Updates

I’m beginning to suspect that there are too many networks to which I can belong. I have email accounts. Of course, there is Facebook. I have a Facebook (is that the proper term, to ‘have’ a Facebook; it seems I should own it!), and though I am ‘networked’ on it, I don’t go there very often. I don’t want to place my life on line in that fashion. There is LinkedIn, but I am not sure what that is though they do have me linked in somehow. Amazon.com knows everything I read and a great deal of what I listen; they have begun to have awareness of my attire and household gadgets. Barnes & Noble follows closely behind in knowledge. And now there is Ping, a 'social network for music.' What have I done to my privacy?

The trees have released many of their leaves, and the morning air is crisp and cold. We turn on the fireplace to warm the breakfast area. First frost has come and gone, and the winter coats and gore-tex have been taken out of storage. I don’t mind. Kitty Donohoe sings for me, “Some hold on for one last chance, Me, I love an autumn dance!!”

New Philip Roth novel arrived yesterday—that is a good sign for the Fall. And Mario Vargas Llosa has won the Nobel Prize for literature. He once ran for President of his country. Vaclav Havel was president of the Czech republic. We had Ronald Reagan and George Bush. Both loved to brag how little they read. I teach school. I teach people who want to be teachers. I despair.

And this week Dylan’s first recordings are being re-released in their original monaural versions. Finally, all this technological advance doesn’t improve the quality of life—or even make it sound better.