I remember, in grade school, the telephone was one of the most important devices in our homes. Sure, by today's standards, they didn't do much. However, with an extra long cord, you could take it to different parts of the house - even have your own privacy if you could stretch it to your room! Speed dial was a cool technological advancement, especially when trying to win a radio contest, but I generally had at least ten phone numbers memorized. We used to spend long periods of time on the phone, which became an issue if someone else was trying to call in. Then God created call-waiting.
In high school, I discovered a new form of communication (no, not short-wave radio). I guess they had been doing it for years at those public schools, but the whole note-writing concept was new to me. It was a daily thing, and you may have sent several throughout the day. There were even cool ways to fold said letters given the absence of the obsolete envelope. That was our primary form of communication throughout the day. Of course, when we got home we'd ask, "did anyone call?" I still ask that when I get home sometimes, just to be nostalgic, but nobody answers.
In the Pre-Cellular Age, also known as the mid-nineties, I had my first jobs, and I had my pager. What a marvelous, if not short-lived, piece of communication history! I could be contacted anytime and anywhere for the first time... well, since my mom knew exactly where I was at any given time, but that had probably been at least a decade. The evolution was inevitable, and finally in 2000 my boss made me go buy a cell phone. Fine.
2000 was also the year I signed up for an email account while abroad in Europe. We were just discovering a new world of communication. So, basically, for the first Bush Administration term we - for the first time in human history - had the power to talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere... and hear their voice! Of course cost was an issue internationally, but we could still send an email instantly. Brilliant! Later, webcams and live video communications made it possible to see a person in Greeneville or Afghanistan while you have your conversation.
Somewhere along the way, they invented text messaging.
I don't dislike text messaging. I just dread the day that I call one of my nieces, to no answer, and she texts back because she doesn't want to answer the phone. I called a friend last week, and I could hear the dumbfoundedness in her voice. Have we reached a technological over-saturation point, or are we letting our gadgets make us lazy? It just is very curious to me that after all these advances and decades we have settled on a personal telegraph as our preferred medium of contact. Why is that? Surely it's a resting point... before the next social-technological shift.
:/
Monday, March 21, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Festive
My friend Martina and I were talking yesterday about holidays. Conventional wisdom is that Americans like to exaggerate the importance of other peoples' holidays, such as Cinco de Mayo and St. Patrick's Day, so as to have an excuse to drink lots of beer and have a party. Martina informed me that we recently missed Bulgaria's independence day, and I told her we would put it on the calendar for next year. Why not celebrate? We're supposed to celebrate life! As Americans, we've learned we are an institution of many cultures in one. So, if I want to celebrate Bastille Day... that's my God-given right, gosh darn it. In the words of my friends Kool and the Gang, "woo hoo, celebrate good times; come on."
So, today is St. Patrick's Day in DC. It's the first day of March Madness at the Verizon Center. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony tonight. I'm not working. God bless America.
So, today is St. Patrick's Day in DC. It's the first day of March Madness at the Verizon Center. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony tonight. I'm not working. God bless America.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Crash
In a universe where everything is in motion, there is always the likelihood of a collision. Cars crash, computers crash, people crash, and waves crash. You could stand alone in a vacant field in the middle of Nevada and eventually crash to the ground - eventually. So far, in my short tenure on this planet, I have crashed into a swing set, a tree, a goalkeeper, a driveway, nearly all of my co-workers, a fist, a wall, a rose bush, snow, the ocean, unemployment, and a mailbox. None of them were all that fun... well, except the goalie after a penalty kick; I scored! Some were the result of bad choices; some were just life. Sometimes our ideas crash. Sometimes relationships crash. Sometimes nature crashes. Conventional wisdom is that you take precautions and buy insurance. However, sometimes the best that you can do is survive - that, and lend a hand when you can.
Best wishes to the good people of Japan and to all others finding the resolve to make their way.
Best wishes to the good people of Japan and to all others finding the resolve to make their way.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Hard Core
It was a rainy day in DC today, although not too cold. I decided to go for a run, of course. In shorts and three tee-shirts, I was off... and I started to get wet. It reminded me of a day back in maybe 1994 or '95, when I was coaching soccer:
My girls had played poorly the day prior - and it was raining - so I made them run around campus instead of on the field. At first, they couldn't believe it; I know the varsity squad thought I was the devil, as they got to go home. However, my team knew I was serious... and I was. We ran and ran, and did our push-ups and sit-ups; everyone was unusually quiet - high school girls are never quiet at soccer practice. What I wanted for them to understand, and I think they got it, is that no matter what your station is in life - to win, you have to be hard-core. You have to go beyond what is normal, and you have to surprise people; you even have to surprise yourself. You have to do not only what others don't, but what others won't. That's hard-core.
I sometimes have to remind myself, so pardon my reminiscing. It's a nice memory to have, and so important a lesson to remember.
My girls had played poorly the day prior - and it was raining - so I made them run around campus instead of on the field. At first, they couldn't believe it; I know the varsity squad thought I was the devil, as they got to go home. However, my team knew I was serious... and I was. We ran and ran, and did our push-ups and sit-ups; everyone was unusually quiet - high school girls are never quiet at soccer practice. What I wanted for them to understand, and I think they got it, is that no matter what your station is in life - to win, you have to be hard-core. You have to go beyond what is normal, and you have to surprise people; you even have to surprise yourself. You have to do not only what others don't, but what others won't. That's hard-core.
I sometimes have to remind myself, so pardon my reminiscing. It's a nice memory to have, and so important a lesson to remember.
Like It's 1999
"The sky was all purple, there were people runnin' everywhere..."
Ah, yes... party like it's 1999! I remember in grade school, we had to pick a song and write out its lyrics. I picked Prince's "1999". In hindsight, it's best I didn't pick one of his other tunes. Well, in the song, they were looking forward to some sort of madness. As computers began more and more to run our lives, new concerns arose a decade or so later about "Y2K"... when airplanes were to fall out of the sky and all sorts of havoc were to ensue from the changing of some digits "99" to "00". I flew from California to DC on 12/31/99, and I had the whole row of seats to myself.
In 1999, I had a pager, but no cell phone. The internet was still forming - in fact in one of my last undergraduate college classes, our Economics professor showed us around the different websites and showed us how to look up information. I had no email address. There were no Google, no Facebook, and no Twitter... no Skype. No one told you to "text" them later. There were digital cameras, but the quality was still very poor. GPS was something only used by the military, mostly, I suppose. I can't recall anyone in school with a laptop computer. We bought CDs... from the store. "Apps" were appetizers, a "droid" was R2D2 or C3PO, and "social networking" was... well... a party. "De-friending" usually involved some sort of physical altercation having to do with a girl, alcohol, money, or some combination of the three. I never would have thought to procede a colon with a closed parenthesis for any reason - certainly not to express any type of emotion. To "chat" simply meant to talk to someone casually, you know - hearing each other's voices. Friends gathering for dinner didn't all have their phones on the table.
Twelve short years ago, technology was growing and growing and setting the stage for an internet revolution and the dawn of the Information Age. We knew it then, but we didn't know to what extent technology would not just change the world, but change who we are. When was the last time you sat down and wrote a letter on a piece of paper and sent it in the mail? How devestating was it to lose or break your mobile phone and be without for any period of time? The world is going to continue to change, as will technology adapt to meet consumer demands. "Change is good" is what I keep hearing with seemingly greater and greater frequency, but nobody seems compelled to have to back that up with actual proof. Now, I like technology - I do! However, moving forward, we need to be aware of how technology is CHANGING US. Furthermore, what has gone from a facilitator of human interaction to a replacement of our humanity? Where will we be in twelve more years? It's important to consider.
As an experiment, I am using the Lenten Season to sacrifice the use of a few things acquired in my 21st Century: the internet, a mobile phone, my iPod, text messaging, and my digital camera. Yes, we're fasting like it's 1999. However, I do believe that I should be encouraged to write, so I am allowed to upload to my blog. I mean, depriving the world of me could just be detrimental to my goal of international tranquility, and that would be bad. Ya know?
So, flux capacitor is... fluxing. 1.21 gigawatts at the ready (stolen from the Libyans!), gonna go back in time!
Ah, yes... party like it's 1999! I remember in grade school, we had to pick a song and write out its lyrics. I picked Prince's "1999". In hindsight, it's best I didn't pick one of his other tunes. Well, in the song, they were looking forward to some sort of madness. As computers began more and more to run our lives, new concerns arose a decade or so later about "Y2K"... when airplanes were to fall out of the sky and all sorts of havoc were to ensue from the changing of some digits "99" to "00". I flew from California to DC on 12/31/99, and I had the whole row of seats to myself.
In 1999, I had a pager, but no cell phone. The internet was still forming - in fact in one of my last undergraduate college classes, our Economics professor showed us around the different websites and showed us how to look up information. I had no email address. There were no Google, no Facebook, and no Twitter... no Skype. No one told you to "text" them later. There were digital cameras, but the quality was still very poor. GPS was something only used by the military, mostly, I suppose. I can't recall anyone in school with a laptop computer. We bought CDs... from the store. "Apps" were appetizers, a "droid" was R2D2 or C3PO, and "social networking" was... well... a party. "De-friending" usually involved some sort of physical altercation having to do with a girl, alcohol, money, or some combination of the three. I never would have thought to procede a colon with a closed parenthesis for any reason - certainly not to express any type of emotion. To "chat" simply meant to talk to someone casually, you know - hearing each other's voices. Friends gathering for dinner didn't all have their phones on the table.
Twelve short years ago, technology was growing and growing and setting the stage for an internet revolution and the dawn of the Information Age. We knew it then, but we didn't know to what extent technology would not just change the world, but change who we are. When was the last time you sat down and wrote a letter on a piece of paper and sent it in the mail? How devestating was it to lose or break your mobile phone and be without for any period of time? The world is going to continue to change, as will technology adapt to meet consumer demands. "Change is good" is what I keep hearing with seemingly greater and greater frequency, but nobody seems compelled to have to back that up with actual proof. Now, I like technology - I do! However, moving forward, we need to be aware of how technology is CHANGING US. Furthermore, what has gone from a facilitator of human interaction to a replacement of our humanity? Where will we be in twelve more years? It's important to consider.
As an experiment, I am using the Lenten Season to sacrifice the use of a few things acquired in my 21st Century: the internet, a mobile phone, my iPod, text messaging, and my digital camera. Yes, we're fasting like it's 1999. However, I do believe that I should be encouraged to write, so I am allowed to upload to my blog. I mean, depriving the world of me could just be detrimental to my goal of international tranquility, and that would be bad. Ya know?
So, flux capacitor is... fluxing. 1.21 gigawatts at the ready (stolen from the Libyans!), gonna go back in time!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Organized Chaos and Meticulous Poetry
Jazz is a lot like life - organized chaos and meticulous poetry with nearly every contradiction known to man:
Violent and soft,
Loving and lonely,
Repetitious and new,
Immature and weathered,
Strong and subtle,
Vibrant and dark,
Wailing and triumphant,
Out of control and by design,
Tickling and painful,
Unexpected and predictable,
Open to interpretation and in your face,
Heavenly and wicked,
Sleepy and exciting,
Harmonious and competitive,
Fantasy and reality,
Hypnotic and harshly lucid,
Confident and desperate,
Abruptly final and enduring.
I was fortunate to make some of these discoveries on a journey to the Strathmore Mansion in Maryland yesterday. The Jolley Brothers were my guide, and I am confident they will evolve, thrive, and entertain for years to come.
Cool.
Violent and soft,
Loving and lonely,
Repetitious and new,
Immature and weathered,
Strong and subtle,
Vibrant and dark,
Wailing and triumphant,
Out of control and by design,
Tickling and painful,
Unexpected and predictable,
Open to interpretation and in your face,
Heavenly and wicked,
Sleepy and exciting,
Harmonious and competitive,
Fantasy and reality,
Hypnotic and harshly lucid,
Confident and desperate,
Abruptly final and enduring.
I was fortunate to make some of these discoveries on a journey to the Strathmore Mansion in Maryland yesterday. The Jolley Brothers were my guide, and I am confident they will evolve, thrive, and entertain for years to come.
Cool.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
True Grit
Certainly, art helps to define us. It is a tool of communication, a medium of reflection, and a source of inspiration. Music, paintings, dance, photography, literature, food, theater... movies - all often thought of as an escape from reality, these are woven into our lives precisely because they are a reflection of our reality. President Kennedy was mindful of that, and was honored last week at the national monument bearing his name - The Kennedy Center - a permanent home to celebrate the performing arts. Our art not only defines us as artists, but indeed are a celebration of the spirit of a people. No, really!
I'm getting to the part where you should care.
In two weeks, we in the United States will celebrate one of our high holidays. Yes, Superbowl Sunday is the day we pay tribute to the art of football. Soon thereafter, we will celebrate film with the Academy Awards. This is American culture, ladies and gentlemen! Sure there is more to us than big sweaty brutes flexing might and self-obsessed facsades of perfection hiding flaws immeasurable... wait...
Alright, so maybe we are imperfect, flawed giants. Maybe we are in denial and selfish. But, so are so many other cultures in one way or another! Some people kill failed soccer players and maime and kill bulls for sport in other countries! I'll be the last one to wallow in our American peccadillos and failures. What has always defined us as Americans has been our responses to our predicaments. I look to art as inspiration. For some reason at this juncture, they decided remake the movie "True Grit". At first glance, it would seem an uncreative shoot-em-up western flick with little artistic value. However, the film revisits a forgotten American value - true grit. My dictionary, printed in 1961, defines grit as "firmness; unyielding courage; stamina." True grit is something that made our country great, and has been too long out of fashion for too many. I have a feeling, like in the movie, it will be was saves us. Check it out.
Posted from moBlog – mobile blogging tool for Windows Mobile
I'm getting to the part where you should care.
In two weeks, we in the United States will celebrate one of our high holidays. Yes, Superbowl Sunday is the day we pay tribute to the art of football. Soon thereafter, we will celebrate film with the Academy Awards. This is American culture, ladies and gentlemen! Sure there is more to us than big sweaty brutes flexing might and self-obsessed facsades of perfection hiding flaws immeasurable... wait...
Alright, so maybe we are imperfect, flawed giants. Maybe we are in denial and selfish. But, so are so many other cultures in one way or another! Some people kill failed soccer players and maime and kill bulls for sport in other countries! I'll be the last one to wallow in our American peccadillos and failures. What has always defined us as Americans has been our responses to our predicaments. I look to art as inspiration. For some reason at this juncture, they decided remake the movie "True Grit". At first glance, it would seem an uncreative shoot-em-up western flick with little artistic value. However, the film revisits a forgotten American value - true grit. My dictionary, printed in 1961, defines grit as "firmness; unyielding courage; stamina." True grit is something that made our country great, and has been too long out of fashion for too many. I have a feeling, like in the movie, it will be was saves us. Check it out.
Posted from moBlog – mobile blogging tool for Windows Mobile
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