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guson and that protesters will remain safe and maybe even begin the process of healing we will keep hoping that these events will inspire a larger conversation about the enduring reality of racism in our country the overarming of both civilians and law enforcement and how the media perpetuates dangerous misperceptions about race let s also hope that this new generation of unknown warriors in the digital age be touched by the angels of their better nature i won t lie i love seeing the kkk unmasked and shamed by the ugly glare of their beliefs but i wonder if this feeling of righteous schadenfreude does enough to get at the root of the problem it might be better if we could think of a way to take a cue from banksy s iconic image of a protester who lobs a bouquet of flowers instead of an explosive and harness the vast power of information to change minds and inspire us to change those institutions even when they let us down time and time again but i believe the power of protest and social change and i believe in the people trying to help through the anonymous group because quite truthfully i need to i give you dear readers your mandatory fun for the day posted by blicky kitty at 8 55 am 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest friday october 24 2014 a digital cautionary tale while looking at the iphone in the apple store one day several years ago i was wondering about how one might post to their fb status from this curious new smart device so i logged in to browse and did what seemed like the most intuitive way to close out i hit the home button unknowingly idiotically i had left my facebook account logged in on a public device i remember how wonderful my day at the beach was afterwards and how much i enjoyed the long blissful summer day with my mom and kids completely oblivious as i look back on this of course the sheer stupidity makes me cringe but i had no idea what i had done until i returned home and heard the messages on my answering machine an old friend from junior high had seen a rather unusual post assumed i d been hacked and tracked me down right away when i logged on the physical sensation of shame was immediate and all encompassing as i read my status we at blicky kitty like to keep it pg as i do on fb so won t repeat it i can say with full confidence that my digital interloper was an adolescent boy however it must have seemed too good to be true and maybe he d gleefully called a few friends over hey check this out some stupid lady left her fb account open on here during that entire summer day any of my facebook friends friends from church second cousins professional aquaintances ministers old friends blogging buddies colleagues of my husband in laws and school friends who might have logged in would have read that i am big who likes to not only did it provide a brilliant retort to all the apple store utopia which still reliably mesmerizes me but the pure unadulterated shame of the experience was so tremendous almost lovely in it s perfection it s not like i would ever judge someone if they chose to be a big or that i would find anything about s inherently shameful it s just that few would expect a person to discuss them so publicly and with such poorly inarticulated nuance i deleted the post and sent out an apology pointing out that if i were to disclose such a thing to everyone i know i like to hope that i would at least choose to phrase it more artfully and left it at that but the range of reactions was fascinating my first impulse was to go running to the mister who barely even looked up having no connection to social media he just shrugged his shoulders and said oh well don t let it ruin your day the following morning was church i sought out one of the ministers who always seems to know the perfect words to comfort oh i know i saw that and it was so obvious that wasn t you i felt so sorry for you right away my younger hip cousins were thoroughly entertained one had gleefully captured a screen shot of it so we could all have a good laugh at the next family gathering and we did there was one person who posted a shocked laurel under the status thinking that i had indeed been its author i deleted the status too quickly to have remembered who it was but i often amuse myself by wondering for the most part my younger acquaintances were more amused than horrified and saw it as a frightening yet screamingly funny fact of contemporary life my friends who were closest to my age showed a mixture of empathy and dread in the end i guess i just concluded that being open to shame is a trade off i am willing to make for being open to others in a medium that we still struggle collectively to define there is certainly no shortage of articles weighing in on the relative benefits and drawbacks of social media facebook in particular stephen marche posited in his article for the atlantic that for all of our interconnectedness and new types of interactions we are becoming lonelier others feel that fb is an artificial window into the lives of others and that comparing ourselves to others makes us feel as though we re missing out there is no question that as a medium facebook is fraught with pitfalls and the ever looming specter of public shame i have learned this lesson not just once but several times over during the process of learning the medium facebook is a medium and like any other if you put dumb and negative things into it that s exactly what you get in return there is nothing about facebook chat apps email or skype however that define our connections to other people in any real sense if we approach the medium in ignorance we risk not only shame but feeling hurt left out inadequate or lonely as my eldest daughter has started to define her own relationship to digital media i have tried to step up my own literacy and my own wisdom on the subject here is my stab at a few ground rules that i hope are healthful and helpful for even those who have been less catastrophically careless as i have be as courteous as you are offline some days i feel like if i see one more 12 year old girl on my kid s instagram feed sticking her lips and tongue out my head will explode would you sit before yout teachers and do that or would stick out your bum and bend over while you are visiting your grandmother one truly hopes not because it might seem a little odd at best kids i say this with love and and respect please refrain from saying anything online that they would not willingly announce to everyone you know something you write during a fleeting moment of poor judgement is potentially permanent if you say it online so unless you would stand up during assembly or in a hallway and shout it in a loud voice you should not be typing it online be as kind as you are offline i often wonder if people who leave cruel screeds in online comments say things like this to members of their family or friends maybe so interacting through a screen removes us from the ability to perceive subtle expressions on the human face adolescents need time away from screens to learn how to treat each other with kindness before they start spending large amounts of time online i know this is counter cultural and i am a mean mean parent for limiting time online be as wise as you are offline i umm can offer no guidance in this area use social media to find wisdom and beauty in others i know it sounds nerdy but i think the reason i keep coming back to fb despite moments of abject shame and public mocking is that i am inspired and awed by the amazing things that people do and the insights they post online people disappoint us yes but people are also amazing and they often astound us with their talent their brilliance and their goodness amanda palmer s ted talk nails this aspect of modern social media interaction when we give ourselves over to the kindness of others there is a way that people rise to our high expectations use social media to enrich the connections you already have it s no substitute but if you have five minutes a year to talk to your third cousin who might even live on another continent it s really cool to know they they also love the tune yards or that they are planning a trip to an italian city where you once lived or even if they have had an illness in the family perhaps the interaction you end up sharing will be more direct and more authentic as a result cultivate the art of being away from a screen i am not convinced i love the term unplugging because it implies a physical dependence on social media that is somehow at the core of our nature being social is in our nature but nature is also in our nature and we will all unwind far more if we take a walk outdoors get a little bored let our minds process our day by conjuring up the random little thoughts that float through our fatigued grey matter like clouds my own mind needs to experience things like the pungent odor of decomposing fall leaves interspersed with the cloying scent of ripening wild grapes the sight of migrating birds stopping for a rest and the sound of something other than chimes and alerts to feel truly centered and real that s all i have to offer today gentle readers i ll leave you with this offering of mandatory fun posted by blicky kitty at 3 02 pm 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest friday november 15 2013 you re going down dog as i was listening to the latest instructor in the long string of dvds i have acquired with the aim of identifying my favorite style of yoga i breathed dutifully into the movement relaxing into each posture as he intoned feel the movement balanced all over you body instead of staying in one place then he proceeded to tell me to take my foot wrap it like five times around my head and spin like a top while yelling toy boat toy boat ten times fast at least that s the way i remember it then to cheer us on he said remember long pregnant pause it s not a contest i may or may not have been lying in a heap on the floor and laughing at that point but all i could think was what if it was i know it s heresy but wouldn t it be kind of funny if they made yoga into a competitive sport then you could say things like after the fourth vinyasa you re going down i thought i had stumbled upon some crazy good new business idea like hey you got peanut butter in my chocolate until i realized there actually is competitive yoga so alas my dream went up in smoke i would have transformed the practice with xfl style commentary sri shankar richardson is really ticked off now he thought he was going to end sunray rainbow whittmore s chances at a win today during the scorpion pose what s this sunray is taunting him now see this crow pose yeah i m rocking it and you re going to break your nose if you even try you might as well just go home and cry into your koshumba loser you could bring in the veteran yogi for commentary too like shiva rea bob just look at the way he brings the energy of the entire cosmos into his body he is really going to wipe the yoga mat with his opponent today shiva what is that printed on the back of his spandex action suit does that say i h8 he yes bob that is a clear response to whittmore s jacket last week that said just stay in child s pose lusr it would impact all of the arts that have been nurtured by the spirit of the discipline krishna das would start climbing the charts with his new singles suck my mat and namaste you re going down gradually the trend would trickle down into everyone s practice translating into a wonderful judgement laden discipline for us all at the end of class while instructors announced the class winners they could offer helpful advice so people could gain a competitive edge pssst when we say be gentle and ease into it yeah we re just kidding you ve gotta really rock that pose or just go home or wow man looks like you never really found that drishti either that or you have some serious inner ear condition because i m surprised you can even walk straight why don t you skip class for a couple of weeks in fact and practice walking with books on your head like marcia brady namaste suckers here s your mandatory fun posted by blicky kitty at 3 26 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels the sheer physical bravery of rush limbaugh wellness and sustainable living tuesday september 20 2011 an emerging market as unemployment takes center stage as the nation s most pressing issue i feel grateful that i always have something to fall back on in times of trouble and no i don t mean blogging for blicky my back up career is stand up comedy for the 6 and under set i know what you re thinking gentle reader hey who would pay you money to do something that easy isn t that like offering family planning for pandas running anger management classes for tibetan monks or teaching tail wagging and steak eating to dogs comedy for kids all you have to do is say the word poop and call it a day i understand your thinking and i realize that i will need to demonstrate my gift in order to give people an understanding of the rigors and complexity involved for a limited time i will share these free tricks that are guaranteed to kill i mean absolutely slay the members of the wrinkle free midget persuasion 1 one joke that never fails at drop off even though they might hear it 180 days out of the school year now remember kids don t have fun but beware if you can t do a decent deadpan you re out of your league and should stop here at the very least that line guarantees a sea of gleeful smiles and sing song choruses of we re having fuuunnnn 2 persons of the curly haired dimpled persuasion absolutely love anarchy we grownups get a little nervous when the center cannot hold and the falcon cannot hear the falconer and all of that but for the 6 and unders bring it onnn baby any humor that contains anarchy is guaranteed to kill k i l l kill one caveat don t try to make jokes about political libertarian theory or make references to famous anarchists it falls dangerously flat for example i would strongly advise against the following hey guys ever hear the one about lysander spooner and his thoughts about acts of initiatory coercion against individuals and their property unless you re prepared to resort to a pathetic and desperate display of gas passing humor coupled with dancing and such moves are frowned upon in juvenile comedic circles you re toast 3 persons of limited vintage are none the wiser when you borrow your material i have this running joke going in the kindergarten this year about justin bieber and how it would be really funny if he were the tooth fairy so of course i had to come up with a reasonably good quality falsetto song that he might sing if he came to your house to get your teeth oh baby baby just give me your wiggly tooth they have no idea that my falsetto bears an eerie resemblance to jimmy fallon s parody of barry gibb because they can t ...