21 November 2002 (Thursday)

the return of room 201

I just realized why I have an online journal. It's the next best thing to having the room by the stairwell again. It's a surrogate for leaving my door open as I work on my problem sets, and having people poke their heads in to say hello, offer sympathy for frustrations, and occasionally distract me with an impassioned discussion or two. Basically, a blog revives my collegiate existence. And for that, my friends, I can't thank you enough.

(Anyone up for a late-nite burger run?)

posted by enjelani @ 12:28 PM PST [ link ]

20 November 2002 (Wednesday)

on privacy (a ramble)

If I may ask a stupid question: why is protection of privacy so important?

I don't ask this rhetorically at all; the idea of living a glass-house existence makes me squirm, and I'm trying to figure out why. Is it because protection of privacy is inherently a protection of individuality? The bedroom, the bathroom mirror: maybe these are the places where we define who we really are, immune from any judgment, and then wrap it in layers of self-consciousness before we emerge into the bright laser-eyed world. Or maybe it's here that we become what we are not -- where we shake out the crumbs of our darker habits, so that in "real" life we might be less brutal, less egomaniacal, less ugly. Denied this sanctuary, would we be forced to become 24-7 actors, ghosts in the shell of our so-called better selves? Would we go insane living a life that's always a performance?

Sometimes I wonder whether complete transparency would make us all lighten up instead. Everyone picks his nose at some point. Everyone wipes his ass. Everyone wants to sleep with his mother (no, really). Maybe if all this were exploded out into the open, we'd come to accept that aberrant behavior is actually a crucial element of normalcy. Maybe we'd all be a little more tolerant of the hilarity and bizarreness that makes us human.

Or maybe not.

Maybe the real reason is this: privacy allows one to decide how one is perceived. We crave acceptance by others, yet it's painful to behave acceptably all the time; it requires sanding down parts of ourselves until we fit into the pigeonhole. So we choose what we display, and keep the rest alive in secret. Anyway, when we are one of "the others," we're grateful for discretion. Spare us the spectacle, we say. We don't want to know that you french-kiss your dog. Give us something we can relate to.

posted by enjelani @ 02:58 PM PST [ link ]

18 November 2002 (Monday)

l'esprit

My GOD but autumn is a gorgeous season.

That is all.

posted by enjelani @ 08:07 PM PST [ link ]