Getting an Alert

I'm agog at the most wonderful feature I've found so far--the way we can use the Internet features to get links to topics of interest delivered to our mailboxes. So amazing!

I'm interested in such a variety of things—people, places, themes, and areas of research. I'm looking for things like local political candidates in the recent elections here in California, mesoamerican land systems, archeological discoveries, composting, soil amendments, and movies.

Rather than spending time using dogpile or some other meta-search engine to find some topic—such as chinampas—I've created a notice or an "Alert" (depending on the search engine) to go out, search for this term in blogs, news articles, TV shows, book review, and other internet sources.

Because I've got these notices of topics I'm interested in, I'm more inclined to get to the writing part of my life. I've connected with people who are also interested in the same thing as I'm researching.

Amazing things are happening because of these collections of terms, themes, and personas. I'm guessing this is the way we'll read things in the future. My links go anywhere from small blogs with no comments on them to the New York Times and range from TV shows like Oprah to small, local indy media outlets. Too wonderful for words.

In the parallel universe of my life, I've just finished a class in Flash and am ready to begin teaching myself more about animation. This makes film credits so much more interesting. As a consequence, I'm watching Laurel Canyon now—a repeat viewing—as I love Frances McDormand, rock 'n roll, and mother movies. Highly recommended chick flick.

The ways we receive information can be determined by the corporation viewpoint—i.e., television, or by ourselves—and I much prefer the 'news' I get now. Because I have a grasp of the dangers this narrow corporate channel presents through which much information must flow, using other means is healthy for me and for my community.

BTW I don't have a television but only a monitor to view things from my combo vcr/dvd player. I choose what movies, what shows, what news reports. And I'm loving this way to get information.

Does this limit my awareness. Well, yes, it does. I am ignorant of many of the recent talking points about presidential candidates, except for brief visions while visiting friends who have not yet killed their TVs.

What I saw instantly confirmed my vision of how people's viewpoints are manipulated by the media: the medium is the massage á la Marshall McLuhan's vision of the conduit being more important than the content.

My theory is that Hillary was made to look and sound awful and Barack was made to look optimistic and competent because the owners of the media (newspapers and TV stations and production) see Clinton was too experienced and tuned in and would prefer to work over Obama. The visions I saw on these infrequent viewings confirmed the stereotypes I'd perceived.

So I'm much happier by making the choices myself. My 'news' is indeed mine. Some popular culture does pass me by, and for that I'm also grateful. I certainly may miss some things, but you'd be amazed at what I catch by listening to conversations while waiting in line or sitting at the Surf City coffee shop in Rio Del Mar.

Bill Moyers, in a speech today, said the work of activists has "challenged the stranglehold of mega-media corporations over our press" and fostered "alternative and independent sources of news and information that people can trust." I love his terminology and encourage others to watch the speech where these phrases originated. [http://www.freepress.net/conference]