It was a slow week of posting at The New Leaf Journal with only three articles. However, I will lead off with the main reason why. We have two major developments to report this week.
The New Leaf Journal Site Revamp
As I noted in our first week in review post, we have been using a free WordPress theme called BunnyPress Lite. This week, I acquired the paid version of our theme – BunnyPress. The full version of the theme comes with new features and functionalities and promises to load more quickly and smoothly. I expect that you will find browsing The New Leaf Journal much more enjoyable with our new set up.
I am working to complete the transition to BunnyPress later today or tomorrow. The site will remain live during our transition. The switch should be mostly seamless, although I may have to revise the formatting for some older posts. Once the site is live, I will post an article not only detailing what changed, but also recounting how I struggled to purchase the new theme.
MailerLite Account Established
Victor and I finally finished completing a MailerLite account for The New Leaf Journal. This means that our newsletter is almost ready to go. Once we are firmly settled in the new BunnyPress template, I will create a sign-up page and forms for our newsletter. I hope to have the newsletter sign-up ready for you next week.
Articles from the Week
I posted all three of our articles since the last update. For his part, Victor submitted an interesting review of three sets of boutique guitar strings. We put publication of Victor’s piece on hold while we work on the new site template, but you can expect to read Victor’s review early next week.
Without further ado, here are my three most recent posts.
On When to Watch Credits of Leave a Bad Movie
Writing for The Emu Café, I posted an article prompted by an off-handed joke one of my high school teachers made many years ago. After telling the amusing story, I reflect on two questions. First, if you watch a movie to the end, should you also watch the credits? Second, if a movie is not worth your time, should you leave before it is over? I spend more time on the second question – delving into broader issues about media consumption in the information age. In the spirit of The Emu Café, I suggest treating yourself to a nice cup of coffee or tea before settling in for a longer read.
Buried 1967 BIA Precedent on Hong Kong
In this post, I discuss in detail a nearly-entirely forgotten 1967 Board of Immigration Appeals decision on an application for protection by an alien from former-British Hong Kong. I walk readers who may be unfamiliar with the workings of the immigration laws through the facts of the case, the alien’s claims, the Board’s decision, and why it was forgotten almost as soon as it was published. While the Board was unpersuaded by what it described as the alien’s “strange admixture of contentions,” I thought that one of the alien’s claims was interesting in light of contemporary events in Hong Kong.
While this is a long read, I think those with any interest in the immigration laws or obscure legal decisions will find it interesting.
The New Leaf Journal Twitter
I created a Twitter account for The New Leaf Journal. In this article, I both introduce our new Twitter account, @leaf_journal, and offer some broader thoughts on using social media for marketing. To be sure, Twitter is a “cesspool of debauchery,” but I hope that some Twitter users find our content interesting enough to use as a means of escaping the putrid swamp. While I cannot cure Twitter’s ills, I am doing my best to make our account attractive and worth following. If you are a Twitter user, please consider following and sharing or re-tweeting our content if you find it interesting. In that case, make sure to follow Victor’s account, @VictorVGurbo.
If you do not have Twitter, I would certainly not encourage you to join on our account. We are continuing to work on new ways to make it easier to follow The New Leaf Journal.
Until Next Week
Once we have the new template ready, we will be back to our normal near-daily posting schedule. Furthermore, we hope to have our email newsletter sign-up ready to go next week. We hope that you will find that our changes to the site greatly improve The New Leaf Journal browsing experience.
Thank you as always for following the development of The New Leaf Journal. I look forward to reporting back to you very soon about our new template, and next week as usual with another weekly review.