A friend posted this status update a few weeks ago: Is it weird to be on someone's Facebook page when they walk up??
The answers she received were overwhelmingly "yes," but I expect that soon, the majority of responses to that question will soon be "no" or "meh. who cares." This is the age that we're in, we inhabit both real and virtual worlds, all of us celebrities with our own fans, followers, and headshots. Why shouldn't we expect people to read about us online, to see what we're up to and who we've posed with in pictures? In fact, shouldn't we be flattered that they're thinking of us at all?
Thinking of someone is one thing. Looking for all their info is stalking them from afar.
Not that I don't do it, too, but it does concern me. I don't worry about my own privacy--I'm grown--but I do worry about my tween who is on XBox Kinect with people he's never met, people who live in different countries all over the world. My kid knows enough not to play video games with adults (and adult XBoxers don't like playing with kids anyway) but he doesn't understand yet how this anonymous interaction could come back to bite him in the butt.
For example, I've witnessed him engage in heated competitions, including smack-talk, with other game players. I've overheard he and his friends sit in front of the tv screen and lie to the other players about their names and ages. What happens when an insult is taken personally and someone hacks into your XBox account (is this possible?) or finds out who you are and starts to harass you? Stalking from afar (what we do when we google others) is one thin line from harassing from afar.
Not that old school bullying can't happen. (I received a typed letter in the mail the other day. No return address. It read: "Dog Owner, Put a lid on that little dog of yours. Please. And welcome to the hood.")
The difference is that I probably know the idiot who sent that letter. The letter writer is someone who lives in my neighborhood.
But who are the cranks and weirdos who are watching us unseen? This is one of the real dangers, I think, of so much of our information being accessible to the public at large.
Not that Facebook cares about our privacy.
So much of who we are today is how we present ourselves through different media. You can ask any real celebrity what the price is for that kind of access.
Pictures from Egypt
Credit: Emilio Meorenatti/Associated Press
Credit: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
Credit: Chris Hondros/Getty ImagesThese photos are taken from the front page of today's New York Times online. My students are writing ekphrastic poetry based on war images. These pictures of a people's revolution surely inspire words.
Tumbleweed
As the rest of the nation freezes under snow and ice, Arizona has cold winds and these things blowing all around.
After Tunisia - Writers Respond
The Guardian has ten Arab writers respond to the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. Al Jazeera reports on the newest uprisings in Egypt and Yemen. And the blog, Pan-African News Wire,writes about demonstrations in Algeria and other North African countries.
AWP Conference 2011
I will be in D.C. next week at The Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference. The district just got hit with another snowstorm so travelling that way should be interesting. If you're there, come check out these panels where I'll be contributing:
Friday, Feb. 4th 3:00 - 4:15:
| Empire Ballroom | F204. African American Writers on Obama. (Lita Hooper, Renee Simms, Tara Betts, Antoinette Brim, Demetrice Worley) 44 on 44: Forty-Four African American Writers on the 44th President of the United States is an anthology of poetry, essay, and creative nonfiction based on the election of the first African American president of the U.S. The anthology includes contributors’ reflections of the historic election of Barack Obama. Several contributors will read from the anthology and engage in a discussion with one another and the audience. |
Saturday, Feb. 5th 1:30 - 2:45:
| Virginia C Room | S180. [WITS Alliance]—We Were All Poets in the 3rd Grade: What Happened? (Jack McBride, Janine Joseph, Mary Rechner, Renee Simms, Giuseppe Taurino, Jeanine Walker) WITS Writers will discuss their paths as writers and teachers, from when they fell in love with writing, how they were discouraged or made to feel anxious about the process, and how they subsequently came back to it. Investigating why K-12 students go from a willingness to engage creative writing (and all it entails: vulnerability, creativity, risk) to being afraid or indifferent, panelists will explore best teaching practices for re-engaging students and collaborating with classroom teachers. |
Books, Books and an Interview
Harlem is Nowhere by author Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts is the first of a trilogy about African-Americans and utopia.
The historical novel Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez has gotten rave reviews and is now out in paperback.
Tayari Jones' third novel, Silver Sparrow, comes out this spring, but she's gifting one to a lucky winner on her blog.
And Junot Diaz talks about writing and ethnicity to the Mumbai Mirror.
Michelle Obama's Dress
I absolutely loved the grey dress that Michelle Obama wore at the State of the Union address last night. Loved even more that the dress was by designer Rachel Roy (pictured) who is the ex-wife of Damon Dash...who was a co-founder with Jay-Z of Roc-A-Fella Records and Rocawear clothing line. We got a hip-hop First Family for real.
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