nude as the news

Being removed now from the intense media saturation of NYC, I can recall earlier pleasure gleaned from the delicate media exposure in a rural island community. Mainland newspapers bring News of the World, but if you do not bother to read the headlines caught in the paper boxes it may as well not be happening. You do not have to watch television.

I feel pressure in New York to keep up with all forms of media. I enjoy television for the first time in years. It feels educational. I understand the greater context. The ads on the subway make more sense. I try to keep my eyes closed the entire subway ride but I find them flickering open at each stop.

Anyway, small town papers are this sweet honey lure - read this news! We aren't trying to scare you! (And the above are not even from the island.) Mass media as a community builder. Is that the original intent? Does shared knowledge enhance our relationships?

collected present

(a=midwest? b=lichen touchdown c=what my dad saw out the window as a kid d=good times were had by all)

Can we talk now about how literature shapes our future?

I read somewhere recently that the only medium with any power left was the written word. All others exhausted their ability to shock or transform. While I don't entirely believe that, I do think that the written word has fallen under the radar a bit, especially as an agent of transformation. This reminder came about from the many virtual interfaces that were inspired by works of fiction - most recently learning that Google Earth was inspired by Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. And of course the classic example of William Gibson conceptualizing "cyberspace" in Neuromancer. A little poking around online yielded this audio recording (transcript included) by physicist/ children's lit scholar Janice McAdam precisely on the subject. She follows a slightly quainter (for the most part) route, but I appreciate an examination of the subject by a physicist. Highly appropriate. It is all a really beautiful example of collaborative work. A writer visualizes, thus setting into motion the potential for existence. Designers and developers take it from there and make it real. The reader becomes the user. It is so exciting to know that words caught on paper can create anything we desire. (Beyond just "amusing ourselves to death.") If the writer is the prophet, could we please work on a better future together?