As the pig grows, a new site design

Dec 6, 2005

On Paama, most families own a few pigs each, and those families spend hours each week fixing the fences around those pigs, trying to make sure the swine don’t get out to rummage through the village gardens (that’s one good way to lose a valuable animal: a pig that ruins a garden becomes the property of the garden owner). Since most families can’t afford wire, pigpens are formed with trees and bamboo and fixed with rope. It’s a never-ending task to fortify those fences. It helps to feed the pigs at a regular time, and get them accustomed to eating from you so they don’t get the urge to feed themselves from your food.

All of which is to say, mistersugar.com often feels like a Paama pigpen—I’m constantly tinkering with it to fortify the design, strengthen the styles and fatten the content within.

You’ll notice I’ve rearranged the site, and not a few corners seem like they’re still strung with frayed rope. So, patience please, while I tend to mistersugar’s pen.

And, yes, you are encouraged to throw scraps to the pig – add your comments to any post on the site. You can see who has left the latest comments in the Recent Comments list in the right column on the home page.

Below the Recent Comments is Sugarcubes, my linklog in which I post links to other websites and articles that catch my attention. I hope you find the links enjoyable and informative.

ADD: The 12/12/2005 New Yorker (not online) has an Ian Frazier article about feral pigs in the U.S., and includes this kicker:

A maker of fences in the nineteenth century advertised a new kind of fence as being “bull-strong, horse-high, and pig-tight.” In fact, as regards pigs, few fences ever are. Pigs root under, wriggle through. They have been getting away since people first domesticated the species Sus scrofa in Asia and the Middle East nine thousand to ten thousand years ago.

Anton Zuiker ☄