the owner introduced me the other night to a new acquaintance. she was friendly and pleasant, although i was highly distracted by her patchouli and choice of shorts.
(her parade of fatty snacks after confessing a gastric band op deserves a whole other post, but i digress...)
i was subject to an agenda, so i wasn't making waves, just nice.
she is one of those people who never leaves their circle of safety. she lives with her sons, near her mother, in what is basically a *neighborhood* of lowell. she works in lowell. she grew up in the community. one of the ticket takers at our show was her cousin.
yet she'd never been to the lowell folk music festival, now running nearly 30 years. she was completely unaware of the series to which the owner holds a pass for summer music in the park. she'd been to 2 concerts in her life the night we brought her to her 3rd. and THOSE had been over 20 years ago. she'd never heard of the guy we were seeing. she never goes out for a drink or dinner. the thought of salmon and asparagus (the owner's entree before we met up) made her squicked. she never goes to a movie.
she asked me what i did, i paused and said "sommelier". blank stare.
that i live in boston was amazing to her -- she'd be lost and afraid.
this woman served in the navy with her husband and proved to be amenable to our designs, so i'm not saying she was laura ingalls in a hoodie. but... but... but?
a recent study by a cell phone company in japan tracked users by the gps in their phones. (yo, they don't have the same privacy laws we're so blithely surrendering without a whimper, k?) something like 80% never traveled or called more than 2 miles from their home.
a recent article in the atlantic got lots of buzz: "is google making us stupid?" my dearest friends and i use it as that long tail of culture and economics. we lose too much time in links to new ideas, writers and video and music. stuff we never would have found at the multiplex or the mall, even if we went to either. but the rest? they don't get stoopid, they just stay that way.
sorry but i don't have a link to a lulz kitty video here. i suck.
proof i remain an idealist: i like to think just maybe that woman will youtube bruce hornsby or remember the wine i knew she drank and have a day with a new difference.
it can happen.
censors, creationists, racists, evangelicals, neo-conservatives... all wanna make the world smaller. knowledge is dangerous. scope is treacherous.
one of the best parts of my life is knowing people who know the world is big. and THAT'S why it's scary.
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