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 . 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
References
: