Cell phones chart passage of time

Cell phones chart passage of time

A watched pot never boils, and as I’ve learned this week, an obsessively tracked package never appears.

I’ve been waiting impatiently for the arrival of an iPhone 5. In fact, the cell phone has been in my thoughts so frequently that it has caused me to reflect on my history of cell-phone ownership.

I received my first cell phone as a Christmas present when I was 14 years old. It was a red Nokia with a black-and-white screen. I used it primarily for arranging rides home from school and trips to the mall with friends.

My second cell phone, a flip phone, arrived three years later. The phone had a light that flashed different colors when it rang or received a text message or a voice mail. That was a great feature.

Then it was a blue flip phone, which I used through my first couple of years at Boston College, followed by a purple-and-white slider phone bought during my junior year. It was during that time I discovered downloadable ring tones and installed The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” to sound off each call with accompanying vibrations. At the time, I thought that was pretty clever. I still do.

During my study abroad semester in France, I regressed to a phone not too different from my first. I also mastered T9 texting, as French mobile plans charge significantly less for text exchanges than phone calls.

When I entered journalism and started obsessively checking my e-mail, I decided to upgrade to a smart phone, a BlackBerry, which I loved dearly. I remember fondly hours spent stuck on some Los Angeles freeway, peering down at the BlackBerry in search of a flashing red light and a distraction.

The BlackBerry died just days before I finished graduate school. In an attempt to keep up with the times and remain on my parents’ T-Mobile family plan, I switched to a Samsung Galaxy Android phone, which I still have today and pray will hold out until the iPhone arrives.

The concept of charting the passage of time is present in “The Stone Diaries” by Carol Shields. The novel is a fictional autobiography of Daisy Goodwill Flett, following her life from birth to death. Flett struggles to find her place in the world as a child, a wife, a mother and an elderly woman. Just as she achieves firm footing, her life changes once again.

Flett’s lifetime spanned the 20th century, but the novel focused on trips, jobs and relationships in telling Flett’s story.

After reading Shields’ book, I’ve been more conscious of the ways in which I track the passage of time. There are obvious eras (childhood, high school, college, graduate school and work), but I find tangible items tend to inspire the greatest amount of nostalgia.

One cell phone or the other has traveled through the past 11 years with me, usually from the vantage point of a pocket or purse, and their progression provides a unique perspective on my development.

That, and they’re good to have if you need to make a call.

December 10, 2012 0 comments Read More
Getting a handle on the 20-somethings

Getting a handle on the 20-somethings

What is it about 20-somethings?

Journalists and bloggers love to write about that elusive age group, grasping at what they do, where (and if) they work, what they eat and, most recently, how they vote.

In some articles, 20-somethings are narcissistic, social media addicts. In others, they are altruistic, community-oriented citizens.

The contradictions abound. One thing is certain: No member of the “royal” media knows quite how to capture the demographic.

Now, I, a card-carrying member of the 20-somethings, have read many of these so-called reports. I’ve nodded my head in empathy at the plight of a Brooklynite (they always seem to live in Brooklyn) who just can’t make rent and shops at Whole Foods on a meager salary.

But more often than not, I’ve disagreed with the coverage of my generation. In this column, I hope to debunk some of the media-perpetuated stereotypes of 20-somethings.

- They are apathetic.

More young people showed up at the polls on Nov. 6 than in 2008, making up 19 percent of total voters, reported the Huffington Post. The 18-to-29 age group makes up 21 percent of eligible voters, so by any standard, that’s a high turnout. All those “Rock the Vote” campaigns on MTV must have paid off.

- They “boomerang” right back into their parents’ basements to freeload after college graduation.

According to a Pew study released in April, 29 percent of people age 25 through 34 reported moving back in with their parents at some point following graduation. Admittedly, that number is high. Ninety-six percent of those surveyed, however, said they participated in chores, 75 percent reported contributions to household expenses, and 35 percent pay rent.

- They’re too reliant on technology.

In graduate school, I read a paper by Marc Prensky, which was published in 2001, that established the difference between “digital immigrants” and “digital natives.” Prensky argued the education system at that time was ill-equipped to serve a new generation of students because their routines and thought processes were shaped by technology. Prensky’s digital natives are today’s 20-somethings. Yes, they may seem obsessed with their cell phone or tablet, but according to Prensky, that’s just how they function.

- They spend too much time, energy and money on food.

This one’s totally true. Twenty-somethings follow food trucks on Twitter, blog pictures of their latest culinary endeavors and search Yelp for restaurant reviews. In its profile on the young “foodie” movement, New York magazine credits social media and camera phones with popularizing what it calls a “grass roots revolution in fine dining.” And I admit, I fulfill this stereotype. I once uttered the phrase “My favorite truffle mac and cheese. …”

With that I ask you, those 30 and older, to step away from the judgment seat and remember that not too long ago, you, too, were a misunderstood 20-something.

Image by Best Clip Art Blog

November 14, 2012 0 comments Read More
Jonathan Kozol on education inequality

Jonathan Kozol on education inequality

Author and education and poverty expert Jonathan Kozol spoke at Allegheny College on Oct. 17.

Here are some highlights from Kozol’s speech.

On the politics surrounding education: “Teachers are the favorite scapegoat of America these days.”

On education inequalities: “I know how the poorest kids are being treated, and it’s worse than most of the acts of thievery.”

On test score metrics: “This mania of numbers has become a national hysteria, a low-level fever, a nationally accepted psychosis.”

On standardized tests: “The poet in a child’s soul will never be rewarded by a standardized test.”

Closing statement: “The trees and the innocence of children will outlive us all. Life goes so fast, use it well.”

And one last quote, this one submitted to me while I was working on my “Schooled: The Price of Education Reform” project:

“The charter schools are a not-so-subtle but unstated attack on the public school as a historically essential bedrock of American democracy.”

October 18, 2012 0 comments Read More
Maple syrup provides sweet memories

Maple syrup provides sweet memories

I’ m a maple syrup snob.

Growing up in the great state of Maine, I was spoiled by the availability of the real stuff. Yes, I’m talking about pure, Grade A Dark Amber maple syrup, the kind that comes from a tree.

And I’ve seen it tapped from a tree. Most Mainers have, I would assume. It’s one of those field trips every fill-in-the-blank-grader in the state attends.

Needless to say, Mrs. Butterworth and her artificially sweetened friends have never made the cut.

On special occasions, my father would wake early to whip up a batch of crepes — I grew up calling them “french pancakes” — and my brothers and I rolled up the thin pancakes and doused them in the syrup. Soon, the maple leaf-shaped bottle was a sticky mess. Our fingers did not fare much better.

No Christmas morning was complete without french pancakes, nor any birthday, Easter or bank holiday.

It is a tradition my father inherited from his own father, whose predecessors brought it over the border from Canada. It’s a tradition I hope to continue, if I can ever master the delicate art of crepe flipping.

Traditions like french pancake breakfasts color my memories of Maine. I think of days spent scaling the rocky seaside cliffs with my brothers and cousins, the smell of fried fish eaten off checkered tablecloths and large family holidays with heaping amounts of food and whiskey sours.

My visits to the Pine Tree State have become increasingly infrequent in the past few years, and so the memories remain untouched, a shoe box of Polaroids stored safely under my bed.

Elizabeth Strout’s “Olive Kitteridge” explores the reaction of a retired schoolteacher to the transformation of her seaside Maine town.

Some things never change, like the scent of pine from an open car window or the bite of the wind whipping off the Atlantic. But others do. A local girl falls prey to an eating disorder. A man contemplates adultery. Another considers suicide.

While the happenings in fictional Crosby, Maine, are hardly novel, they do not fit into the image Olive Kitteridge constructed about her life and community. Kitteridge balks at first but eventually learns that she, too, has changed with the years. She is a participant in the passage of time.

I recently celebrated one year in Erie. Before relocating here, I lived in Los Angeles for two years and Boston for four.

My decisions have influenced not only my location but my opinions, relationships and experiences. I have played an active role in my personal transformation.

But like Olive Kitteridge, I believe that some traditions should be held onto — or rolled up and covered with maple syrup.

October 18, 2012 0 comments Read More
ONA12: Three Days in San Francisco

ONA12: Three Days in San Francisco

Every now and then, I experience surreal moments that make me question, “Is this really my life?” One of those moments occurred Thursday, as I found myself playing cornhole on a patio atop a San Francisco skyscraper.

And said patio was at the Twitter headquarters. I’m not making this up, I swear.

Twitter hosted one of several kickoff parties for the Online News Association’s annual conference. Hundreds of journalists, Web developers and digital news enthusiasts convened at Twitter’s downtown San Francisco headquarters for a couple hours of discussion, networking and drinks.

In fact, Twitter has draft beer in its cafeteria, along with gourmet food, an iced tea bar and other things I didn’t have the security clearance to see.

I did get to see the sun set over the Bay from that rooftop deck, old friends and a little bit of the city during my whirlwind trip to the West Coast.

Here are the highlights:

- While the conference monopolized the majority of my weekend, I did make time to take a walking tour of the Mission and Castro districts of San Francisco.

One of the recommendations I received before the trip was to eat a Mission burrito (the type of burrito that inspired chains like Chipotle and Qdoba.) I ordered a burrito al pastor, which includes barbecued pork cooked with pineapple. It was delicious.

- I ate three meals at the Ferry Building, mostly because it was across the street from my hotel. But I was never disappointed.

Originally built to serve as a transit hub, the Ferry Building now is home to a marketplace with dozens of local businesses.

The city’s ferry lines still dock outside the building, and it was on those docks that I took some great photographs of the Bay Bridge (not to be confused with the Golden Gate Bridge, which I did not have the opportunity to see).

- One of the meals at the Ferry Building consisted of a burger smothered in cheese and guacamole.

The availability of avocados is one thing I miss about living in California. In Los Angeles, you can buy four for a dollar. Here in Erie, I’ve seen them priced at two for $4.

My goal was to consume as many avocados as possible in my three-day return to the West Coast. Goal achieved.

I realize all of these highlights pertain to food. I’m a practitioner of culinary travel, meaning I pick places and dishes I want to eat and see where they lead me.

Touristy things I wish I had been able to squeeze into the San Francisco trip include: riding a trolley, walking across the Golden Gate Bridge and strolling through Chinatown.

There was, of course, that journalism conference and its many sessions to attend. I won’t bore you with the shoptalk, but let’s just say, the conference was equally as rewarding as the sightseeing.

And it opened the doors to the Twitter headquarters and that sunset cornhole game, an experience I won’t soon forget.

September 25, 2012 0 comments Read More