Social Media and the Meta-Life

"Multitasking in the Park," by David Goehring

meta-, prefix 1. Denoting change, transformation, permutation, or substitution. (“meta-, prefix.” OED Online,. Oxford University Press, March 2014. Web. 9 May 2014) The impulse is simple enough. I begin to read Rachel Kushner’s The Flamethrowers. After a few pages, I put down the book, pick up my phone, and open the Twitterific app. Nothing wrong …

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Share this! But not yet

Perhaps it is because I have just covered in my classes use of images and the wealth of material available through Creative Commons licensing, so the topic of copyright is near the surface of my mind, but I noticed something today on Facebook that happens all too often. I know I have done it, and you probably …

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My Twitter Strategy, Part I

PAT: “I just gotta get a strategy, you know?” TIFFANY: “Me, too.” Silver Linings Playbook By George, I think she’s got it. Twitter still overwhelms and baffles me at times–not the dreck that many people bemoan, since I simply ignore that. What I struggle with is the sheer volume of information. I open my feed, …

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Err in the direction of kindness

“[T]o the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness. Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial.” ~ George Saunders Following up on yesterday’s post on time as the coin of our life, I want to share a …

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No Service

At the beginning of June, I spent several days visiting my childhood home. The photo below was taken on some of my father’s land in south-central South Dakota. This yearly trip is always a chance to visit family and breathe in the expansive landscape, but, in recent years, it has also been an excuse to …

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