Monday, April 03, 2006

Friend or flaneur?


me of course

Now tell me, is that the face of a flaneur? No. It’s art. A great opportunity to introduce the creative genius of Oscar (see yesterday – things look better in a camera than real life!), and he’s grown up in a changing world. A technological world. Through a gradual mithridatism he’s learnt to survive, I suppose. Toxic childhood? No, there’s only toxic adults. Here’s a quote: “Over the last twenty-five years, huge technological and cultural changes have transformed the lifestyle of people in the developed world largely for the better” …mmm, debatable but then: “A toxic cocktail of the side-effects of cultural change is now damaging the social, emotional and cognitive development of a growing number of children, with knock-on effects on their behaviour.” What???? Now apart from the metaphorical mash-up of a cocktail of side-effects with knock-on effects, what is this gibberish and how is it evidenced? Dear me, there must be better things to read. Take Kate’s blog – here you can read the unfolding narrative of her trip to San Fransisco, moving through paper writing, to ca (conference anxiety) and on to what to wear, which accessories, and what music to take. And I started to worry, too! Which paper, which black jeans? Should I take the cardigan (or will it be too warm?). Black suede shoes? Perhaps a dash of colour, a shoulder bag for the true flaneur look. Anything else?

3 comments:

Joolz said...

OMG I feel ill after looking at that detoxing childhood thing. She gives you ways of trying to detox childhood in ten spearate areas.
This is a co author of the NLS. Aaaaaaaghh

Kate said...

It is SOO Anxiety provoking all this packing.
My Informant Jennifer says it is COLD in SF so take the jumper.
Can't wait to see you in real life!

Guy Merchant said...

I'm getting excited now...still haven't written my paper, but there's always tomorrow morning. Thanks for the advance warning (make mental note: pack knitwear). Looking forward to seeing you in RL Kate.

And as for the toxic thing. Well quite frankly it's obscene. I'll de-tox on the plane to SF, so I can be a shining example of pre-technological emotional health...me and digital Jackie and all the other silicon junkies clearly need to clean up!