A Question Concerning Technology

Staring at a reflection of a man standing in a bathroom Parker shouted, "They can expect you to just do everything that you're supposed to do, they can expect you to be a fucking saint, but they can't make you do those things!"  He breathed heavily and gripped the sink, lifting his eyes back up to stare at his reflection, "They can try to make you doooo whatever the fuck they want, but you won't let them, nah man, you won't let them get the best of you."  He punches his hand down on the edge of the sink to mark his words, "God dammit, fuck" he yelled as he pulled his hand back shaking it. "Everything alright in there?", Grace asked. "Yeah, it's all good, about to hop in the shower." Grace was sitting out on the couch watching an old episode of Doctor Who.  The special effects were horrendous but the story could really draw you in if you let it.  She wasn't listening to Parker on his tirade in the bathroom, ...

The Newest Fad Diet. Available for $14.95 It seems that every time I turn around there is a new diet that is going on in the world.  Currently, I hear nonstop about Keto.  Declarations of, "Is that keto?!", "I can't eat that, that's not keto!", "Can you make that keto?!"  ring out across the halls of the workplace.  I get that you are on a new diet and are excited about it, but maybe, just maybe, the rest of us aren't. The thing that kills me about each of these "new" diets, is that they are the same things that came 15 to 20 years ago.  Keto is just Atkin's, isn't it?  A few differences here and there, sure.  Then there was Paleo a little while ago, which was really just a whole foods diet... who knows what's going on anymore?  Then, they all claim to be the healthiest thing for your body, and that this diet and only this diet will recharge you, make you feel ten years younger and full of vivacious energy! W...

Standing on a rotting balcony, blowing smoke literally and figuratively, I was among others seeking refuge from the helter-skelter inside.  We were huddled together in coats fighting the elements and common sense to have just one more cigarette. She pulled out a pack of Djarums, who smokes cloves?  She tore off the cellophane and foil and reached across to put it in my pocket.  She shrugged, "It's as good of a place as any, I didn't want to litter." I asked, "Why cloves though?"  She said, "They smell like Christmas and they crackle." I laughed, "I guess they do a little." We stood and smoked for a few moments of silence. She asked, "Do you believe in God?" "No" "What about abortion?" "Well, it exists..." "Who do you know here?" "Carlos" "Me too, we're going to Magnolia's in a bit, want to come?" "Sure." Carlos walked out and annou...

I was sitting at a lop-sided table on the stage, staving off boredom with chain-smoked cigarettes, stale coffee, and vacant stares into nothingness when frantic, hushed tones from behind me caught my interest. "What do you mean, you don't know!  How could you not know!?" "It's a blur...I don't know...I mean, it just happened, okay?" "No, not okay.  Listen. You need to press charges!" "But...I...I'm not sure, it just happened, I don't think I ever said no." "Bullshit, Miriam!  We're going back to that house and we're gonna find that pig!" "No...don't...I don't want to make it any worse, it wasn't a big deal, it's fine, I'm fine.: "Fine?  Whatever, do what you want.  I just hope you're not pregnant." I heard some quiet sobs.  I lit another cigarette off of the still smoldering end of my last one.  I didn't particularly want to, but my zippo went out after the ...

I have usually accepted new technology with open arms, however, as I get older I realize its damaging effects.  I titled this blog with the intention to take a look at technology and how it's affecting our lives, yet I haven't had the courage to cut the cord with several social media websites--these are the sites that I am most concerned about.  I am tired of living in bad faith and decided that now is the time to just quit them all. I guess it was the fear of missing out that has kept me from deleting my accounts.  There seems to be this pervasiveness to our thoughts of how it is social media that connects us to the outside world.  I realized that the people I care about are right there around me.  I don't need Facebook to connect me to people I barely knew in college anymore, I don't need Instagram to look at the wanderings of people I hardly know, if at all.  The people I care about and the people who care about me are a phone call away, they have my ...

Modernity Staring late nights at the blue glow monitor of mindless information trying to convince ourselves that this endless spew is important, that our opinions matter, deciding that one more cigarette before lying down forced sleep in pools of cold vomit is the only way, that’s how we’ll epiphanize, convinced that one extra is what will set that thought free, reaching out to strangers’ friends, groping in moonless night, looking South for North to guide us back to Mommy’s bed where the monsters cannot get us, lights on, lights off, on, off, onoffonoffonoffonoffON ON ON…rituals of past predilections leaked present superstitions disguised as religion, Zoroaster shaking his head because he failed to fund his memory, societal pressures swelling with groooaaans and moooaaans of efforts to fill our swiss heads…filled ever more by science and rabbis and priests and meditation…and fulfillment and hopes and dreams…and literature and TV and ...

 A Song for Walter and Eliza “You have to give it up, Mom. We don’t want to lose you.” “I just can't give it up like that though, I’m not ready.” Jessica sat in her hospital bed, she was upright and talking to her family around her. She knew what was going on and she could talk to her family and answer their questions, even if she didn’t want to or care to. “Mom, you’re just barely clinging on, at some point you have to realize you can’t keep going on this way, and just give it up, it’ll kill you, and then, we’ll never see you again. You’ll just be… worm food.” “I’m not just going to do that though, you don’t know. You don’t know what it is like to be in this position. I just can't stop like that, it isn’t that easy for me. Sure, others do it all the time, but I can’t, I just can’t do it. I’m so sorry, honey.” Jessica knew what it felt like to be in her daughter’s shoes. She had dealt with the loss of her own parents just three ye...