MAIN EVENT. A Good Place to Get Started --- a.k.a "Table of Contents"
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MAIN EVENT. A Good Place to Get Started --- a.k.a "Table of Contents" |
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I remember the first time we met vividly. It was at the back of our high school, heading toward the athletic field. Ric walked up to me in a hurry and asked, "Excuse me! Do you know the way to Mr. Ammons' gym class?"
"Sure," I said. "I'm on my way there now. Come on."
"What's Ammons like?" Ric asked.
"When you first meet him, you won't like him," I replied. "But once you get to know him, you'll hate his guts."
Ric laughed. He appreciated my smart-ass response because, it turned out, he was quite the smart-ass himself. He took being a smart-ass as a sign of intelligence, cynicism and a sense of humor. He also knew from experience that being a smart-ass kid can get you in a lot of trouble. We each had found a soul-mate.
Ric, in fact, was the first and one of the few of my white classmates to eat at my house. He loved my Mom's cooking and she loved to watch him eat. He had a healthy appetite. The fact that we were of different races didn't come up that first day and only came up later, as we grew older and more "serious," because we had to deal with the racism of the world around us. Ric has never had a bigoted bone in his body. But the arrogant bastard is prejudiced, of course, as are we all: he can't abide ignorant and hateful people. Another trait we have in common.
An Eye Witness Account from New York City, on a cold day in December...
(Wishfully, this is the kind of thing that would happen frequently, everywhere...)
A little boy about 10 years old was standing before a shoe store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold.
A lady approached the boy and said, "My little fellow, why are you looking so earnestly in that window?"
"I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes," was the boy's reply.
The lady took him by the hand and went into the store and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. She took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with a towel.
By this time the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes. She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, "No doubt, my little fellow, you feel more comfortable now?"
As she turned to go, the astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, with tears his eyes, answered the question with these words:
"Are you God's Wife?"
John Rosenberg, a Loyal Reader in Boston, Massachusetts, has often written into G21 with the plaint: "But what can one little person like me do?" This is for you, John, and all of us. You can do this.
Thanks, Ric!
Meanwhile, while we have cleared the decks by discontinuing a number of features here, we premiere a new column MEMOIRS OF THE INFORMATION AGE in this edition. The mission of this feature is to chronicle how Information Technology, Globalization, and the electronic revolution affect our lives and our world. FELICITY USSHER kicks off this new feature, but expect to see thoughts there from many other members of the G21 team --- and YOU are welcome to submit, as well. [Please go to our WRITERS page to see our GUIDELINES.]
Also, LOGAN BENTLEY LESSONA, my friend and co-Webslinger in Rome pointed out this week that it's not easy to find how to join the G21 Mailing List. I've tried to make it easier this edition. So send us an e-mail if you'd like to get regular updates and be part of future Reader Polls like the one featured last edition on the JFK, Jr. media coverage. We love hearing from you.
There are a number of other great features in this edition, so I won't keep you here when you could be enjoying them. As always, feel free to use our TALK BACK form, or e-mail me personally to let me know what you think of our effort.
Work like you don't need the money,
Baltimore - 8 August, 1999 - I have known and loved my friend RIC WILLIAMS for thirty-four years now. It makes me marvel to think that we have both gotten old enough to say something like that.
I thought of Ric this morning, again, after re-reading a sweet, sentimental story which someone, probably BOB POWERS, sent along to me in mid-July. Being a sentimentalist, I immediately shared it with a group of my special friends, and now I'll share it with you:
Subject: Sweet Story
I thought of Ric Williams in connection with this story because it is through him that I am able to give all of you, and myself, the opportunity to feel like "God's wife." Ric pointed me to The Hunger Site. It's a place where you can do something, whenever you like, to make the world a better place. So throughout this and future editions of the magazine you'll find this link:
The World's Magazine: g21.net
Event #178
JOIN THE G21 MAILING LIST. Get updates on new features. Take part in our Readership polls, shape the future of The World's Magazine. It's easy! E-mail The World's Magazine with the "Subject" line: SUBSCRIBE.
LAST WEEK's EDITION
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FEED THE HUNGRY. You can help someone else in this world and IT WON'T COST YOU A DIME. If you simply remember to drop by The Hunger Site every day that you surf and click a simple button ONE LESS PERSON WILL GO HUNGRY. The food is distributed by the United Nations World Food Programme and paid for through the sponsorship of companies that care. Do your part.
ABOUT THIS ISSUE: I'm especially pleased to have the words of Bastard Nation official RON MORGAN appear in these pages again as part of our DAY ONE consideration of Assisted Reproductive Technologies and individual rights. Ron is a good friend and one of the oldest members of that exclusive club G21 alumni. He wrote regularly for The World's Magazine from 1995 to 1997. (Yes! even before we were on the Web. Ron and I learned HTML together one week in 1996.) I'm glad to have him back here and appreciate his taking the time out of his busy schedule to join our KEVIN CAREY on this important topic.
Thanks for coming back this week.
Love like you've never been hurt,
Dance like no one is watching,
Rod
Rod is a columnist for the Andover News Network, where he writes on web design and development issues every Thursday. He is principal writer and Editor for IT Manager's Journal, where he reviews technology issues five days a week. His opinions on the Info Age began appearing on MethodFive's HYPER technology newsletter in March.
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© 1999, GENERATOR 21.
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