Frequently Asked Questions
What's the meaning of your Twitter handle (@dowbiggin)?
Dowbiggin is my paternal grandmother's maiden name. Back in the early 1990s, when I began researching my family history, I found that Dowbiggin was a very rare surname. It comes from a tiny hamlet in Northern England near the town of Sedbergh. I started using it as a screen name for things like AOL Instant Messenger, and I also started the Dowbiggin Family History Society and the Dowbiggin One-Name Study. So the name stuck. Our branch of the family pronounces it "DOE-biggin." Most families, and the location itself, use the "DOW-biggin" pronunciation (where the DOW rhymes with cow).
Are your song parodies online?
Yes. Some of them are YouTube videos also. But the audio-only of even more of them, including some that I have made with groups of teachers at professional development events, are on Dropbox.
What's with the hair?
I just like it that way. And it makes it much easier for people to find me at conferences.
Depending on when you see it, it could be in any one of four phases:
1. Bleached and short enough to spike
2. Bleached, going two-tone, and too long to spike
3. Short enough to spike again, but a lot less blond
4. Too long to spike again, and two-tone but little bleach left
And then we go back to phase 1. Thanks for asking.
Dowbiggin is my paternal grandmother's maiden name. Back in the early 1990s, when I began researching my family history, I found that Dowbiggin was a very rare surname. It comes from a tiny hamlet in Northern England near the town of Sedbergh. I started using it as a screen name for things like AOL Instant Messenger, and I also started the Dowbiggin Family History Society and the Dowbiggin One-Name Study. So the name stuck. Our branch of the family pronounces it "DOE-biggin." Most families, and the location itself, use the "DOW-biggin" pronunciation (where the DOW rhymes with cow).
Are your song parodies online?
Yes. Some of them are YouTube videos also. But the audio-only of even more of them, including some that I have made with groups of teachers at professional development events, are on Dropbox.
What's with the hair?
I just like it that way. And it makes it much easier for people to find me at conferences.
Depending on when you see it, it could be in any one of four phases:
1. Bleached and short enough to spike
2. Bleached, going two-tone, and too long to spike
3. Short enough to spike again, but a lot less blond
4. Too long to spike again, and two-tone but little bleach left
And then we go back to phase 1. Thanks for asking.
