#internet commentary

THIS IS GONNA HURT SO BADLY

THIS IS GONNA BE SO FUCKING PAINFUL

I CAN FEEL IT NOW

I AM SO SCARED DUDE

LOOK AT CAINE I AM TERRIFIED FOR HIM

LOOK AT POMNI MY POOR WIFE

EVEN KINGER IS FREAKED OUT

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Letter from the Editor

Dear Readers,

E-mail. Blog. Web site. YouTube. Flickr. Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn. MySpace. eBay. Etsy. Instant message. Text message.

Did I miss anything?

In this ever-changing world, where the speed of technology moves at a manic pace, I'm pretty sure I did miss something. But what I find fascinating is that in most of our lifetimes, we have existed in realities where none of the technological tools as listed above ever existed. How did we do it?

It wasn't that long ago when we also existed in realities when the television actually turned off.

Remember that? At a certain hour around midnight, there was that American flag on the screen with the national anthem being played to give notice to its viewers that if we weren't going to turn the tube off, then the tube would take matters into its own hands and turn us off. And sure enough, the anthem was always immediately followed by a snowy screen of nothingness on all channels. Time to go to sleep.

I remember the thrill of discovering the Internet for the first time. What power my computer had to take me all over the world... to connect with almost anyone at any time... without content ever segueing into the national anthem and then to a snowy screen of nothingness. Always on.

I also remember a few times when content on a Web site that I was looking at changed faster than I was looking at it. I learned this lesson the hard way when I was at a site to buy silver and the price I was looking at actually changed from the time I logged on to the time I was ready to buy. That's when the importance of pushing the "refresh" button was learned.

Recently, I was talking to an aspiring artist who got her blog all set up to go and found herself not knowing what to put on it.

No matter how prepared we might be with all the bells and whistles of technology, it all boils down to the content of our artistic souls. What is it that we create? How true is it? Because one thing I know to be true is that if the work is spectacular, it will be discovered. Perhaps not as quickly withour the convenience of a blog or the Internet, bur certainly quicker than someone who might be super equipped with all the bells and whistles of technology but without the depth and discipline to actually develop the compelling content that technology can expose.

It seems that we ought to learn how to stay up with the times and learn important details like the "refresh" button.

But I also think we ought to remember the value of being able to turn it all off and allow ourselves that time to be still, to go to sleep, to dream, to think, and to create.

How lucky are we that we have all the tools to show ourselves off? How challenged are we to turn off all the tools to allow ourselves the time to become who we need to become.

Sometimes on, sometimes off,

Jenny Doh

Editor-in-Chief & Director of Publishing www.jennydoh.typepad.com

March/April 2009 • www.somersetstudio.com