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12:20:2003 Entry: "Ann : Somewhat Luddite, Moderately Simplistic, Only Slightly Romantic, but Hardly Anachronistic"

Somewhat Luddite, Moderately Simplistic, Only Slightly Romantic, but Hardly Anachronistic

I could easily live without all this. The things that make people happy these days are not what makes me happy. Assuming I had a job, just a stupid job like the one I had at the Chemistry Stockroom back in the early 1980s, (obviously, not my Kinko's job because its raison d'etre was The Macintosh, nor my Alistair Video job because that wasn't a job but a deathcamp) a job that didn't make me sick and a job where the people involved were of reasonable intelligence, I could easily give up this computer. I do not need a computer to make art, I need a computer to make a living with my digital art. There is something so pure about writing with a pen on a piece of paper...the feelings seem to flow much better. When Stan and I went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, we were looking at the featured John Lennon exhibit and Stan remarked that if he was around now, all the handwritten lyrics would be on disc. I tried to explain to him that no, not necessarily. Sometimes a computer expedites certain things, but I feel when there is emotion involved, to have a keyboard and a screen is removing yourself from the immediacy of whatever poetry comes out of your mind. I'd rather have a piece of paper with scratched out words and arrows and loops and squiggly lines attached to other words than a delete key. When you scratch out a word, it's not really gone, it's there for future reference. Not so with the backspace. The other night/week when I got so inspired to write my '4th Pig' lyric based on Pink Floyd's 'Pigs (3 different ones)', I didn't use my computer. I pulled out a piece of paper and pen and went at it. It wouldn't have worked on my laptop. It just wouldn't have worked. Stan loves his ibook and I know it's much easier for him as he's working on his writing rather than writing everything by hand as he did before, but maybe it's the novelty? Honestly, I miss all my handwritten notebooks. Especially the ones on colored paper.

I was discussing with Stan how I could easily live 20 or 30 years ago and get along just fine. All I need is indoor heat, plumbing, electricity and transportation, my pets, plants and Stan (assuming they could all be transported back in time, or if the past could be moved into the future). Stan said he could easily live with me in the 19th century...he muttered something about the 20th century being the most violent and bloody in human history. I wouldn't like that, living in the 19th century. I admit I'm spoiled up to a point, hence, my requests for heat, plumbing and electricity. Not only that, but here's something a man might not consider...I want to live in a time during or after the woman's movement. For all the female romanticists and anachronists out there...do you REALLY want to go back to a time when you're expected to behave in a certain way? Think about it. I don't mean to criticize Stan for forgetting about that...it's easy to forget about if you're not a woman. In fact, I bet a lot of women don't even think about it.

But anyway, what does this world have to offer me that it didn't have to offer me 20-30 years ago? (Other than the fact digital technology has forced me to find a means of living using digital technology) Not a helluva lot, as far as I'm concerned.

By Ann @ 20:27 PM CST:12:20:03 ..::Link::..