COVER -> MY GLASS HOUSE
Your part is easy; you only have to read. My part is much more difficult.
The worst part of the e-mails I receive from G21 readers, both those published in VOX POPULI and sent privately, is that I feel pressure to be both entertaining and "sagely" every week. Nobody can do that. Certainly not me.
It's my habit, as long-term Loyal Readers know, to come to this little space of mine on the Web after I have finished editing the work of my august writers, designing their pages, and in a state of semi- (if not total-) exhaustion.
Some weeks I am in a reverie by now and have some story from my storied past to recount. Other weeks I am at my wit's end to have anything intelligent to relate.
Perhaps that is why my depressions and confessions come out here. I suspect so. That is why I chose to dub this piece "My Glass House." By the time I have worked through the entire magazine and gotten here, I believe, I am very available for anyone to throw stones.
I have also concluded, over this ten-year run, that this a good place for "The Man Behind the Curtain" to stop his "I - I am the Great and Powerful Wizard ..." when only a fool would believe such a thing. (My first love used to do a great impression of that when we were both children. She would mock me with it and make me laugh. I have never gotten over that...)
So this week there will be no stories of my world travels, no recounting of my relationships dead-and-gone, no glimpses into my past. This week I will present the confessional of the contemporary Rod (Ohmigod!) who lives today in a dying town in Maryland... Fasten your seatbelts, please, passengers.
Shoot Yourself in the Foot
OH YEAH RIGHT, Rod, reconnect with your high school cronies, get invited back to the 30th high school reunion, and then talk about how much you don't want to see most of them on your world-wide Web site.Is this a prescription for fun?
I don't think so.
It seemed like a good idea within the context of the essay I needed to produce for The World's Magazine at the time, but it was a bonehead move if I wanted to re-connect with any of those people. Mea culpa.
The larger question, of course, is WHY I would want to re-connect with any, or most, of those people, who I haven't seen in all those years? You can give me the "roots" argument. But I don't buy it.
Were they significant or formative relationships? That's open to debate.
Oh man! There I go again!
In my own defence, though, --- and I DO believe I need to interject this at this point --- think about all the LOSERS *YOU* attended high school with.
Are you dying to see most of them right now? Next year? Would you jump over three Jennifer Lopez's, as the old joke goes, to get to one Sandra Bernhardt?
I rest my case.
Meanwhile, Back at The Ranch
Since The World's Magazine came to the Internet, about five years ago, a lot has changed. Lots of Web sites that were considered cutting-edge Back in The Day are gone. Lots of sites (and people) who dissed us are gone....As of last April, when the venture capital money started to dry up after the Wall Street "correction," Web sites with "real" financing started to lay off Internet workers...
And we're still here.
Low budget? No doubt about it. Uncool? Perhaps. Unfashionable? It depends on your point of view.
But The World's Magazine has Staying Power.
What we don't have in glitch and eye-candy we have in substance.
We trust that you are here because that matters to you.
Think about this: IF we stay around long enough, we'll deliver all the glitz and eye-candy you can handle on the cheap without selling out to the Hegemony. Straight news, on the ground perspectives, and a history of integrity.
Most Dependable.
THINGS THAT BOTHER ME THIS WEEK
1. Determening which decisions are made from Love and which from Fear.2. Blood tests and X-rays.
3. Needing a good accountant.
4. Resolving the Legacy question.
Thanks for coming back this week.
"Work like you don't need the money,
"Love like you've never been hurt,
"Dance like no one is watching..."
Rod
ROD AMIS has published this magazine since 1990. It first appeared as a hardcopy 'Zine. In March, 1996, he launched it here on the Web. Rod was a Contributing Editor at Suite101.com, where he wrote the " 'Net Publishing" feature. His work has been featured in the San Francisco Bay Guardian Online, NRV8, and at WebLab's Reality Check site. Rod was also a contributing writer on technology for Faulkner Information Services.
Rod was a columnist for the Andover News Network, where he wrote over two hundred articles on web design and development issues. He was also principal writer and Editor for IT Manager's Journal, where he reviewed technology issues weekly. His opinions on the Info Age began appearing on MethodFive's HYPER technology newsletter in March. 1999. He became the Managing Editor for Electronic Mail/Newsletter Publications at Andover.net at the end of February, 2000.
Our Editor does listen!