Categories
Misc

Declaration of Independence

Remember the joy of being young, the joy of discovery? 

Remember rushing outside and finding everything so utterly fascinating?

The pleasure of moving your body. The smell of the outdoors. Each conversation an adventure. 

I’m beginning to forget. 

I’ve been spending so much time with computers lately. First for class, now for work. I keep in touch with my scattered friends through the computer. I read news through the computer. My most important organs are now my brain for thinking and my hands for typing.

Our bodies deserve to be more than just vehicles to transport our brains from meeting to meeting.

I declare independence from:

  1. Being so social-movement focused.
  2. Obsessing over news.
  3. Viewing the internet as a consumer rather than producer.
  4. Facebook
  5. Google Reader
  6. Smartphone notifications
  7. Digitally-mediated interaction

Sure, I’ll still be online. But no longer will I spend a bulk of my time on google reader and facebook. No longer will I consume much more than I create. 

That means more blogging. More writing. More going outside and walking. Less reading facebook (only check it once a day!), less reading Google Reader (I’m on a week-long hiatus!), less politics. The left is interesting and all, but my dreams should be full of other topics as well. I have other interests! It’s time to activate them.

Time for each day to be an adventure again.

Categories
Misc

The View From Saturday

I just picked up a copy of E.L. Konigburg’s the View From Saturday. I haven’t read it in years. After the first chapter, I just have to put it down in amazement and say, “wow. She can write”.

The View From Saturday was one of my favorite books at a particular stage of my life (sharing that title with The Westing Game). I found both books so compelling because they hinted at an “adult” world outside my comprehension. For example, the repeated references to the “decline of Western Civilization” from the adults in Saturday. It was just fascinating.

Young Adult books have had a huge effect on my life. From Tamora Pierce’s Tortall books to the View from Saturday, from the Pushcart War to the Lost Years of Merlin, I learned about standing up for dignity, I learned about what true goodness means. I saw great examples of how to live, and I hope my imagination was broadened by the contact I had with the amazing imagination of others.

Hats off to you, the literature of my childhood. I have never read anything a wonderful since. I miss you so much.