Citizen Cope

Let’s say a friend sent me a link to important information. Is that link:
in an e-mail on my yahoo account?
in an e-mail in my Preventable Surprises inbox?
in a tweet?
in a private message in Facebook?
in a text message on my phone?
in a Skype chat message?

I don’t have SnapChat or What’sApp or Instagram, so I’m sure there are even more possibilities.

I love how technology--supposedly great deliverer of information and efficiency--has created only confusion. I also remember when my e-mail inbox actually had e-mails I wanted to read from real people. Now it is nothing but pleas for me to save polar bears, bees, Syrians, and U.S. democracy AND ads from every airline, bus or train company or other entity I’ve ever done business with.

Funny how the chase for the almighty dollar ruins everything.

What does this have to do with Citizen Cope? He sang this great song about contact and how we all need it (“only because my life depends on it”). It starts out being about racial profiling, then it’s about contact, which makes me think of the film Crash, also an intense mixture of racism and the desperate need for connection. I would argue that our cyber connections aren’t the life-saving contact he is seeking.

Because I work by myself every day in an unfinished bedroom, I make an effort to have human contact whenever I can. Today I went into town to have tea with a friend from Queen’s, the subject librarian for history. We bemoaned the state of democracy and he bemoaned cuts to humanities at Queen’s. I said I’ve read a few things saying Brexit & Trump highlight the need for, of all things, more philosophy students and for the teaching of critical thinking skills. Isn’t that a good sign, I asked? His rejoinder: “They’d have to read something that's more than 140 characters.” I laughed pretty hard at that (contact!). I told him I might tweet it. More laughter.

After our chat, I went to some used book shops and to Ross Auctions to preview tomorrow’s items. Once I’m out of the house, I don’t want to go back. I went a few blocks out of my way to get a photo of this lovely old building:

It was once the headquarters of a tobacco company. I love the hills in the distance. Belfast is great for urban vistas against a backdrop of mountainish hills. Or hillish mountains. Here’s a shot from downtown (city hall on the right):

The next picture is from a walk with Maysie in Orangefield Park:

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