debitage
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 25.5.02
So, I'd known that this sentiment was not appreciated. But it took me until today to figure out what's wrong with it. Basically, it comes down to an issue of liking what people have no control over instead of what they do have control over. I'm saying that whatever you were born with, you're stuck with. There's no room for advancement, for self-improvement. There's no appreciation given to hard work that's put into making a person look the way they want to. Of course, I don't know how much good understanding this does. It's not like these kind of feelings, these impressions of whether a person looks nice or not, are subject to logical argument. I can know a person should be judged by what they've done rather than what they've been given, but that doesn't change my reaction when I actually see someone dressed a certain way or with certain piercings.
24.5.02
(As a side note, I think the overwhelming focus of articles on "blogs as alternative news," as opposed to "blogs as personal expression" or "blogs as catharsis" or "blogs as vanity" is indicative to some degree of the insularity of the journalistic community. Today David was telling me about problems that DC had with the metro a little while ago. People were getting really fed up with how often the trains stopped because things were broken. But it didn't make the papers because the journalists lived in their own little world, driving their SUVs to work and never connecting with the people out there until there was a riot on one train.) But the proliferation of alternative news sources has in some ways had the opposite effect. Instead of democratizing information, it overwhelmed us. We suddenly had access to so much stuff, and we didn't know how to sift it for reliable reporting. People don't know where to start, and they don't have time. So they retreat to the names they're already familiar with, because familiarity makes people feel more trusting. But with the internet, we can all retreat to the same big familiar name. Living at home, the best I could do for a major established news source was the Allentown Morning Call. I can find them on the internet too, but I can also type in nytimes.com, as can everyone else with a computer. We all could be reading different material -- there's certainly enough out there. But we're more likely to all be letting the editor of msnbc tell us what's newsworthy.
23.5.02
This is a bit of an old story, and I only came across it because our Quality Assurance person was having me make a bunch of really old changes. But I think it's an interesting point. I get so frustrated by hearing history divided into two parts, with ancient people living in harmony with nature. Then something comes along -- the Enlightenment, Christianity, science, the dawn of civilization -- that fundamentally changes our relationship with the earth so that we start destroying it. That scheme is far too simplistic.
22.5.02
Well well well Ryan, looks like National Geographic hyphenates twice in "X-year-old." "X year-old" indeed ,,, hah! Oh yeah, and I wrote that story. In my second day at work. Woo.
21.5.02
20.5.02
What I am going to talk about is the sort of adrift feeling. During the year, I had 10 keys on my keyring (room key, 2 Maroon-News keys, 3 to Alumni/Longyear Museum, Geography lab and lounge, and 2 to the Chapel). Today I turned in the last one. Each key I handed back made me feel naked. Not "exposed and vulnerable" naked, the way I would if I had no pants on. More the "unprepared" naked, like I do when I forget my wallet or pocketknife. Each key I gave back meant I was losing access to something, a resource I had cultivated. At Colgate I knew my way around, knew where to go and how to act when I needed to do certain things. But in DC, and then at Clark, I won't. I'll start out uncertain, not sure what the processes are for doing things or where I can go. I won't stride confidently into the lab and sit down at one of the computers that have PhotoShop. I'll be hanging around, trying to look nonchalant, while I check out the situation and try to plan my next move in such a way as to minimize embarassment if I fail. At least I have a map of DC. A nifty pop-up map. That's a start. |
I got myself in