Optimism

"The colours red, blue, and green are real. The colour yellow is a mystical experience shared by everybody" (Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead)

I've decided that I'm pretty optimistic about the future of the Inter Net, and I'm basing this optimism almost entirely on Wikipedia and its cohorts and similar projects. While print and broadcast media scream and wail about the overly political "blogosphere" (don't get me started on how much I hate that word) and blogs respond by insisting that they are the real people's opinion, and look forward to a future in which all news comes from untrained amateurs updating from internet cafes in global hotspots, I look at the internet's big collaborative projects and note how, instead of being politicized and full of errors or outright lies, these vast collections of information are self-editing and become surprisingly neutral- the true moderates of the internet. Stoppard wrote "A man breaking his journey between one place and another at a third place of no name, character, population or significance, sees a unicorn cross his path and disappear. That in itself is startling, but there are precedents for mystical encounters of various kinds, or to be less extreme, a choice of persuasions to put it down to fancy; until- 'My God,' says a second man, 'I must be dreaming, I thought I saw a unicorn.' At which point, a dimension is added that makes the experience as alarming as it will ever be. A third witness, you understand, adds no further dimension but only spreads it thinner, and a fourth thinner still, and the more witnesses there are the thinner it gets and the more reasonable it becomes until it is as thin as reality, the name we give to the common experience. . . . 'Look, look!' recites the crowd. 'A horse with an arrow in its forehead! It must have been mistaken for a deer.'" In the same way, the more people involved with the writing of something, the fewer politics and other fancies enter it- one person can recognize another's bias and remove it, and his bias can be removed by yet another, until the article or story or what have you is void of all red, blue, and green thought, and reflects the yellow of everyday experience. I have hope for the future, provided collaboration remains at a high rate and individual contributions are subject to the critical eye of the masses.

(Addendum 3:18 pm) As I've thought about this, I've also realized that anonymity is pretty important, too- what makes Wikis work is that no one gets credit for a specific contribution, so there's no hubris or whatever to deal with- people see something that's left out, they add it, and they move on. With the world of blogs and message boards, there's a sense of competition- have the highest post count or number of hits, start the trend, etc. People want to attach themselves to the latest thing, and any higher calling is ignored.

One of these days I'm going to do actual interesting stuff, and stop all these philosophizing meta posts.

I went to my middle school reunion yesterday. Geeky as it sounds (and it was), I had fun and I'm glad to have seen so many people that I'd lost touch with. My life's pretty sweet sometimes.

Gender: 74% male (enough words, but a good chunk of this is Tom Stoppard quotes)

Fresh Starts

This weekend, I was discussing the Foreign Service (which is starting to look like a pretty great career option) with some of the family, and my mom said "Won't moving around all the time get old?" And I considered how changing countries and losing everything that was familiar to me every 2-4 years could be bad, or tiring, or simply "get old." But, even though I've lived in the same house my whole life, I've had sort of like that total change before. I've switched schools- I didn't know a soul going into high school, and I quickly lost touch with almost everyone I knew back then. Now, after the reunion, I'm starting to see how much I've changed in small, important ways from middle school- the stuff that I liked about myself is the same, but I got rid of a lot of the stuff I didn't like, and I only really did that once I left everyone behind. There's bound to be a way to change and slough off the junk from one's personality without leaving everyone one ever knew, but I like the idea of a complete fresh start, of going where nobody knows you and you can be whoever and whatever you want to be. I think that's why I want to go farther away for college, and it's probably a big part of why Germany's so appealing- I get to spend a whole year an ocean away from everything I've ever known, and I can be anything for that year. I can forget the parts of me that I don't like, and build a new, better me in a new land. But after college, when do I get that chance? Once I have a steady job and a mortgage and an adult life, when do I get to go somewhere new and be somebody different? That's why I'm liking the Foreign Service so much. Never spending more than 4 years in one place, and doing something worthwhile in the meantime- not to mention that it pretty much lines up with my skill set.

Gender: 56% female

This Weekend

If anyone's looking for me (haha) this weekend, I'ma gonna be in New Jersey visitin' the family and havin' cookouts and all that jazz.

Honor those brave men and women who died so you can watch crappy tv and complain about it on the internet.

Gender: 64% male

Transience

I've been reading more blogs recently- normally I avoid all but Joey's- and I've realized that most people tend to like writing their political/moral/social/pop culture/etc opinions out for other people to read on the Inter Nets. I've also realized that I prefer to speak them to the thin air of my empty room, provided no one is around to overhear them.

The concept of my best ideas (okay, probably not my best) disappearing into nothing struck me as really beautiful. If I were more inclined to writing about what I think, I'd develop that thought. Instead, I leave it as it is, one that won't disappear.


My last blog, containing more than a few posts about "important" issues (but by no means anything too close to my heart) died when the server decided to start charging for its services and refused to even let anyone recover old posts for free. Back then, it was annoying. Now, it only seems right.


I've saved every paper journal I've ever written. I go back and read them with some regularity. I'd never show them to another living soul. Maybe.

This is irony, right? Am I a hipster?

Gender: 50.6% male

Because I Can't Stop Thinking About Him

George Bernard Shaw is possibly the only person (except maybe one Mr. Allison) who writes female characters that are equal to and even better than his male characters. You have to get beyond Pygmalion (Eliza's no better than any similar character)- I'm reading Androcles and the Lion (the 100-page "Jesus is a Communist" preface is to die for, and, yes, I'm using the creepy Jesus picture mentioned below as a bookmark- I'll scan it later), and, along with Misalliance, it gives me hope for my gender. Lavinia is every bit as perfect as Hypatia- fascinated by life, mischevious, charming, and equally frustrating and endearing. Shaw, my dearest Victorian lover, used the phrase "glorious young beast."

Why was I not born in the 1890s in Europe? I would have been a perfect young revolutionary, hanging out at Cafe Voltaire or joining the Fabian society or something equally disturbing and fun.

If you get a chance, hit up Gutenberg for some of Bernard's plays- they're incredibly funny and you don't have to read the wordy prefaces if you don't want (Gutenberg doesn't normally include them, which I consider a loss because I'm insane and like long British sentences).

Gender: 77% male

Shavian Flair

I was flipping through a copy of Man and Superman at the library today, and discovered a randomly placed card with a picture of Jesus on the front, and some religious sentiment on the back. Feeling ironic, I moved it to Androcles and the Lion, which includes a 100-plus page essay containing Shaw's thesis that Jesus was a communist, and other general blasphemy. (That's longer than the play itself, actually, and is one of the many reasons I love GBS) I wish I could see the person who discovers the card there. I also wish I could know what happens to it thereafter- if it continues to circle various Shavian plays, or moves on to other more blasphemous works.

Gender: 73% male

Can't Keep My Eyes Open

I was going to put lots of pictures and words and things up here about what I did last night that led to being out until 5 am, but then I had a better idea. Details will follow.

Gender: 100% female

What Happened To Slacking Off At The End of the Year?

Ugh, I've been busy. It's of course AP fortnight, but I've got 2 out of the way and only Government left. Then there's Prom tonight- it took until about 45 minutes ago for me to finally get everything in order- this probably doesn't reflect well on my organizational ability, does it? Last night, I saw Mamma Mia with the Sheltons and Pettigrews- I love ABBA, probably waaaay more than I should. The show was just so amazing, though, and I had the best time.

I've got to get to work on this senior book, don't I? Better find some pictures of my friends before I forget them all.

Gender: 50.8% male

So What's All This About?

Alright, I know it's a bit early, but I wanted to get used to the whole "blog" thing before trying to do so in a faraway place where the keyboard's all different and I can no longer remember which preposition I want. Expect pictures and words about the likely less interesting things going on stateside until then. It's almost time for bell practice as it is, and I don't feel like coming up with anything interesting to say in this "first post."

Gender: 53% male