This is a story about valuing heart, mind & spirit.
When I was a child every Saturday morning we woke up, ate breakfast and got busy doing our assigned chores. Mine: cleaning the bathroom and living room. If we completed our chores we could watch American Bandstand (which meant standing there dancing like crazy for an hour <3 ) and then head downtown to the public library.
I hustled through cleaning the bathroom so I could do what I REALLY wanted to do: dust while I simultaneously read the "Word Power" section of the Reader's Digest periodical. I couldn't wait to add more words to my vocabulary. Dear Reader, no one suggested I do such a thing. My parents were the complete opposite of "helicopter parents"---this hunger was innate. I loved the way a new word opened up another way to look at the world. I couldn't wait to "practice" using my new words and, oddly enough I would be chastised, "Stop using those big words---who do you think you are?" (Six decades in--- this is who I am: a person fascinated by people who are engaged in THINKING about Big words, ideas and creative solutions)
For example, I am reading a boxed set of essays by the farmer/poet, Wendell Berry. It is a challenging read. There are times where I read a sentence and I just have to sit and ponder about what he is saying and sometimes crack open a dictionary to double check the meaning of a word he has used. It is hard and mentally delicious. I feel like I am literally FEEDING my sixty-five year old mind.
Social media seems to be working hard these days (and those mighty bots) at dumbing us down. They literally have PhDs on staff who find ways to keep us engaged, enraged and addicted to scrolling.
I've seen enough addiction to know the harm it causes. So all of this is to say I am setting this post as a placeholder of sorts. I need to walk away from Meta products and the harm Zuckerberg and Friends are foisting on us for profit. I am tired of hearing of yet another data center being plopped down on farmland and prairie---eagerly guzzling millions of gallons of water and boosting our electrical bills so Meta can serve us more AI slop while stealing our data.
Yes, I know I am a mere speck in the universe of social media. What in the heck can one person do to push back against this harm? As sober friends say about "one day at a time"---I am practicing "one person at a time" and that is all one can do.
****Yes, I will miss DMing you. Yes, I will miss the funny memes. If you want to stop by my visual journal to say howdy via a "like", please do. Or be old fashioned and email or snail mail me. THAT is a delicious treat!
https://www.katebrennanhall.com/visualjournal
Warm hugs,
Kate
