Me and My Blog

So I don’t know much about the electronic world. At one point – okay, just last year – I was content with dial-up Internet access. I would open my browser and then go change the laundry before I even bothered to look at the screen. Doing anything online was usually a multi-tasking proposition – a good time to cook dinner while helping kids with homework, while checking my email.

The addition of high-speed Internet was life changing to say the least. How great to be able to look up that plant my son just ate quickly so to know if I should call the poison control center! But I must confess I still don’t take things too seriously in the online world – I am still not a daily email checker. So, you must forgive me if I don’t know what your anachronism means, or if I’m not knowledgeable about the latest online thing. I take it blogging has been around awhile?

There is always a slight war inside me when it comes to technology. I’m not afraid of it mechanically – at one point I actually earned a living in part by building databases for a small company. But I do fear how it has changed our culture. How does one have time to bake one's own bread if one has to check out every new You Tube video?

And what of the kids – always back to the kids – I live daily with the, “Mom. Can I play my Lego Star Wars game on your computer?”

“How about building a fort in backyard?”

“It’s only 20 degrees out and it’s snowing!”

But really isn’t it better that our children get a slight case of frostbite rather than sitting in front of a computer for half of their free time? Blah, blah you’ve heard it all – obesity problems, attentive deficit disorders, violence infused youth.

Those who’ve known me a long time know of my aspiration to join the Amish so I could live like the pioneers. That Laura Ingalls Wilder, she had it good with a fiddling playing Pa and an orange at Christmas. I have romanticized “living off the land.” But when you throw indoor plumbing and antibiotics into the equation, modern times do have their advantages.

So why this blog you might wonder? I must confess I am purely, selfishly motivated. I want the world – okay – at least the USA to think more like ME so I don’t feel like a granola infused, fiscally conservative, eco-wierdo all the time. I have noticed within myself that when I hear of others who drastically change their lifestyles – for example living without a car – it inspires me to change my reality and question what can be.

SO THAT IS MY GOAL - AN EXCHANGE OF IDEAS TO CHANGE OUR REALITY ABOUT OUR AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE.

As an aside – I went to my son’s school today and sat in for a few minutes on a presentation by Eco-cycle. Apparently my son’s school is 24^th “in the world” to establish a eco-cycle program. Does this mean that only 23 other schools in the whole world are recycling and composting, or does it mean other schools are taking part in other programs?