View source for User:Brutannica

Hi, I'm creating a home page for you so people can talk to you. [[User:Jayjg|Jayjg]] 20:17, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)

:<nowiki>*</nowiki>watches tumbleweed drift mournfully across home page* [[User:Brutannica|Brutannica]] 21:00, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)

{{Babel|en|de-1|es-0|ja-3|anime|history2|manga|Germany|Bavaria|USA|Virginia}}

==Who the heck I am==
I am "Brutannica" (as far as you need to know). The name goes from an apparent misunderstanding of a character in the much-missed 18th episode of ''[[Pokemon (anime)|Pokemon]]'', not from the [[Encyclopaedia Britannica|world's most renowned encyclopaedia]]. Anyway, I've been using Wikipedia since the fall of 2003 and started contributing in 2004 with some controversial edits (but I thought many were good) of the first 30 or so of [[Michael H. Hart]]'s [[The 100|100 most influential people in history]]. I stopped doing that for various reasons, and now mostly check in every day and make comments on discussion pages. Lame, I know, but it's hard for me to substantially edit any articles because I'm really not much of an expert on anything! :( I tend to change interests quickly. 

My overriding passion is history and global relations and cultures; I like anthropology but am somewhat turned off by its scholarly, scientific tone. I am also fascinated by popular culture and somewhat interested in "high"er culture (and loathe the distinction between the two, which, I think, tends to be arbitrary and elitist). My edits range pretty widely, since my favorite thing about Wikipedia is probably how diverse its coverage is. 

As already mentioned, I rarely make substantial edits, partially because I don't have many fields of expertise and partially because I find it personally hard to justify the enormous time and effort needed to do them. I created a mere two articles ([[Kusaila]] and [[Dien Bien Phu (manga)]]) and attempted to create another (''Pattenrai!'') but it's been rejected. The subject I can realistically do most to contribute about is [[anime]] (I even taught a course on it in '09), and I considered using my Japanese skills to translate Featured Articles from the Japanese Wikipedia. Sadly, so far this has not gone very far.

I can say other things, but I think I'll let my userboxes do the talking. As a closing note, I'd like to say that I ADORE this site; it's easily the most dynamic, fascinating part of the Web and has a good shot at being a major transformer of society. Unfortunately, I must also concede that it has a lot of drawbacks, from the ongoing and perhaps unresolvable controversy regarding what's fit for inclusion to the hostility of entrenched editors to newcomers. Still, I hope to remain a part of it, and maybe even contribute more meaningfully someday. 

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