Monday, September 24, 2007

54. A DE-EVOLUTION OF COMMUNICATION

From the Archives

(March 2005) And now, to continue a previous thought, Joy Harjo said
I believe that written language was, in many ways, a de-evolution of the communication process. You lose human contact, context of time and place, and a sense of relationship. With written communication, you gain the ability to lie more easily. There is separation between the speaker and the reader/listener. There is less accountability.

Blogs take this a step further. Now you can read someone’s blog and satisfy your curiosity about her while avoiding actual communication, self-revelation, or reciprocity—create yet another level of separation between the speaker and the reader/listener.

Convenient that.

All righty. It is 9:45 PM on Sunday night. I have talked with my mother. I have talked with my bestgrrl. I have said hello to the duckies. (No great blue heron sightings today.) I have eaten a tasty dinner and packed a lunch for tomorrow. I have packed my gym clothes. I have even washed my car windows and edited many lines of academese.

(Favorite edit of the day: change “becomes extremely dubious regarding” to “he is doubtful of.” Lordy lord lord. . .)

READING: the TV channel

LISTENING TO: an old tune, Natalie Farr’s “Build Your Wall” (Maybe it’s real safe inside your house. Maybe it’s real safe all set apart. And maybe I’m a fool to climb your wall. You build your wall, deprive your heart. Build your wall, deprive your heart....)

SINGING IN SHOWER: For some reason I don’t understand I sang the Bee Gees’s “New York Mining Disaster 1941” (In the event of something happening to me there is something I would like you all to see. It’s just a photograph of someone that I knew....)

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