Convention and Anal Retention

Well I got back today from the annual Texas Young Democrats convention. I've decided that the drive between Dallas and Hillsboro and Waco and Salado are both unbearable. Even more unbearable is the drive between Ft. Worth and Denton. Honestly, I'll take Dallas traffic over getting stir-crazy in my car driving through the middle of nowhere.

Convention was fun. Most of it was coming from young Democrats to other young Democrats, so that was a good time. I saw Boyd Richie speak, which was cool, and got to see a Q&A with some Young Democrat Super delegates.

Richie is a classic Texas politician. I hear him speak and my mind wanders to "Texian Decor" : offices with leather couches, star cut-outs on every lampshade, door handle and table, Texas Monthly and Texas Parks and Wildlife magazines on the table, backroom deals from the office and a glass of liquor to celebrate the deal. That's not really a bad thing, it's just the way it works here. (We wear "being Texan" on our sleeve most of the time, have you ever been to the Capitol? Yeah, and almost every lawmaker's personal office is that way too, I can assure you.) I got to see the big Texas Cheese, and it was cool.

There was a bit of a generational disconnect though. In one session we were encouraged to use facebook and other online social tools to recruit and gather information on potential Young Democrats. In another, the presenter told us to delete our myspace accounts, facebook profiles and stop blogging. Then he joked that it was already too late. Yeah, too late for an entire generation. Eventually people are going to learn to see the internet as a community, and not merely data on other people. Of course we need to not be dumbasses and put extremely personal information online. I don't think other people should know about intimate relationship details, or my address and what type of underwear I wear, either. At least, that's not my thing. I like reading other people's blogs on the subject, of course. But the thing that older people don't realize is, we don't judge other people for having this information online. It's basically accepted by our youth culture. In fact, it defines us as who we are. Differing values for differing generational cultures.

It boils down to the fact that previous generations have a bigger privacy bubble, and a smaller definition of community. They're usually limited to hometown, neighborhood, alma matter, and work for their social needs. I, on the other hand, dated a guy in high school that was from California. I met him through a friend I knew IRL (in real life, another example of change because of the internet), who met another guy through the internet, and then I met California guy through this guy. That wouldn't have happened a few years ago, and not just because of technological advances, but also because of cultural evolution. People were used to knowing the other person's 2nd cousin once removed, and the rest of their genealogical line, going back several generations.

While we are "strangers" in the sense that we can't really trace a bloodline personally, and that can be a discomfort because there is the quality of the unknown, as well as a bit of a risk, but our youth society as a whole is more likely to judge the individual in that way. I don't really care if you're the first person in your family going to college and your "ancestral manse" consists of a lot in a San Marcos, Texas trailer park. I care whether or not you're a nice person or an asshole, intelligent or stupid, whether you have a sense of humor or are a stick in the mud, curious or ignorant, well adjusted or fucked up, responsible or immature... I make those judgments based on what I know of the person, and they do the same for me.

I am fully aware that a person isn't who they are on the internet, and some people, I actually prefer their internet personas. We have time on the internet to process each thought as we type and post. I've probably deleted at least 1/3 of this post as I typed it, trying to most successfully get my point across without sounding like a slavering gibbering asshole. In conversation, especially over the phone, I am not nearly as articulate, but on the intertubes, I am a goddess of intellect with spell check and wikipedia at my side. I'm okay with the concept that people are different people in different contexts. It's just a part of how I grew up, and the experiences that shaped me.

So yes, I will continue to blog. I will continue to monitor my own interpretation of privacy, and to interact in my generation's version of community.

Thoughts of a web explorer.

Here's my quest for the evening. I will use stumble upon to cruise the web tonight and I will record my ruminations on the sites in question. Happy hunting to me!

Site 1.
Call the Future

This website weirds me out a little. It looks like it's entirely designed for liars and preteens. Liars "trying to have a reason to get out of a meeting" are suggested to use this site. Preteens would just use it to get up to their usual Mean Girls tricks.

While it is weird, the concept is pretty cool, except that it would cost you and the person that you are calling money to do this. Especially the person you are texting, which is pretty lame, if you ask me.

It reminds me a little of the AIM prank bot that circulated while I was in my Sophmore year of high school. It would AIM the person of your choice with a single message from someone called "jen0098" or something as lame and you could basically make fun of someone for about 15 minutes that way before it messages them with the website.

Site 2.
Synonyms for words commonly used in student's writings

Lord knows I hate a crappy writer. I was forced to use a thesaurus as a 3rd grader and it did me a great deal of good. Everyone should be forced to come up with diffrent words for "red" and "said." Everyone.

Site 3.
Mr. Picasso Head

This is pretty cute. It's like Mr. Potatohead, only you can adjust the size and color of the features randomly pasted on the "canvas." It reminds me of the scene in Toy Story where Mr. Potatohead rearranges his features in a very "Picasso esque" way, shouts "Hey look! I'm Picasso!"and calls Ham "uncultured swine" when he doesn't get the joke.

At left is the result of my artistry: Self Portrait in Picasso, by myself.

Site 4.
One Sentence- True stories, told in one sentence.

Like postsecret only with more writing finesse, and probably about as false.


Site 5.
yugop.com

Experimental flash media.

It looks like they were playing with physics engines or algorithms or something. Over my head, but interesting none the less.

04:CLAYGRID is my favorite.

Site 6.
Notice

Awkward. The face, however, is cute in a kinda disturbing way. Like emo oranges in many ways.

The rest of the site has some interesting art/photography that I just don't have the patience to view right now. Whatever, moving on...

Site 7.
Do you mind?

A cartoonist's commentary on the cultural takeover of commercial Christmas of the latter part of the year.

I hate listening to Christmas music for 2 whole months. Somehow it makes it less special than before.

Incidentally: do you feel that the first version of a Christmas song (or any song, for that matter) is automatically your favorite. I really don't like any other version of "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" that isn't performed by Nat King Cole. That dude is the king of X-mas music for sure.

Site 8.
Make Your Own Snowflake

A rather clever flash oriented snowflake generator. I like Ze Frank's version for Smirnoff a little better, but that just may be my very pro Ze Frank bias.

Really, what this site showed me is I can design some ugly-ass snowflakes. Also that I am inordinately tempted to make penis flakes and asscheek flakes. God, I am horrible.

I'm stopping this at 8 because I feel like it.