Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Bereft
Well this entry isn't specifically about bike riding, but I like to think that this blog has more breadth and depth to it than that. I just basically wanted to talk about this feeling of being isolated that I experienced twice in the past two days, and it all relates to technology - the cell phone specifically.
Yesterday, I was walking around Lipe Art Park, refamiliarizing myself with the layout in anticipation of my role there for the Earth Day event that is coming soon (I will write an entry on that in a day or so). I walked to the end of the park and crossed an overpass above S. Geddes St. finding myself in a derilect area of abandoned squats, graffiti canvases, and abandoned tires and other trash. A few paths wove here and there, a dead skunk lay staring up at me as I moved along.
And at some point I realized that this is a different experience for me being that I had my cell phone in my pocket. I did not feel quite like I was in "another world" as I might have in the past exploring edgy types of landscapes. I don't know how I feel about this quite yet.
In any case, I left the house this morning without my cell phone, totally unbeknownst to me. This is the first time I have ever done that, maybe not that amazing since I have only had a cell phone since last September, but never-the-less I was hit with an astounding "oh my God" when I realized half way to my destination that I didn't have it with me. How would people contact me, how would I contact them? What if I broke down on the side of the road? This disturbs me.
This relates to bicycling in that it is a commentary about how we interact with the world. Riding a bicycle or walking brings us closer to our surroundings, does having a cell phone someone take us away from those surroundings in some way?
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