Yesterday our Internet was down for most of the day. I was able to axcess many of the messages that came in because for a brief period it worked, but just for moments. During the day though I found I needed to use the phone, & to remain in touch. Our concerns regarding the critical well being of a dear friend, & also our ongoing conservation projects here needed focused, up to the minute "what's going on", information.
That being said, I am so happy I'm online again at least for the moment. Since going into sabbatical from my former profession I've been making it a point to catch up on my reading. My latest focus these past few weeks have been my husband's New Yorker Magazine collection. After all it was Barry Commoner's article in The New Yorker decades ago in the mid 70's after our first child was born, that convinced me to become an antinuclear & peace activist. It was during that period in time that, Mother Lightning was born.
There's nothing like a good article that introduces the average reader in plain, simple yet interesting terms to a genre that they would not ordinarily be interested in, or even understand. I certainly fill the bill on that one.
The truth will always continue to set one free, for knowledge is power. In some ways, not all, there have been improvements in awareness & attitudes as the nuclear threat is topic from near & far with people such as Ted Turner, & others in science & in the arts, who have continued to keep it "at the forefront" of the world wide conversation. The tragic consequences of what happened in Hiroshima & Nagasaki will always be with us. "War will never be the answer". If one has been born into our tragically, historic, postwar, baby boom generation, then one is born to do what one knows, one must do.
For now as I click away, with our Internet running again, & seemingly up to speed, I can once again appreciate first hand the modern technology that I fought tooth & nail to resist, & now that I'm here & comfortable with this technology, I miss it when it's in "down mode". The mind of course also flourishes from all aspects of enjoying the beauty of life & a good short story, book or article or two, which along the way is a perfect retreat. This of course adds to the dimensional thinking of our minds. As I take this wonderful opportunity to catch up, so to speak, with my husband's less than current issues of a magazine that seems to always hit it's mark, I thank them for their excellence & always bringing me up to snuff, & for reintroducing me to people such as, Kathereine Anne Porter, Edward Albee, John Cage & Henry David Thoreau, to name a few. All of them are talented individuals of the expressive arts, & by having been reintroduced
to their thinking ways, it also reminds me of this magazine's first great influence on me & that excellent publication way back when. I know the literary world of The New Yorker Magazine will continue to prosper, for we are a literary culture of thinking people & have this need for knowledge & growth, no matter how much "e" time we sit at our computers.
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