MiCasaLoca: In the Short Time That I have been Alive...

Great Books I've Read

SHOBA NARAYAN: Monsoon Diary: A Memoir With Recipes
Once I picked this book up, I couldn't put it down as I was transported to India through food and humor. Shoba also took recipes and simplified them for the non-chef, but don't read the book for the recipes...read the book for her humorous thoughts on life! (*****)
Erin Hart: Haunted Ground
Excellent mystery by a first time author, Erin Hart! She weaves a tale that doesn't send my stomach over the edge with adrenaline, but has enough to keep me wanting more. See blog, "Haunted Ground" for more details. (*****)
Bill Peet: The Wump World
Excellent Book for Kids and Grownups! It has a bit of sad-positive ending. (*****)
Alice Pope: 2004 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market (Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market)
This is probably the only sourcebook for writers and illustrators that's got everything listed. (*****)

August 04, 2005

In the Short Time That I have been Alive...

Recently, my friend, Madeline (who doesn't slow down-just like me-to catch up via email) wrote in response to my Question: are we really interested in the every day lives of other people.

"Damn right we are. Why do you suppose the advent of social software (hel-lo? blogs?) has risen to such popularity? We are creatures who look to one another for everything from moral support to gauging (surreptitiously) our own failures and successes. We need one another in order for the network of society to remain intact, and we need to pay attention to what others do/feel/think in order to moderate and mediate our own actions, thoughts and feelings."

Just in case this comment was not read, I decided to repost it. I thought about it for awhile and then surfed the net, letting one blog lead me to another. I began thinking.

The creative thought: what if our society stopped talking, stopped reading, and just "blogged" about everything.

I shudder (literally) to think of our world becoming as such, especially after I read the various 'one-liner' blogs. It was very confusing...but then, as Madeline said, it's true that we use others as a measure.

...we use the models in reality TV as models of how NOT to act/think, right? But still, the close engagement of any individual with another, will (hopefully) result in reflection upon one's own situated-ness. Why do I think this way? Why do I react this way? What other options for opion/action do I have? etc."

Ah, yes. Even though I'm not in college right now, I can truly count on my friends for an education. As I looked upon the blogs with this new light, I realized that we truly are gifted...us bloggers and users of the internet. We can literally "read" other people's minds as they pick and scratch at each other (and the world around them). We can see their jealousy, their envy, their desires, their hatred. And maybe...just maybe, I can learn something.

Or feel empty. And question why our human race decided to stop advancing. Why is it that there are more t.v. watchers than there are scientists in the United States? Did we fall asleep in science class when evolution (the theory, hee..hee...) was taught? Did we miss the part in Social studies about how there are whole countries that are dying from AIDS? Were my fellow classmates snoozing in their drool when the teacher mentioned that THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES still exist and live in ignorance?

So while we blog and comment on Angelina Jolie's choice for her next kid or remark how we saw MaryKate Olsen's thong or how Britney Spears was missing an acrylic nail...there are children dying of AIDS or being born to parents who live in cardboard box houses. Am I wasting my time by blogging or is there something to learn from all of this?

Or, does it even matter?

I think that the reason I refused to totally grow up was I wanted to stay in innocence and be naive...and not know of just how insane and crazy our world is...how twisted it can be.

I really didn't want to know about all the horrible things. Dad, stop talking about all the negative stuff. It's bad enough that it's out there. Let me go hang out in the kid section at the library and read the fun kids book. I wanna take a craft class, a swim class, and make sand castles at the beach. I hate all the bad stuff.

It's not like when I was little and I could just hide under my blanket from the monsters. They are everywhere now. And what's everybody doing to fix our monsters? We've got monsters but there's not enough room to fit under my blanket anymore.

So blogs are good. It gives me insight into the lives of other people.

And sometimes, blogs make me question.

Posted by Mary on August 04, 2005 at 11:54 PM in Backburner Thoughts | Permalink

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August 04, 2005

In the Short Time That I have been Alive...

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