Thanks for all the suggestions. I consider this a user test, of sorts. The main changes I'm considering are:

- article text readability (this bothered many people) - header height - colors: #FFF-on-#F60 (thanks Oliwarner)

ZEM also brings up a really interesting point about user-specific vs site-wide entries.

Aiming to do a redesign with your suggestions and do more user tests. Thanks again y'all!