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on meeting a unicorn • unicorn by any other name

About This Site and the Site Author

This site should be viewable at any screen resolution of 800x600 or above, and looks fine with 16bit or better color depth. The content is readable at 640x480, although the page design isn't optimal at that resolution. This site is readable with any browser, but it looks best in a browser that is reasonably standards compliant (that is, it's version 5 or greater).

You don't need any special plug-ins to view these pages. You don't need JavaScript (although it makes it a little nicer). You don't need a high speed connection (although broadband speeds make everything on the web a lot more enjoyable, I think).

These pages have existed on the web since 1994 and were part of my personal homepage site. That site was (and still is) decorated with a unicorn cartoon and there was a matching smaller icon of the same cartoon, giving the site a very unicorny sort of feel. I included a page about unicorns because I thought people might be curious about why I had them on my website.

From there, the unicorn pages sort of took on a life of their own. I started collecting the ways to say "unicorn" in other languages and put up a few quotes and a few links and then an original essay and then I decided to give the pages a whole new look and, well, it just sort of turned into a whole "stand alone" site.

This is the fifth incarnation of this site's design. The first pages matched my personal homepage site, which was then done in a pastel rainbow theme (very pretty for 1994; very outdated now, which is why it's no longer online). The next design was a rainbows and unicorns theme, with a left-hand border (unicorns on a vivid strip of rainbow). Next came black pages with icy white graphics of a heraldic unicorn on a left-hand border and which proved to be very popular. Then came a design with a 3D unicorn and the spiral horn, which was on this page for a couple of years and then was reworked to the design you see now.

As for who the heck I am, well, I'm just a lover of art, of history, and of unicorns. Unicorns are my symbol, a "totem", if you like. My business (web development) is called Alicorna (Italian for unicorn, feminine form). I just identify with unicorns for reasons which elude me (typical of unicorns, isn't it?).

I have formally studied fine art and art history, and have informally but extensively studied European history (mostly English) for many years. I don't claim to be an "expert" on unicorns. I wouldn't dare. I know a good deal about their representations in Western art and literature, yes, and a fair amount about their history in Western tradition, but it's kind of hard to be an expert on something as elusive and mystical as unicorns.

Mostly, I let the unicorns tell me who they are, and sometimes, they tell me who I am, as well...

new • about • rings • main • quotes • links • contact • copyright
on meeting a unicorn • unicorn by any other name