movie maker experimentation

Today I made this as a practice piece:

identity piece

So what does it mean that my story seemed like it was told from the point of view of my son? Not really sure about that.

buildings and layouts

So my son spent a half day at a Sony computer lab, and, when I asked him, he reported he was on the 4th floor. Somehow the fact that there was a big elevator figured as importantly in his retelling as the fact that he spent time on computers. This from the boy who has to know about how many staircases there are in any new building, whether there is a ground floor or basement. Anyway, he was happy about the trip.

30 letters in español

The ch, ll, ñ, and rr have sparked many questions, as have the use of accents. Why isn't every letter able to have an accent? Just the vowels in Spanish...This is from a child who was fascinated by the & when he was 3, so we are really moving recursively.

He also tends to invent letters like the xo that he came up with last year. Kind of an ñ type thing--evidence of metalinguistic thinking.

We are back to the love of letters

There are short obsessions and long loves in our lives. Letters are the longest most enduring passionate affair around here. Not that tools aren't still around, but they have been knocked off the pedestal.

Anonymity of Cyberspace

I guess this is a follow-up to the last posting. There was another interaction by email with the ex-friend I wrote about that was cold and disturbing.

This has really led me to start thinking about some of the strange interactions that I have had online. Not that those same interactions can't be had on some level in live interactions (meat space, or whatever you want to call it) but somehow it is easier to be cruel or rude when people are physically distanced.

Cyber-bullying is something that must be more chronic now than ever. With films like Mean Girls we see a dramatization of what some people lived through in high school or middle school. Whatever you call it, there is some level of pressure that teens go through and, in negotiating their identities, they sometimes exercise power and position others as inferior or not worth their attention.

For me, it was hard to have this happen as a secure grown woman, so I cannot imagine what young people have to navigate in this online participatory culture.

new ways to hurt old friends

Another reason to dislike facebook. This one has blown me away and sent me searching for a zenlike "letting go of ego" kind of thing (that and starting to practice yoga again). Being ignored.

An old friend who recently joined facebook ignored me. Twice. This leads me to wonder about the pain it must be causing younger women. I did not see that coming. And I know now that I really do not want to be her friend if that is how mean she is. We do have 6 friends in common, including her boyfriend, making it even more uncomfortable.