Filed under: the day to day
i went for a really long drive this weekend out of a need for mental breathing room. there’s something to be said about getting in your car, without any real sense for where you will go. i hopped on the 80 east and took off, crossed the richmond bridge, found myself on the 101 north heading to novato and then on the 37 heading into vallejo and suddenly decided to turn around. i got back on the 101 south again and got off at sir francis drake and decided to head out to point reyes. if you’ve never been there, you should really go. it’s truly beautiful. there are a series of historic farms and to see grazing cows with dramatic coastside in the distance is truly breathtaking.
as i was driving, this feeling of running to meet the ocean came over me and while i was driving slowly so that i could take everything in, i felt this heavy sense of urgency come over me. that i had a purpose for whatever reason. and when i finally arrived at my previously unknown destination, i parked my car, put on my hat and scarf and walked down to the beach. if you don’t already know, beach-walking is no easy feat and i found myself struggling to move through the course sand. but it felt good. that i had to try to just keep moving. i could feel myself getting warmer and it just all came out. it’s like there were all these things trapped inside me and they just needed to be tossed into the water. it wasn’t violent. nor was it a quiet exit. it was this kind of matter of fact regurgitation that i just accepted would not be pleasant.
the occasions to mentally purge are rare these days. i don’t know if it’s just me, or a natural condition of post-modern times. being constantly surrounded by movement is breathtaking and wonderfully exciting, but sometimes the day-to-day overtakes you and sometimes you simply have to make yourself stop for a moment.
so here is the first post of my blog. i feel like a lemming, but i felt compelled to write only because as my brain has been churning quite heftily for the past several months and i’ve been thinking really hard as i embark on grad school for the fall. one common theme that has come up in various ways is this whole concept of connection and connections. as a part of my work, my interest in information culture and digital life centers this whole idea about the ways that we are connected to one another. i mean, really when you look at it: how are we really connected to one another? what are the links and relationships that bind us to one another? and how important is it to feel connected? and what the hell does the "interweb" have to do with any of this to begin with?
i keep returning to this notion of "information culture" and while i haven’t been able to define it clearly in my own head, i do think this idea is important as it focuses the attention on people’s everyday lives, rather than the banner waving of political life. don’t get me wrong, political life is important. but in terms of trying to understand the deeper sense of connection that people have to one another, i think this takes place more as part of their domestic life rather than their public/political life. and there are certainly debates around the public life and public good that explore what it means to be connected in the public sphere. nevertheless, connection in this private space is what i think needs to be looked at more closely in relation all this internet mumbo jumbo.
i used to think about this in terms of communties, but recently i’ve been really rethinking this whole community metaphor. there already has been a lot of work into the changing nature of community in online environments. peep berry wellman’s work here. or danah boyd’s here. but starting with community assumes connection to begin with, and i just have this suspicion that things look at lot different if you refocus and look at individuals first. the whole networked community metaphor already obliterates the rendition of community of a cohesive and integrated unit. instead it emphasizes the nodal qualities of social connection and i think i want to push this idea and see where it takes me. what this translates to exactly, i’m not sure.
