Yesterday, my seven-year-old daughter invited a friend over to play at ours. I made ice-cream cones, and we sat outside on the deck, the wood hot under our bare feet, sun broiling the backs of our necks.
My daughter's friend licked her double-scoop of mint-chip and rolled her eyes: "This is to die for."
My daughter stopped mid-lick, and also rolled her eyes: "You mean to live for?"
Thatta girl.
The Floodgates
To Facebook or not to Facebook? I'm leaning toward the former. I'm tempted by the networking opportunities, but wary of the distraction and exposure. SO many would be SO appalled.
Permanent Ink
There seems to be a lot of talk about tattoos lately. The fabulous Jimmy Chen has called them "permanent bumper stickers." The equally fabulous Roxane Gay has "six or eight depending on how you look at it."
Here's mine, on my back, copyrighted :-)
Facebook. Just do it.
ReplyDeleteYou might hate yourself for a minute, but it'll fade.
....nice tattoo.
Thanks, Mel.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, I'm still wavering re Facebook, but thanks for weighing in.
.... :-)
I finally joined Facebook a few days ago. I thought I was the last holdout. I admire your fortitude. My concern was the potential time-suck. We'll see how it goes.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I loved your daughter's comment:)
ReplyDeleteYES. Your daughter is old in her skin and already very wise.
ReplyDeleteI kind of hate Facebook, but I'm on it. I spend very little time there, play none of the games, and try hard to remember that it's a tool and I'm using it as a means to an end. It's not as hard now as it was in the beginning.
Ah, there's that lovely ink again! I have always loved the design.
Thanks so much, Andrew and Tanita. I appreciate your thoughts. Sometimes, it's hard to know whether it's fear or good sense holding us back, you know?
ReplyDeleteThus far, Ethel the writer, has managed to hide-out from almost everyone who knows me -- the exposure, for myself and my work -- is terrifying. Friends and family WILL react.
Finally catching up on my Google Reader after a month out of town.
ReplyDeleteYour daughter is fierce, like her mother.
I used to use Facebook only for my teaching but then I discovered that so many of the writers we know are there. It's a great place for community and to share your writing and to learn about the writing of others and sometimes, it's a great place to say like I did last night, for example, I just had the worst travel day ever because I lost my phone) and people will say nice things and make it all better (situation resolved too so that's good).
I love tattoos. I got my newest one in San Francisco in March. I will have to post it on my blog at some point. And I think they're a great way of marking things, literally and figuratively. Yours is lovely.
Thanks, Roxane!
ReplyDeleteEthel--I really loved reading Tai Dong Huai--forwarded that particular story to an adoptee friend of mine. She says so much with so little--something I'd like to cultivate.
ReplyDeleteFacebook--the oddest part for me was having so many layers of my past converge in one place (but that's what happens if you use your maiden name for your writing!!) and it seems everyone has their FB nightmare story, and the outweighing FB miracle--some much loved acquaintance returing from out of blue. At first I thought I'd just use it as a professional venue, but it got the better of me for glorious one-liners about out-of-control kid days, and yes....the support really comes in handy. Not so much a time sucker if you limit it to airport layovers, etc.! good luck!
Thanks, Tania, I will brave it ... maybe today ... maybe some time soon. It's just those "convergences" that frighten me. I should worry less about the "nightmare story" and more on the "miracles."
ReplyDeleteThanks again.
Facebook exposes you to the , er, vulnerabilities of literary editors. so I dig it. nice tramp stamp. mine can't be seen, legally.
ReplyDelete"nice tramp stamp. mine can't be seen, legally."
ReplyDeleteYou crack me up! Thanks for stopping by.