The Tech Tangle

 Los Angeles, California

I am beginning a second year of keeping politics out of my blogposts, and it has been an increasingly huge challenge. Pay attention to the news and you will see a country almost unrecognizable except in news footage of places like Iran or Tiananmen Square. Trying not to expand here on the horror.

There are smaller battles to fight. There is a lawsuit currently being adjudicated here in Los Angeles as parents have begun suing social media companies for the damage that has been caused to children. But, what about the damage the internet has caused to adults? If people question this, then I must question their ability to use the simple logic of if this, then that. Yes, the internet has created ease and opportunity for many interests and tasks. But, as someone once simply put it, The internet has made it easier to order pizza and spread dangerous untruths.

I'm sensitive to the internet issue because, as I think I have written here before, I was never sure it was a really great idea, and I was certain social media was toxic from the start. But as I learned more and more about algorithms and the way they were being used to manipulate our usage of the internet, I became more alarmed. Ever had a pair of black boots eyed on Nordstrom's site follow you for months on the internet? And how about the text I received, addressed to my unusual childhood nickname that is nowhere on the internet nor anywhere else in my life, except on my Christmas stocking? The information on and about us which is shared exponentially is world-shatteringly frightening. And the genie is out of the bottle.

I write down quotations. Hell, I sometimes write down whole passages from novels or soliloquies from movies. I can't attribute this to who said it, so I will hopefully paraphrase: We should have been very wary about this idea of taking human sociality, incredibly powerful and shaped by a million years of evolution, and allowing 22-year olds in California to reinvent it. Amen.

So, what to do? Well for a start, for the time being (and I have been diligent about maintaining this) I have resisted social media. I didn't even put myself on LinkedIn when I owned a business. I don't Zelle and I don't Zoom. I am close to seeing Zooming as a necessary evil. But it does remind me of Dennis Potter's futuristic series, Cold Lazarus, which depicts a dystopian world where all experience is now virtual and talking heads are just that, having been revived from cryonics. I just don't want to have experiences with someone's face on a screen. I find it dehumanizing.

Yet, here I am, sitting in front of a screen, communicating with fingertips. I could fudge a little and say, Yes, but this is writing. This is art. And for me, it is creative. Can't speak to the reader's experience. It is also at the case that I have the unfortunate condition of being able to write better than I speak. My brain just works that way, through my fingers. But if our communication is reduced to texting, and even more malevolently, to tagging people's texts with icons of approval or affection. Jesus. What is in the future for human communication? This is dire.

So, though I try as hard as I can to keep myself untangled from tech, it is inevitable that this won't work forever. The encyclopediac knowledge found on google is frankly irresistible, even to a tech-resister like me. That is one of the reasons I still like to see films, even classic films, in theaters so that the immersion experience of being in a theater keeps me from searching the bio of obscure artists. At least when we went to get the encyclopedia in our homes, there was some exercise involved. With Wikipedia, it only involves a reach.

I am enheartened to increasingly read about resistance to the ongoing harm that is caused by living through cameras and screens. A lot of retreats are phones down, and I suspect that the experience would be very freeing. Still, I'm not dissing the useful info that can be found on the World Wide Web. I downloaded Sarah McLachlan's setlist from the concert I recently attended. You were never going to find that back in the day, without intensive research, and even then. But the tangle of information/commerce/connection is a dangerous thing for those who bought in fully. And mindfulness of this minefield is a standard to uphold.

Worth Remembering

 Los Angeles, California

What. A. Year. It started with the fires and evacuation. A few months later, Joel had surgery to repair a forty-year old injury which had broken his nose. The post-op and recuperation was tough. But he got better. And then, about three weeks after that, Joel had an accident at work and tore the rotator cuff in his shoulder. That injury is still not repaired and Joel has spent the last nine months wrangling with his Worker's Comp-provided treatment (or lack there of).

Over Memorial Day Weekend, we attended the Valley Greek Festival. It is something we do every year and we were joined by our friends, Connie and Curt. Connie is Greek, 100%, and I have learned a lot about Greek culture from her since we became friends while we were still in college. And I am in lust with the honey-soaked, yeasty Greek fritters called loukemades. And, I only get them once a year at this event.

In June, I purchased a new Tesla and a magnet for it which basically indicated no support for Elan Musk, in spite of buying his product. I thought long and hard about replacing my 2018 Tesla with a new one, and my friend and guru, Cathy, helped me work my way through this decision. Some of my friends were unloading their Teslas in protest of what havoc Musk was wreaking. But then, they were still shopping Amazon, which I frankly find reprehensible. They all say: Oh, but it's so convenient. Yeah, well it is also convenient to not have to go to gas stations. While the devils are different, it is still the same hell. So I continued my boycott of Amazon but bought a new 3. The newer model is sublime and I have had no guilt pangs over my decision.

July brought Joel's birthday and a mid-month visit from my friend, Karen, who flew in from Phoenix. We attended a screening of Ken Burn's new documentary at the Academy (of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) Museum. And, Ken Burns participated in a pre-film intro and post-film Q+A! I was ecstatic at attending this event, preceded by a lovely dinner at Fanny's, the restaurant at the Museum. Later that month Joel and I began dancing at the Autry Museum. It was part of their Sizzling Summer Nights series which they host every year. It was a great opportunity to see some longtime salsa friends and dance under the stars.

Around the middle of August, I woke up one morning and limped into the kitchen. No idea where that was coming from nor what to do to get remedy. I have a toolbox full of devices to use when something in my overused body is aching. I used them all; I got a massage; I underwent acupuncture. I tried everything, but nothing was working and I continued to limp. After a few weeks of this, my PC doc diagnosed this as iliapsoas tightness and demonstrated a physical therapy routine to help. It didn't help. Then Cathy determined that I was having a sciatic flare-up. This made sense as the pain was jumping around from hip to quad to shin. I had always thought sciatica was intense pain down the back of your leg. Not always, Cathy said. And she clarified that this wasn't sciatica, but rather a sciatic nerve flare-up which can manifest in a number of symptoms.

We attended a Dodgers game late that month, and Joel supported me while I limped into and out of the stadium. Luckily, we have our Dodgers routine down with parking just outside of our entrance, but it still felt like a long trek. Though not so long as on our travel to Santa Fe in early September. By the time we arrived in Santa Fe, Joel had received two cortisone injections for his torn rotator cuff and was once again pain-free. I, however, was hurting, though it was manageable with Advil. Still, we drove routes that should have been walked, and when we went to the A Prairie Home Companion show at Santa Fe Opera, I needed to ride the shuttle to the venue. Luckily, the show attracted a lot of seniors, so there were ample shuttles.

By October, I was no longer limping and by the time we arrived in Carmel to celebrate my birthday and the World Series, I was able to walk around town, though my flare-up was far from over. By November, we were finally both well enough to dance. It was lovely to share a dance floor once again with salsa friends.

And then it was Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve. Not a great year, but now behind us. I am much better, working out well and feeling grateful for a return to normal (more or less). Joel, not so much, and we recently took him for a second opinion as to why his shoulder continues to pain him, and more importantly, what it takes to get care after a work-related injury. Hopefully, this too shall pass. This is his year in Chinese astrology. It is the year of the Horse. Hopefully our horse and rabbit show can get back to salsa dancing in early 2026. Horse and rabbit show. Somehow I never thought I would coin that phrase, but I hope by year's end I can write that it was a very good show and year. For now I can only wish us all a very Happy New (and improved) Year! 🙏