2noame is to know me...

Captain’s log, stardate -310344.3

I sit here writing this review on actual paper, by candlelight, with a hurricane outside the door, huffing and a puffing and a blowing on my home, and I suddenly realize another piece has clicked into place. I understand now a little bit more about what gives New Orleans its incomparable magic.

The hand of nature physically felt, is a visceral reminder of our place in the world. We’re passengers on this ship, not pilots or even crew. As this rock hurtles through the cosmos, we in this particular portion of the rock called America tend to especially pride ourselves on our ingenuity which allows our continual distancing from the natural world around us through our technology. It’s when that technology has taken leave, when our lights grow dark, when our boxes of cold grow warm, when our surroundings grow ominous and foreboding, that we remember just how lucky we are.

We live in homes. These homes can withstand hurricane force winds as trees planted long before we were born are ripped from the ground. We live under roofs that can withstand a deluge of water for hours and even days and weeks. We have food that takes years to spoil, that we just simply purchase instead of grow or hunt. We have boxes that keep us cool and our food frozen, and that give us instant informational access to the entire world. And we have friends and family and neighbors that are here alongside us in this journey of ours.

How much more can you ask for, than to be reminded of such things every so often? To feel that foreboding atmosphere together of dark times ahead? To share those stories of those shadowed times behind us and the scars they may have left us? And to feel that sense of victory at the end, when yet another storm has passed, and we are still standing, together?

It is in darkness, as storms rage in swirling skies, that we are reminded of why life is to be celebrated daily. I feel for those who live in such stability, security, and luxury, that the magic around us we’ve created is never absent. Because you never truly know what you have, until it’s gone.

We are alive. We are present. We are together. We are New Orleans.

And we will forever celebrate the dawn.

(Source: ss2no.yelp.com)

teachingliteracy:

ebookporn:

Our goal as a nation should be for every child in Public Housing to have an ereader or iPad or some form of portable screen with internet access. Our goal should be to insure that children growing up with the least advantages economically have more not less educational advantages.

An iPad is cheaper than most computers. It’s portability allows a child to use it outside rather than tethered inside an apartment that may not have working air conditioning. Aside from providing access to teachers, libraries and educational programs a device like this allows parents on assistance to shop grocery stores for the best deals and sales in order to make their food stamps go further, search for jobs and apply for unemployment more easily, and search for and apply for social services they may not have been aware of that can help their families. 

As a nation we should be working tirelessly to prevent a digital poverty line by requiring companies to donate or provide affordable broadband, WiFi hot spots, ereaders and tablet in poor communities across the country. 

If you’re someone that feels outrage over seeing a child living under the poverty line with a tablet computer, you seriously need to take a look in the mirror and evaluate who you are as a person. This single device could be the one thing in this kid’s life that opens his world to a greater potential. This is the internet we’re talking about. This is entire libraries we’re talking about. This is connecting with people all over the world we’re talking about.

Wake up and smell the technology inspired hope.