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Greg Davis's avatar

Also, a good book from 1995, of all times, regarding the lost promise of being online is Clifford Stoll's _Silicon Snake Oil_.

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Antonia Malchik's avatar

That sounds interesting!

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Greg Davis's avatar

Thanks from an old Star Trek nerd for the allusion to ST:TNG; "Darmok" was an amazing episode, second only in my mind to "The Inner Light" as the best of the series. Also, I live so close to the monastery at Gethsemane, KY that your meditation and allusion to Pico Iyer makes me want to visit there some day.

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Antonia Malchik's avatar

I'm thinking about it too, though I don't know of one nearby. Forest service cabins still look pretty attractive :). "The Inner Light" breaks my heart every time. It's so lovely.

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Tara K. Shepersky's avatar

That American Scholar article is INTENSE. Bookmarking that to re-read.

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Antonia Malchik's avatar

Isn't it?! I had to reread it before posting the link. The quality of their articles can be uneven, but this one really stood out.

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Tara K. Shepersky's avatar

A resounding "Amen!" to stillness, and to the ways that making a life feels opposite to making a living, and to turning the smartphone off. (Lord, we have got to rename those things. They are neither phones nor smart.) One of these days maybe I will figure out something to practically, long-term DO about these truths. First I've got to get off the internet again.

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Antonia Malchik's avatar

Yes please let's rename them! And "Amen" back to the practical long-term something to DO. In the meantime, if you can get somewhere out of service for a couple of days I highly recommend it.

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Tara K. Shepersky's avatar

Smartphone. Mobile phone. Mobile. Handheld. Handheld dopamine drip. DripPhone. Hmmm, still not a phone though. I don't know, but I like the exercise of trying to think about the category of object in ways that are not defined by marketers.

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Antonia Malchik's avatar

I do kinda like DripPhone. But "not a phone" makes sense.

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Tara K. Shepersky's avatar

Possibly dripphone (drip phone?) makes it clear by the first word that the object in question is not actually a phone...hmmm...

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Antonia Malchik's avatar

Food for thought!

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Tara K. Shepersky's avatar

I do Pico Iyer's thing and go to a monastery. It's very conducive to stillness, inner and outer.

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Antonia Malchik's avatar

Can I quietly admit I'm envious? ;)

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Tara K. Shepersky's avatar

It's doable! A hard thing is finding one close enough to get to without, say, flying. A less hard thing is paying for it; monasteries are usually quite reasonable. Time away from responsibilities might be a hard thing, too.

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Antonia Malchik's avatar

It's being a primary caregiver/mom, honestly (my kids are 10 and 13). I wish I could say otherwise, but the particular home balance we have makes it very, very difficult. BUT I also need to do better at claiming that space as necessary. And maybe going to a cabin or fire lookout by myself ;)

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Tara K. Shepersky's avatar

That does sound like a hard thing. A lovely thing, that has as a corollary a hard thing. I have a particular type of privilege in pursing stillness and solitude: I do not have children.

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