Photo by Yatmandu.

Kids have a lot to live up to these days. Gregory Smith, born in 1990, has already won a Nobel Peace Award for his peacekeeping endeavours. Then there’s Akrit Jaswal who performed surgery for the first time at age seven. While most kids are riding around on bicycles and crying over skinned knees, prodigy children are seeking the cure for cancer.

But when did we decide that giving up a childhood is worth the status of being a genius? Irrefutably, children should be educated and encouraged to pursue their interests, and prodigy children require different types of stimulation than other children. But at some point, kids are sacrificing their happiest, most carefree years to ensure a successful future of stressful, occupied years.

The Consequences of Child Success

In The Downside of Being a Prodigy Child, Andrea Sachs points out the ever-increasing pressure on parents to mould their children into outstanding citizens, often causing a sort of “my-child-is-smarter-than-yours” competition among families. In return, these kids develop low-esteem and anxiety issues as they struggle to keep up with their parents’ expectations.

From prenatal education systems like BabyPlus to ridiculous online offers to turn your kid into a genius, there’s as much pressure on children to be achievers as there is for women to be thin.

Photo by Pink Sherbet

How do these children have time to build friendships and develop social skills to accompany their educational endeavours? Where is the value in earning awards and recognition without having anyone there to cheer them on?

Volunteering as a Girl Guider, I’m currently responsible for a group of 15 year old Rangers. These girls – all extremely bright, colorful, mature girls – are so buried in their responsibilities, they barely have time for fun. One girl, for example, has 11 extra-curricular activities, in addition to being on the honour roll and coming home to evenings filled with homework. When I reflect on my own high school experience, I remember slumber parties with my friends and summer days spent poolside, not the part where I poured over math homework every evening. The same people I shared these experiences with are my stable network today.

Kids Need to be Kids

Parents, it is okay to encourage and even push your children in the direction of success by nurturing their talents and abilities. In doing so, you will create an incredibly open-minded, intelligent generation. But let your kids be kids. Allow them to look back on their childhoods and reflect fondly on hide-and-seek, finger-painting and grass-stained jeans. Everyone deserves their childhood.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Do you think there is too much pressure on children to succeed? Share your comments.

Emma Lundmark shows off some tunnbröd dough.

My first encounter with Tunnbröd (thin bread) came in the form of local street grub I’d quickly grabbed after a day at Vasamuseet a couple years ago. The concoction I’d ordered – soft thin bread rolled up funnel-style and filled with sausage, mashed potatoes, onions, mustard, lettuce, and other dubious condiments – was called Tunnbrödsrulle.

Integral to most meals in Sweden, I would later be introduced to varied and crispier versions of Tunnbröd. Thin bread topped with cheap caviar squeezed from a tube and cucumber slices adorn tables across the country. Crispy thin bread heavily smeared with butter regularly accompanies lunch and dinner. Crushed tunnbröd is eaten with sour milk and lingonberry jam cereal-style in a fashion called bryta (also known to Northerners as smolanedi).

Tunnbröd also plays supporting role to Surströmming (fermented Baltic herring), of which I have firsthand experience sampling.

While spending last summer up in Norrbotten (Northern Sweden), we’d convened at the local neighborhood joint for lunch – a small convenience store/pub/restaurant/bakery – all rolled into one in the small village of Klöverträsk; population – 260.

The only item on the menu that day – a pasta and meatballs with brown sauce dish – also happened to be the lunch special.

Young Emma Lundmark serves us our meal.

“You know Jonny makes his own tunnbröd,” someone chimes in just as we dig into baskets of freshly baked crispy bread.

I immediately set up a date with Emma, Jonny’s oldest daughter. She agreed to take me the very next morning behind the scenes of their bakery – Klöverträsk Bröd – an icon in the village for the last 40+ years.

1. Located in the village of Klöverträsk, The Lundmarks run their small one room bakery right next to the equally small convenience store where they sell groceries and toiletries. Their attached pub/restaurant is just a door away behind the store.

2. “It’s fun to work with your hands,” shares Emma as she kneads and prepares dough early in the morning. Each batch makes roughly 40 kg of tunnbröd so two batches are made per day.

3.A grooved roll pin is used to aerate the dough and to give it its texture look.

4.The bread is passed multiple times through a “kavelmaskin” – a machine that is used to stretch out the dough into a near paper-thin layer.

5.Once the dough has been stretched to the right weight, it is sliced into manageable pieces for baking.

6.The sliced up dough is then flash-baked for 20-25 seconds.

7.The baked crispy bread is cut into stackable pieces while still hot, and piled into boxes to continue their cooling down process.

8.Each box is weighed to make sure they meet the 400g (800g for larger boxes).

9.Simple clear cellophane tape is applied to seal the boxes up.

10.The freshly baked tunnbröd is ready to be delivered to local stores, including the Lundmarks’ own convenience store.

11.Another Lundmark specialty is cardamom-infused biscuits called Bettans Biscuits.

12.It takes about 20 minutes to mix and prepare each batch of dough.

13.The dough is left to rise for 45 minutes before baking for another 45 minutes.

14.Once the bread cools down and edges are cut away, they’re left to dry out for about two days. After that, they are put in a cutting machine to continue making smaller pieces which are baked one more time for close to two hours to give them their signature crispy taste.

15.Once ready, the biscuits are bagged and ready for sale. The Lundmarks also sell breadcrumbs accumulated from the baking process so that these cardamom-flavored breadcrumbs can be used for other baking purposes.

16.The finished products end up in the backyard pub and restaurant for guests.

17.The boxes and bags of thin bread and biscuits also end up in their convenience storefront for local customers to buy. The store is literally a door away that leads from the bakery.

18.Twice a month, the Lundmarks deliver tunnbröd and cardamom biscuits to roughly 60 local stores and supermarkets all across Swedish Lapland and in neighboring towns of Luleå, Piteå, Älvsbyn, and Boden.

More on Klöverträsk Bröd (Bread)

For more than 40 years, Klöverträsk Bröd has remained a family-owned business, providing fat free, sugar free, and milk free tunnbröd. The bakery was purchased roughly five years ago by The Lundmarks – Jonny, Monica, and their five children – from previous owner Robert Öhman who, after 18 years of running the business, was ready to move on.

In addition to Klöverträsk Bröd, the Lundmarks also purchased a 20+ year old recipe for old fashioned cardamom biscuits called Bettans Biscuits, which originated from a little village called Niemisel.

Since both purchases, Jonny has expanded the bakery’s offerings to include the following four products:

• Bettans Biscuits
• Bettans Breadcrumbs which can be used for baking
• Smaller 400g boxes of Klöverträsk tunnbröd
• 650g boxes of regular breadcrumbs

22 year old Emma continues to tend the bakery, shop, and restaurant alongside her parents.

Contact Information

Klöverträsk Bröd
Klöverträsk bya väg 21
975 91 Luleå
Phone: (46) 0920-85200
E-mail: jmltrading@telia.com

Photo by Alan Vernon.

The original Thanksgiving feast occurred in 1621 and was shared between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. The Natives had taught the Pilgrims everything they knew about crop cultivation and hunting wild game, and so the affair was a peaceful gathering to express gratitude.

Nowadays, most of us choose to ignore the severe colonialization that followed: the loss of Native American traditions, the violence, and the seizure of Native land. The Natives were pushed further west and their populations almost entirely destroyed.

So when you’re giving thanks today, reflect on the holiday’s beginnings, and think about where we would be in the history of the world right now had things developed differently.

Native American Influences

We can’t claim ownership for many of our popular traditions; according to HowStuffWorks, the following were ideas developed from the Native Americans.

Turkey – In the New World, wild turkey ran rampant and was sufficient for feeding the entire population. The turkey was used at the first feast with Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford.

Photo by Jesse757

Side dishes – Even the corn and cranberries were present at the first Thanksgiving. Native Americans taught the Pilgrims how to make a bitter sauce which they called “ibimi” (cranberry sauce). However, the Pilgrims renamed the berry as “cranberry” because its flowers reminded them of cranes (the birds).

Football – During ancient harvest ceremonies, people celebrated by playing games and sports, much like how football is played during Thanksgiving.

Native American Celebrations Today

Unsuprisingly, many Native Americans honour Thanksgiving differently.

While most Americans are celebrating Thanksgiving, some Native Americans in Massachusetts will be paying tribute to the “National Day of Mourning” atop Coles Hill. The Wampanoags and other Natives decided to fast for the occasion, thereby remembering their history by showing a contrast to the tradition of gorging on food. In recent years, the event has grown to accompany presentations, skits and demonstrations to showcase this contrast.

Other special days were also marked to honour Native Americans. New York became the first state to establish American Indian Day, and in California, the fourth Friday of September is Native American Day. Most recently, President Obama has declared November 2009 as Native American Heritage Month, marking November 27 as Native American Heritage Day.

Others look at Thanksgiving with a unique perspective. In A Native American View, Jacqueline Keeler admits she celebrates Thanksgiving. To her, Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for being a part of the small group of survivors from that age. As long as there is remembrance and reflection, the Native American role cannot be forgotten.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

People all over celebrate Thanksgiving in their own special way, whether it’s quality time with family or friends, or something else entirely. What are your traditions?

Above photo by author. Feature photo by infomatique

Every year, I resist autumn. For one thing, I don’t do winter well. I hate the cold, despise being stuck indoors, and dread the daily struggle to don jackets, scarves, hats and gloves. But that’s the least of it.

Fall has always meant endings for me: end of summer. End of sweet, formless days outdoors. End of roaming. During peak tomato time, when berries still hold the sun’s warmth but back-to-school ads are inescapable, I begin to mourn the summer.

Then, A Shift Takes Place

Around the time humidity lifts and light slants a bit lower, fall wins me over with the lovely assortment of foods I find at local markets.

Photo of quinces by author

Some may find eating with the seasons stifling, particularly when local produce options seemingly limit the palate. I see it as an adventure. When there is nothing but root vegetables and rugged greens on the horizon, you’re challenged to be creative or else become bored.

No cans this year for pumpkin pie. I scored the perfect cheese pumpkin – resembles the Halloween variety — at a farm stand in Connecticut. I’ll roast it with cinnamon and cardamom and invent my own pie recipe.

A paper bag full of quinces from a Connecticut orchard perfumes the kitchen with their lemony-floral scent; they’re awaiting their appearance in a lamb tagine with saffron and ginger, recipe courtesy of Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Fruits cookbook. If I have any leftovers, I’ll poach them with honey produced on a rooftop up the street.

Crazy, extra-terrestrial kohlrabi used to befuddle me. Now I love it julienned and dressed raw, with apples.

Finding Inspiration In the Flawed Hold Outs From the Past Season

Tomatoes that didn’t grow well and will never ripen make a mean green pickle or fried green tomato. Frost-blemished peppers blister sweetly over a flame, and summer arugula turns feisty and red-veined after a couple of cold nights. Both perfect for winter salads.

Photo by Bunnicula

Winter Spices Warm Your Home

Roasted root vegetables or winter squashes practically beg for spices such as cloves, nutmeg, and even vanilla bean, too often overlooked in summer. These fall dishes require longer cooking which means you must stay indoors as these wintry aromatics fill the air.

By the time winter arrives in a few weeks, I won’t be so afraid of the frigid months to come. Instead, I’ll find comfort in the magic of a parsnip and a stalk of Brussels sprouts, as they take the frost and the weakening light and transform them into something delicious.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

What are your favorite winter recipes and farmers markets? Share your tips and ideas in comments.

Photo by Foxtongue.

I didn’t realize I was being threatened until my coworker approached me at my desk, rolled out my office chair, and delivered a kick to my shin. She then announced to the entire office that it was Kick a Ginger Day, and I spent the remainder of my afternoon periodically darting glances over my shoulder.

(To be fair, the kick from my coworker was more like a foot nudge, and all my other coworkers are male and didn’t want to be accused of beating a woman.)

This phenomenon started with the famous South Park episode, and then exploded into a national event which inspired the Facebook group “Kick a Ginger Day” (no longer in existence, apparently) with nearly 5,000 members. For some reason, kids took this idea a little too far.

In an effort to avoid violence, some mothers even made their children stay home from school on Friday. Other kids were prepared to fight back.

The teen who created the Facebook group was actually investigated by the RCMP in British Columbia for promoting hate and violence. Some kids even ended up with bruises. I’ll be the first to admit Gingers are often unattractive — take Carrot Top, for example — but certainly nobody deserves a drive-by egging from morons yelling “Gingers suck!”

Photo by fotologic

The Ginger Solution

Is this whole thing a gross exaggeration? Maybe, but I still recall the time from childhood when I overheard the public health nurse whisper to another woman: “I hate seeing kids with red hair, it seems so cruel.” Never mind the fact I haven’t had my tonsils removed because a doctor once told me redheads tend to bleed heavily during surgeries, thus setting me on a path of total terror when stepping foot into hospitals.

Fortunately, there are some kind, open-minded souls willing to take action to defend the Ginger nation. Kick a Ginger Day has appropriately been replaced with Hug a Ginger Day, promoting love and peace and happy squeezes all around the world. So next time you see a Ginger pass by, don’t shudder or gasp in horror at our translucent skin and freckled complexions. Reach out, my friends. Embrace.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Ginger Matadorians: how have you overcome Ginger discrimination?

Photo by stars.alive.

Sure, there are a few channels that offer programming that awakens and educates.  But are you actually watching them?  If you are like I once was, you’re glued to the drivel that will very possibly lead to the undoing of your mind. 

The End of My Life in TV Land 

The last thing I remember, I was sitting on my sofa mesmerized by one of E! television’s latest offerings, a reality show starring jammie-clad Hugh Hefner ruling with an arthritic, vein-laden hand over his houseful of flavor-of-the-season surgically augmented hottie-pies. I think the program was called Girls Next Door.  To my horror, I fell immediately in love with this post-modern-world household and was deeply disappointed to find myself delighted when another episode began airing immediately after the first.  I had found a new favorite TV show.   

Photo by dailyinvention

And I’d hit a new depth in the sinkhole that was my spare time.   

Fortunately, my cable company staged an unwitting intervention just a few days later when an errant worker mistakenly disconnected my service as I watched from a window.  I realized too late that my lifeline to the world of channel surfing was being snipped.  Running down the street after his van yielded me only lungs filled with exhaust.  My repetitive calls to reconnect service were handled by phony-voiced people saying no, he could not come back and simply reconnect me, I must go through the red-taped rigmarole of starting my service from square one.   

There was no way I was enduring the stupidity of that exercise.   

So for four years I existed on the piddly programming my pocketful of broadcast stations eked out, with the help of precariously balanced rabbit ears.  I only had watched television for a couple of hours a day previously but was stunned at the hole it left in my time.  Pleasantly stunned. 

I gradually and consistently lost interest in television until, finally, I would actually forget to turn it on for days, eventually weeks.  Then arrived June 12, 2009 – the date the United States entered the digital age.  And the date I hurled my television through the window.  I mean the date I turned it on to find it spurting forth only static. 
  
You don’t have to wait for an accidental intervention to save you from wasting your precious free time staring at a metal box on a shelf in your living room. Follow this six step program and shake yourself out of your TV trance now. 

Step I – Admit You Have a Problem.  If you pick up the remote before setting down your keys when you walk into your home, and if you routinely find your way from room to room after dark guided only by flickering lights and the echoing voices of people you’ll never meet, you probably have a TV addiction going on.  You need to get over this.  Admit it.  Now move on to Step II.
 
Step II – Withdraw.  Right Now.   Cold turkey is the only way to kick this habit.  Turning on the television for just a minute is like eating a peanut.  There is no way you’re stopping right there.  Give your TV to a friend, give it to a family member, sell it on Ebay, throw it away.  Just get rid of it.   Soon you’ll find happiness even when you’re not crumbling potato chips all over yourself while watching The Biggest Loser.

Photo by Mr.Thomas

Step III – Comfort yourself.   Surely you’ve got at least one more addiction going on.  Go for it.  Enjoy yourself.  For a time, losing yourself in another familiar and comforting entity can lend some necessary emotional support to keep you away from the one addiction you’re trying to kill.  It might be tricky not to let this take you over the way TV did.  Quickly, your comfort of choice can grow from your security blankie to your full-fledged secondary addiction.  Don’t allow yourself to get sucked in so deeply by your new habit that you won’t be able to emerge.  

Step IV  – Reconnect with the Real World.  You’ll likely be floundering around, wondering what to do with your life now.  Spend the new-found hours of your days cultivating your own friendships and relationships rather than vicariously living through your favorite TV people.  Such socialization can do more than help just you.  Give yourselves two thumbs up for luring your friends and family away from the flashing images on their own television screens. 
 
Step V – Relish Your Freedom.   As you continue to decompress, let yourself fly free in the absence of your nemesis.  Don’t piddle away the hours you’ve gained by surfing the Internet.  Engage in activities you love so that your life will be one of memories, not just one monochrome moment after another.
   
Step VI – Never Forget.   Ridding yourself one hundred percent from a habit can take years.  Don’t let water cooler talk and magazine covers at the grocery store pique your curiosity about what’s cooking in the lives of Jon and Kate plus their eight.  This is addiction.  Be prepared to fight it.  It’s not heroin, though.  You can do it. 

Now, welcome to real life.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

What tips do you have to offer for breaking TV addiction?

It was no surprise when we did a search for the word “Life” on Flickr we found ourselves buried deep in a mass of imagery. As we sorted through the photos, trying to choose only 10-15 images to represent the range in the “meaning of life,” we began realizing our goal was impossible.

We found ourselves automatically dividing our thoughts into categories. Some of people. Some of lifestyle choices. Others of non-human life. Still life. Biodiversity of life. Life and death. On and on.

Finally, we had to make choices. In many ways, it felt random. Why the photo of a man wearing a LIFE t-shirt over the pro-life woman with tape over her mouth and the word “life” written on it? Why the statue outside of Columbia University over a still life painting with a pewter frog?

But that’s how it is, you cannot do and experience the entire world and all it has to offer. You can only do your best at the moment with the information you have. You can only exist, appreciate, rail against, love or hate what you have. The crux is in making a choice.

That, right there, is life.

-Leigh Shulman and Candice Walsh

1. An exhibit in Chicago’s Field Museum, showing the diversity of life with the addition of a little girl. Variety is key. Photo by Brian Finifter.

2. The Dalai Lama’s Instructions for Life, organized in an impressive tree-chart. Just about everything you’ll ever need to know. Photo by pshutterbug.

3. Apartment Life, even at home things get upside down. Find balance. Photo by shoothead.

4. She Lives in Nurnberg, a portrait of waiting. This leaning figure with laced fingers is in no rush. Photo by egomaniackid.

5. Life Force, taken at Columbia University. Sometimes you just need to look at things from a different perspective. Photo by llahbocaj.

6. Thug for Life, life-sized graffiti. Art comes in all forms, you just have to look for it. Photo by silverfox09.

7.Colour Your Life, crosswalk art. Why not add some colour? Photo by zigazou76.

8. Way of Life. Stay true to your beliefs, discard the ones that don’t fit. Photo by Paraschiv Alexandru.

9. Soho Life, a Corner Shop Chorus Line. The caption says it all: “This lot had just been singing some kind of show tune, inside this small shop. I had my camera poised & as soon as they spotted me we had a bit of a showbiz moment, it’s a Soho thing.” Dare to be bold. Photo by fast eddie 42.

10. Fill Your Life With Croutons, graffiti from Melbourne. Because why the hell not? Instincts matter. Photo by s2art.

11. Life. I didn’t choose this image for the final cut the first time around, but it had to be included. Sit. Close eyes. Smile. Enjoy. Repeat. Photo by rbackowski.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Do these photos represent Life to you? How so or how not? Try your own Flickr search, give us the links to photos you would have chosen to include in this photo essay.

Feature photo bymatzukawa1971. Above photo by mandiberg

I’m a total wordophile. Love word play, puns, love neologizing when the occasion permits – and it’s surprising how often it does.

So when I saw Oxford University Press’ latest blog post announcing their new word of the year, I was sucked in like Augustus Gloop up a glass chocolate pipe.

Yes, the word is out. Oxford University Press cites its New Word of 2009 as… drum roll please….

Unfriend.

As in, I no longer want to be connected with you on any one of many social networking sites, but most specifically, Facebook.

The History of Dictionary

Samuel Johnson – scholar, literary critic and translator — wrote the very first dictionary. In spite of criticisms of him as an idiot from time to time, his dictionary stood as the foremost authority on the English language until the Oxford English Dictionary was published one hundred and fifty years later.

Alas, the ever changing nature of the English language drove him to distraction. No sooner could he capture a word on paper, the meaning, sense and usage would change. The English Language became his white whale — an allusion to Herman Melville’s Moby Dick — his never ending journey, and can in many ways be blamed for the depression and mental illness that plagued Samuel Johnson until his dying day.

Photo by glitter feet

Today Language Evolves With Much More Immediacy

I wonder what Samuel Johnson would do today with the internet, where you can literally watch language develop.

September 2008, Saturday Night Live put together a skit of a press conference with Sarah Palin and Hilary Clinton. It was fabulous. That night, I heard the word FLIRJ for the first time.

I immediately went online to research further, excited to learn more of this word I’d never before heard. And I thought I’d knew it all, in part due to my rather scholarly background in Literature and Creative writing, but mostly owing to the hours I’ve spent browsing certain sections of Craigslist then cross-referencing with Urban Dictionary.

Yes, my ever favorite Urban Dictionary. Where anyone can enter a word and definition which are then given thumbs up or thumbs down by anyone else who happens by. There you can find any word you could possibly want along with no fewer than three definitions.

FLIRJ was not there.

Wouldn’t you know, though, the next day it appears.

A Comparison Between The Erudite and the Troglodytic

I decided to compare other words from the OED to the UD to see what’s what.

HASHTAG
OED says” a # [hash] sign added to a word or phrase that enables Twitter users to search for tweets (postings on the Twitter site) that contain similarly tagged items and view thematic sets.”

UD says “its a tag used to talk about an especif [sic] subject on twitter. Once all the users use it, it gets a lot easier to search subjects at the Twitter search.”

TEABAGGER
OED says “a person, who protests President Obama’s tax policies and stimulus package, often through local demonstrations known as “Tea Party” protests (in allusion to the Boston Tea Party of 1773)”

UD cites multiple meanings “1) one who carries large bags of packaged tea for shipment. 2) [ed.note: we all know what this one is. if not, please look it up yourself.] 3) one who has a job or talent that is low in social status 4) a person who is unaware that they have said or done something foolish, childlike, noobish, lame, or inconvenient.

FLIRJ, however, still has yet to enter the venerable OED.

Other Resources For Building A Stronger Vocabulary and Improving Your Knowledge Base

Thesaurus.com helps me find words like troglodytic, erudite and the like, then allows me to switch into Dictionary.com with one click so I can look up words I don’t know.

Ambrose Bierce, traveler and journalist, compiled his ever snarky – a word that certainly didn’t exist in his day and probably would have pissed him off if it had – The Devil’s Dictionary.

This includes definitions such as:

DICTIONARY:
A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic.This dictionary, however, is a most useful work.

Once you’ve compiled your entire list of new, modified and self-generated words, you can compile them to create your very own dictionary in Word.

Then check into Mental Floss Magazine for a wealth of wordie – lover of words – articles such as The Nautical Roots of Nine Common phrases or Nine Tasty Foods Named After People.

Yes, we’ve come a long way since the days of Samuel Johnson and his white whale, a phrase I might add that is also included in Urban Dictionary. Although I’m sure Johnson never gave a moment’s thought to what it might mean to be moby-dicked.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Do you have a favorite new word or silly online source for the same? Let us know in comments.

When you’re finished exploring words and fun facts, it’s time for you to start writing. Start your own blog in Matador’s Travel community. Want some inspiration first? Check out 15 Punk Rock Travel Narratives or school yourself at MatadorU and learn the tips, trades and secrets of the best travel writers in the business.

Feature photo by playerx. Above photo by Sue Waters

Dear William Bradley,

I just read your Huffington Post blog about the Trouble With Twitter. When I tried to post a response, though, I found comments had been closed, so I’m writing to you here instead.

Let me begin by saying I completely agree with you.

Yes, Twitter is a method for deeply self absorbed people to give you too short bits of information that you never really needed. Then while the inanity and insanity stream by you at a breakneck pace, your head fills with tidbits of factoids and marginal information that all run together into a big blur until BOOM! Your head explodes.

Let me then continue by saying, I completely disagree with you.

I, too, have been a technology geek for as long as I can remember. I designed my first website well over a decade ago, chatted on IRC long before AOL cottoned onto the instant message and even programmed my very own “Hello World” in C — although I am somewhat embarrassed to admit this last one.

I never watched Max Headroom, but I did read a lot of William Gibson, and let me tell you, Johnny Mnemonic is my hero. Do I want to run around town, carrying unimaginably vast stores of information in my head? Do I dream of hooking into a virtual world that is in many ways indistinguishable from the so-called real world?

Hot diggity-dog-damn I do! Even if it means my head might explode,

You cite a number of issues with Twitter.

It lacks context and the medium is simply too short, you say. You don’t have enough room to create the context you need to send the message you want.

Good lord, I’d hate Twitter if people could drone on and on as so often happens in comments and blog posts. At least Twitter allows me to take just one bite of whatever a Twitterer has to offer, go back for more if I so desire. Or spit it out.

I also very much enjoy the challenge of creating both context and meaning in such a short space. As a life long writer, I find it hones the craft in a way only writing poetry in form can do. Seriously, try writing a Petrarchan sonnet. When you’re forced to make your words fill a very particular space with a very particular rhythm, you quickly learn not to waste words. By extension, you don’t waste your reader’s time.

You call Twitter inane. Yes, it most definitely can be, but we, as followers can choose to ignore. Twitter quickly teaches that you’re never going to absorb every single Tweet, so why even try? You just let go and accept that you get what you get. Most times, I find that even after a short time on Twitter, even if I’ve only followed a few links or read a couple of quotes, I’ve learned something worthwhile. Those who don’t have something of value to offer, I unfollow.

Photo by Doug Curran

You accuse twitter of driving the current themes of inundation, fragmentation and ADHD so ubiquitous in our culture. But does Twitter drive these things or simply reflect them? Glut of information is part and parcel of our world now, and has been for some time. We’re deeply into the post-MTV generation where we don’t invest time in thought provoking movies, develop film or read books anymore. Instead, we watch music videos that allude to old films, revel in digital photography and buy the graphic novel instead.

Is that innately wrong? Or is it simply the natural course of things?

That’s how I see Twitter. It’s a new medium for a new world. People think differently, see differently, and Twitter is our training ground. It’s cyberpunk-lite, and we are just beginning to see what the medium can do.

Are there people who abuse Twitter?

Sadly, yes, far too many of them, but you can’t blame Twitter for those people.

Twitter, like Facebook and other social media networks, is a hammer, a tool to be used for many purposes. It can be inspirational, motivational and creative. You can write haikus or novels, send in your coffee order and have it ready to pick up as you swing by on the way to work. You can raise money or awareness for a charity.

Myself, I’ve found among other things wonderful community, both work and friendship, through Twitter, without which, this very post would not have been possible.

But it’s still a hammer. If someone so stupidly decides to take his hammer and bash it repeatedly over his neighbor’s head, you don’t go blaming the hammer.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Photos courtesy of Operation Beautiful.

  
Already a strong advocate for ending the negative buzz about obesity, or “Fat Talk,” Caitlin was inspired by Gives Me Hope – a site where users can share stories of random acts of kindness – to embark on her own mission to change the world’s perception of beauty. Operation Beautiful was born.
 
The rules are simple: 1) write something motivational on a piece of paper, stick it in a public place (like a bathroom mirror), and 2) include the website address to share the love.

Sceptical that such a simple act of kindness can positively affect someone? The following are just two examples of the many comments from the mission page:
 

I went into the bathroom today and saw a stick note: “You are beautiful the way you are. operationbeautiful.com.” I smiled and pulled out a camera. Later, I heard some girls in class describe it as “cute” and one went and pulled it down to keep. It was very encouraging.

im only a kid BUT I LOVE THIS IDEA! i want to do it at school and everywhere! (i’m 12) YOU ARE AWESOME!!!!!!

Chatting with Caitlin via email, I asked whether she was surprised about the success of her project and the willingness of people to participate. Here’s what she said:
 

“Operation Beautiful started on a whim.  I was having a bad day, and I wanted to do something nice for someone else, and I know that random acts of kindness make me feel good!  I wrote the words “You are beautiful” on a piece of paper, stuck it to a mirror, took a picture, and asked the readers of my personal blog to participate.  At the time, I never knew how huge Operation Beautiful would become, but in hindsight, I am not surprised.”

Submission Guidelines:

Readers, get out there and start reversing negative body images and attitudes. Write something motivational on a piece of paper, include the web address operationbeautiful.com, and stick it in a place where someone else is sure to find it, like a co-worker’s desk or inside a gym locker.

Bonus points for Creativity!

Then take a photograph of your creation and attach it in an email to candice@matadornetwork.com or leigh@matadornetwork.com with the subject line “Operation Beautiful.”

We’ll select our favorites to share on Matador Life.

Be sure to include: information about where you left your post it (ie city, town, country, specific location). Optional to include: any stories you’d like to share about why you chose to post where you did or any reactions to it. You can remain anonymous but if you’d like to include your personal blog or webpage, let us know..

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