will now know where to start!

Be sure to gather a couple of extra items to bring with you with that favorite bean dip: A couple of pens, a notepad, a digital recorder or camera. These are all great tools to help you catch all of the information. Recordings are great because you can just sit back and listen to the stories and go back later to write it all down!

“What was Great Aunt Rose’s full name? Did she ever get married? What about Chester? Was he a brother to Great Aunt Rose? Where did he move? What was that story about Papa and the anteater?”

Enjoy the process! Sure, you may want to visit with your closest family but chatting to that distant cousin might bring up some forgotten family history that you will want to record in your notes. Just think of the possibilities!

After you assemble what you can from the members in your family that are living, it is time to then hit the internet! There are several places to start your search from Ancestry.com to the online vital records of the towns, cities, or states where those family members from past generations lived.

Start with what you know. The clues will send you on your journey! Bon Voyage!

 

Online Article – IT’S LIKE A FOOD TRUCK RODEO IN HERE!

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It’s like a Food Truck Rodeo in here! August 2013 Written for personal blog Copyright ARLADEAN ARNSON

Every day in the kitchen at my office there is a homemade snack or two sitting on the table, tempting the office staff to come and try it. At lunch, the refrigerator opens up to a plethora of sights and smells when the foodies bring out what they made the night before. They made extra so everyone can have a taste!

It has become almost like a Food Truck Rodeo every day! One lady brings a new kind of slaw made from Ramin noodles, cabbage and mandarin oranges. Another brings her husband’s bbq chicken and some fried okra. There is always a new cake, new salad or a new side dish popping up!

One day recently, I didn’t feel much like driving to the local sandwich shop so, as it turns out, my co-workers fed me with a little of this and a little of that! SO TASTY!

If our everyday fare is like the Rodeo, you can imagine what the office parties are like! When a birthday or a promotion or just Hump Day roll around, it is time to break out the family recipes and show off the ol’ chef skills! It is quite the presentation and gastronomic feast!

I wonder if it just us? Or, does this happen in other offices? And, if it is just here in the South or do others around the country do it too?

I bet it is happening everywhere. The economy is still rough for so many of us. And, the popularity of cooking channels along with the trends like the food-as-medicine, farm-to-table, and the fusions of different cuisines from around the world has us all wanting to learn more. It seems to be almost a zeitgeist moment.

I do work in a small office with mostly women and a few men. I have noticed that we are making connections through these daily rituals-much like communities did in the days of our great grandparents.

I actually like it. It is comforting slice of peace in the middle of the high-tech filled day.

Pass the pie!

Science Online Article – HOW DO SCIENTISTS MAKE WATERMELON FLAVOR

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How do scientists make watermelon flavor?   July 2011 Written for TriangleMommies Blog Copyright ARLADEAN ARNSON

It is a summer time favorite -a venerable taste of the season. I have loved the taste of these big delicious red and green melons since I was a kid! The experience is unmistakable-with the juices that run down your neck and the seeds you can spit easily because they are slippery-the flavor unmatched. Or so I thought.
The first candies I tasted with watermelon flavor were way back in the mid 1980’s, Jolly Rancher Hard Candies. I was amazed at the flavor, the color and the smell -oh the smell! However great this new candy tasted, I was ultimately disappointed in the lack of subtlety of the candies’ flavor that can only be found in the fruit itself. It was then that I knew right there in the middle of winter, there would just never be the perfect watermelon flavor to whet my appetite. I tried, though. I tried many times to find it. It never was found.
Today, I sit eating a scrumptious piece of the real fruit and I think back to that moment. And, I wonder why. Why couldn’t there be the perfect blend of odor and taste to bring this fantastic delight to me in the wintertime? Well, besides having the watermelons flown in from the southern hemisphere.I got to work. I looked up natural versus artificial flavors. I looked at histories and chemistry notes. I think I might have the answer.

It all starts with a chemical compound called an “ester”. A chemist can find these esters by boiling down or deconstructing the very fruit, or other natural element, into the chemical components that make it up. Then, when taking the water molecule out of such so that it breaks down even more into a compound made up of the reaction between an acid and an alcohol, one finds the ester.

These esters are the basic building blocks of taste and scent for the flavor. The ester for an orange flavor is called octyl acetate (CH3COOC8H17). The “octyl” is the alcohol and the “acetate” is the acid. So, by adding these esters to a product’s ingredients, the product will taste like an orange. Well, at least to some degree.

I did some further digging and found out that my precious watermelon flavor used to be based on a strong belief that alcohols were the main contributors towards the aroma. The study by some chemists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign actually found out that a watermelon’s ester, the one that can smell like fresh cut watermelon, is identifiable but not stable enough to flavor anything. It breaks down too quickly. These chemists worked on the problem but found that if you used the ester, nicknamed “watermelon aldehyde”, and bonded it to a synthesized “backbone”, the result still wasn’t good enough to be a suitable replacement for the esters on the market now.

This process goes for every flavor you can imagine. The chemists find the esters. The food producers add the ester compounds to the products. The public figures out if the product does taste like the food producers want you think it tastes. And, we all happily go about our business.

Of course there is a huge debate whether these artificial flavors are a good thing or a bad thing. This follows along the same lines as the debate on artificial colors or news of the development of the Local Food Movement. These ideas will have to be addressed in other blog posts. In this article, I just wanted to find out “how?”

As a result of all my research, here we sit, with a mock watermelon flavor that just cannot satisfy my cravings for this summer fruit during the summer. The real thing is still the best! But, it might just do in a pinch come Halloween!

Online Article – GARDEN ENVY GOES GREEN

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Garden Envy goes GREEN: How I went from no garden to mini-garden easily! ( Part II of Color Me Green)

May 2012 Written for TriangleMommies Blog Copyright ARLADEAN ARNSON

To recap, if you have been reading the TM Blog, I wrote recently that I was suffering from a bout of Garden Envy. My friends were so lucky with their little nurslings-watching them grow-that I soon wanted a garden too. Well, this is the rest of the story.
My Garden Envy is slowing slipping away. I now have plants and dirt and watering schedules to help me recover! Of course, it cost me about $50 at the home improvement store. (Yes, I probably could have saved money by shopping around and piecing things together myself.) But, with the experience of those burly men (and women?) in the gardening section, I found the expertise that would seed my enthusiasm for my project.
My son had brought home the first plant from his science class. It is a kidney bean plant. So, going with the flow, I bought a large long rectangular plastic pot that would hold three plants with room to grow. With help from the burly man mentioned above, I picked a green pepper plant and then a citronella (for getting rid of pesky insects) to fill out the pot.
Still being in the throws of a Green Envy outbreak, I bought a plant just for myself. It is an almost two-foot-tall tomato plant in its own pot. I had to stake it when I got home, but it is a beauty! And, consequentially, I started to dream of fresh salads.
The back porch did not work out as planned. It ended up being to shady. I moved the two large pots to a small sunny nook in front of my front porch yet behind a small “butterfly bush”. Here they should get all the sun they need!
I water them in the morning and check to see if they need water again in the evening. It is easy to remember because the plants are on the same schedule as my walks with my dog.
I currently have two, maybe three, green tomatoes. There is one very tiny bean pod growing. Alas, there are no signs of green peppers.
My Garden Envy infliction has subsided thanks to my small (two pot) container garden; however, I AM feeling a bit anxious watching and waiting for those plants to grow. Perhaps I should go shopping at a farmer’s market soon so I can get my “fix”. Oh well, I guess one can’t be completely cured of an ailment of the Horticultural variety too easily!

Online Article – COLOR ME GREEN

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Color me green  (Part I of II) April/May 2012 Written for TriangleMommies Blog Copyright ARLADEAN ARNSON

Like the characters Kermit the Frog and Yoda of Star Wars, it really isn’t easy being green. In fact, around this time every year the green-eyed monster within has reared her (unfortunately) ugly head and signals the beginning of the growing season. Yes, I must admit that I have Garden Envy.

And, this year, the force is quite strong. Due to the mild winter we have had here in North Carolina, everything started blooming early and with gusto. (I’d hate to even think about the amount of bugs that will be showing up soon. But, that is another blog article.)

I had been used to having my own home-grown vegetables at my finger-tips, but those days are gone. I have moved from a house with a yard to a duplex with, well, a back porch. Gone are the days of green vines spreading out in all directions! Those corn stalks; they would reach to the sky!

I have friends that have been tending their seedlings this spring and I just look on with awe. In fact, I have one friend whose husband has taken a five by five foot area in their rented house’s back yard and built a two tiered vegetable growing plat. The top is for the herbs. They sit right at arm’s length. The lower (outer) plat is for the veggies.  He has sectioned the area off into squares with twine and each set of squares has its own function. These squares are for the tomatoes and these other ones are for the radishes. Amazing.

So, I am suffering with Garden Envy. And, most doctors won’t write a prescription for it.  However, it seems, I might have found a cure! I won’t know if my cure works until the trials, which start t this weekend, end and the data gathered and published. But, if I plant my own little mini-garden on my back porch, I might just shake this GE affliction!

I will be sure to publish my findings here at Triangle Mommies, so if ever you catch this malady in the future, you know what to do, or what not to do.

Until then, keep your chin up and watch out for bees!

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Online Article – BLACK GOLD

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Black Gold June 2013 Written for TriangleMommies Blog Copyright ARLADEAN ARNSON

My co-workers and I have discovered black gold. No, it isn’t the “Texas Tea” sort either.

We have discovered a little sandwich shop inside the corner gas station that sells Café Cubano or cafecito.

This is a black coffee, sweetened oh so perfectly, and served hot with foam in a small little Styrofoam cup. It smells perfectly pungent with hints of the tropics swimming in a dark sea of caffeine. It tastes like the smoothest dark chocolate, almost liquor-like in its consistency. The foam just tickles your lips with buttery kisses while the coffee warms your whole being.

Beware! It is STRONG. Ah, so strong-strong enough to carry you through the rest of your stressful day on just that one cup.

Of course, it is strong enough to last into the evening too. A couple of us have had a cup of cafecito in the middle of a particularly hard afternoon and found out that it did get us all through the day without killing anyone, but we were up half the night ready to kill someone for lack of sleep!

There are several places throughout the Triangle where you too can try a cup of Café Cubano: The Oakwood Café in Raleigh, the Havana Grill in Cary, The Old Havana Sandwich Shop in downtown Durham, and our little secret in Morrisville, The Latin Corner.

If you love coffee, and you haven’t had a cup of joe you could call “black gold”, then you must seek out this lyric-poem-in-a-cup, a cafecito.  Be warned, you might get addicted.

Online Article – “All the Single Ladies”…HAPPY FATHER’s DAY!

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“All the Single Ladies”…HAPPY FATHER’s DAY! June 2013 Written for the TriangleMommies Blog Copyright ARLADEAN ARNSON

Normally, we would all just burst into song, until you read the last few words of that title.

I am calling out to a segment of Motherhood that usually only gets bad press: single mothers. Single mothers are so much more than what those sad accounts tell us.

There are mothers who choose to be single and there are mothers who are divorced; there are mothers who have lost their partners in numerous different ways like accidents, disease, and even war. Some are dumbfounded on how they even became single mothers!

Single mothers are more than a statistic on your economic chart; they are more than blights on the welfare system. Single mothers are hard working women. Most have full time jobs and come home to their other full time job. Most juggle schedules that would drive the White House secretaries into tears.

Many single mothers still have the father in the child’s life to help with the schedules, the decisions, and the childcare. Just like other women, single mothers can have great family or social support systems and of course, some do not. These ladies can seek out great groups like Triangle Mommies to fill that void.

Oh, and those single mothers are NOT trying to “steal” your husband, partner, or significant other. It seems like a funny statement at this moment. However, society norms make us leery of those single moms all the same. Basically, they don’t have time to “steal” anyone. Think about it.

The next time you meet a single mother, don’t pity her. Think of how strong she is! Think about the time, effort, and finesse it takes to raise a child (or children) on her own.

So, for those single mothers who fill both roles of mother and father, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! You are all doing a GREAT JOB!