John Harness

John Harness (born January 26, 1989, Klingon name 'arHa) is a Klingonist from Chicago. He served as as a Beginners' Grammarian between 11 november 2015 and 13 february 2017 (1). He is a teaching artist, storyteller, and museum educator, as well as an avid Tabletop Roleplaying Games fan.

Klingon career

John Harness received his first Klingon study materials as a present from his mother, Carole Harness (Klingon name yu'nIS, who attended qep'a'mey cha'maH cha'DIch to cha'maH javDIch) around 2005/6. He founded the Chicago qepHom in his home in 2010 with Kyle Rader, Katherine Mock, and Jeremy Cowan. With Jeremy, he continued the "virtual" Chicago qepHom with Alan Anderson and Robyn Stewart 2010 - 2012. Beginning in late 2016, he organised a new monthly Chicago qepHom with Jeremy Cowan.

John has attended qep'a' 19 thru 24. He presented a class on how to manage Klingon self-study at qep'a' 22 in 2015 and led classes for beginners at qep'a' 23-25. At qep'a' 22 he recorded advanced Klingonists using Klingon to discuss various topics or chatting together. These recordings were used in a 2017 study.

He achieved KLCP taghwI' (beginner) rank at qep'a' 21, ghojwI' (intermediate) rank at qep'a' 23, and po'wI' (advanced) at qep'a' 26.

John and Jen Usellis-Mackay translated Danzig's "Mother" for the second Klingon Pop Warrior EP.

To the rolling eyes of some, John has coined several popular unofficial words, such as Har'eyngan and chItlhwI'

Klingon name

His Klingon name 'arHa comes from the novel The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin.

"I was having trouble coming up with a name before [*qep'a'*] cha'maH wa'DIch, and I was reading a lot of Sci-Fi at the time. I started thinking of names from novels that I liked, and I remembered the name "Arha, the Eaten One" from The Tombs of Atuan. I've always liked that name, and when I Klingon-ified it mentally, I liked the way that it sounded. And I liked that it contains letters from my last name (H-A-R). The connotations of the name -- of a young woman destined to serve shadow spirits in a horrifying maze -- appealed to my theatrical, not to mention genderqueer, side. I originally spelled it with a final qaghwI', but conversationally it dropped. Also, it makes me look less like I am not-quite-having-how-many? of something."

See also

• John Harness about his first qep'a'
• List of Klingonists

References

1 : http://diswww.mit.edu/charon.MIT.EDU/ja'chuq/102215 Message to the mailing list by d'Armond Speers on 11 Nov 2015

Beginners' Grammarian of the KLI 1. Barbara Dobelbower • 2. d'Armond Speers • 3. Will Martin • 4. Randall Franklin • 5. Alan Anderson • 7. David Trimboli • 8. Robyn Stewart • 9. Eric Andeen • 10. Tad Stauffer • 11. Roger Cheesbro • 12. Lieven L. Litaer • 13. Scott Willis • 14. Rhona Fenwick • 15. Terrence Donnelly • 16. John Harness

	Holder of KLCP rank:
	--	--	Advanced