I don't know if something has gone haywire on my end or if it is some
change at Freelists, but recently on all Freelists lists in order to
reply to a message and have the reply go to the entire list I have to do
a reply to all. I don't always remember to do that. So below I am
pasting a message that I intended for the list but that I think only was
sent to Carl.
Re: [blind-democracy] Re: The Times They Are A-Changing
I think that attitude that things aren't like they used to be has been
around quite a while. Back when I could still see, being the bibliophile
I have
always been, I remember rummaging through a pile of some very old books
at a flea market. There was an almanac published in 1908. Near the front
of the
almanac there was an article with the title, A Man A Hundred Years Ago.
Each paragraph began with, a man a hundred years ago would not .... Then
there
would be a description of some marvelous piece of technology of the year
1908 or some mention of modern 1908 social attitudes or something about
how cities
had grown. I had to laugh at it. All of these modern wonders that were
being described seemed so quaint to me and so many of them were
completely obsolete
many years before I was born. I seemed to remember that one of them was
a man a hundred years ago would be shocked that some women thought they
should
have the right to vote. I wonder if the author would have been shocked
that about fifteen years later they would be given that right.
On 7/1/2017 9:15 PM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
block quote
Miriam,
I used to smile to myself when I would hear my grand parents and their
old cronies say stuff like, "Things are certainly different today",
or, "Back in the good old days...".
And now it's our turn. Although I try to "keep up with the times", it
does wear a bit thin to keep answering folks when I think they're
talking to me, only to find out that they're engrossed in a phone
call. I wonder if I could stand in the middle of a busy Mall and
strip without anyone noticing. Another change that I struggle with is
the rapid chatter that passes for speech among young people. And the
cadence isn't the same, either. But despite all of that, I still
climb out of bed each morning expecting to have an adventure. And I'm
seldom disappointed. Today Cathy and I had planned a quiet
time...just the two of us. The phone rang and our #2 grandson said,
"Want some company?" Well, this is the grandson who has charmed
Cathy, and there was not going to be any putting Dylan and his wife
off. So we spent the day playing cards and talking about whether they
should buy land and build a house, or buy a starter home. And we
researched Health Benefit packages and speculated if a bear followed
us to the mail box, could we simply tell it to go away, or should we
climb a tree? Stuff like that. We barely took time out to do some
Trump Trash Talk, but we did squeeze in a bit of it.
But what I'm thinking is that along with the noticeable changes, at
other levels nothing really changes.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/1/17, Miriam Vieni
<miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
block quote
I just found this thing in my inbox, Reno Roundup. It's an information
email
sent to everyone who is at the ACB Convention. Of course, everyone there is
technically proficient and is probably reading the thing on their smart
phones or God knows what. And the sponsor is Uber, you know the wonderful
transnational corporation that is putting all the taxicab companies out of
business and employing people in the "gig economy". The world is someone
else's world, not mine. It's barely recognizeable. Well, why not? My
doctor's office is more like an assembly line with technicians, rather than
a medical practice. Our President is a reality show star. People wander
around the lobby and elevator in my apartment building talking to
themselves, or maybe to someone else. I can't see if there's anyone there.
Or maybe to me although they don't refer to me by name. Oh no, actually,
they're all talking on cell phones.
Miriam
block quote end
block quote end