How many ways do we have to be linked up? For the first few decades of my life we could visit someone in person, or pick up the phone and call from our home, or send a letter. Now, I literally do not know how many. The internet brought new possibilities, among them email. It seems to me that now even email use is declining significantly. Home phones are rare. Many people do not even know their neighbors enough to cross the street and say hello. I believe there are numerous methods of social media that are used for communication and you have to be a “member”? to use them. I have only superficial awareness of these, having given up even on Facebook. Cell phones are mini computers that offer multiple modes of communication. As the internet has grown, so have the possibilities for being linked up and in. Often there is no need to meet others, easier for you, easier for me?
Technology has made it easier, more convenient, to be alone. Maybe we do not need to go to the store, and if we do there is likely one stop shopping; Prime is better? Hard to find the butcher, the baker (unless they are a coffee shop), the candlestick maker, the cobbler. Restaurants? Just about everybody delivers. Even the coffee shop may be largely take out business. Easy to be alone with images on a screen. Many businesses love you for your money, not for you, or maybe for you and your money. Is this a future of convenience, or is it the tortuously slow braking of a high powered train trying futilely to stop before it hits the stalled automobile. Is the automobile on the track culture as I have known it? Is the automobile the cultural death of human interaction being inexorably replaced by technology morphing into A.I. control? It could be the frog in the pot scenario, or not.
We have been back in the states in Spokane for almost 3 weeks. In many ways it is easy to acclimate. There is a comfortable familiarity with our home, our friends and the city. Still, after 8 months on the road since sometime in October it would be a brain dead state not to do some comparisons. We have grown used to living without a car. Our lives in Mexico and Europe were filled with human interactions, even if only superficial. At times the superficial transforms into something more. Only on rare occasions was Uber or a taxi needed, and when it was, it was always half the price or less than in Spokane. Still, I believe we used Uber or taxis barely more than a dozen times since last October. Most of those were to and from airports or train stations. Many times we walked our 40 pound backpacks to train stations because they were too close to warrant a ride.
Likewise, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, produce and meat markets, coffee shops, parks, the cobbler, doctors and restaurants were almost always within easy walking distance. The point is that trips to any of these places means you are not alone with images on a screen. An interaction does not need to be deeply personal in order to feed a culture of humanity. All of that is available here in Spokane. All of that is more spread out in Spokane. Overseas, we usually did not need to walk more than 200 yards to pick up whatever we needed to prepare dinner. The person I paid usually recognized me and I them. We have looked for a farmers market that can replicate the ease and value of what we almost always found overseas. I appreciate that people go to farmers markets in part for community. But here, the markets often lack vibrancy AND FARMERS! Today we went to the Liberty Lake Market. It had a lot of produce vendors, great. It had a lot of people buying from the vendors. We were appalled at the prices. I believe farmer’s have often been underpaid, but I am not willing to pay 2 and 3 times at the market for organic produce that I can buy in a store. Sheila asked me if we are spoiled, too critical.
Yes, we are spoiled, by the ease and price of life we have experienced over the past year when we are away from home. Has that made us too critical? Perhaps, but maybe it has simply made us more judicious when it comes to spending our money. We want to spend money with “real people” and frequent those people who offer us the best price to product ratio. The search for that ratio, personal interaction, less driving, in general a more compact lifestyle is at the crux of where we go and what we do next. It’s a little bit like a board game, and the outcome is undetermined. In the meantime we are attempting to find positivity and activity in Spokane. We have had to deal with a few unexpected challenges since returning, challenges that waylaid plans for getting stronger physically, safer financially and writing. That is a lesson in expectations and expectations are something I have been trying to learn to temper for a long time. Never stop learning!
the pictures are just a few interesting things I’ve seen recently, and a near fatal gorilla encounter.
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Critical thinking is important even for the gorilla’s. We as a society needed to have more interaction, more conversations , we can build a stronger community with words and actions. Spokane or anywhere can be more inclusive when we communicate from the heart and have dialogue about our feelings, our dreams, our visions are like are dislikes.
Keep sharing your blog thoughts, adventure as it give me the opportunity to grow
I just finished an article in my High Country News about the Black community in South Phoenix and their struggles with lack of community, lack of good food, depression, isolation. There are people repairing this by returning to backyard and community gardens; people sharing space together. Growing Neighbors is one group here in Spokane and there are many of us working to bring about a sustainable, local community with shared projects including ceremony.
What you are saying here certainly resonates with me. Thanks for continued writing!
Upward and onward!
Hi Debbie, thanks for interacting. Love the comment about returning “to backyard and community gardens; people sharing space together”. Not familiar with Growing Neighbors, it sounds as though you are working with them? Would love to know more. Jerry White the previous Riverkeeper told us about a float project they have been doing. They get 20? people in a big canoe and paddle down the river, no cell phones, just human communication. He said it has been big with the younger crowd who he sees moving back toward human interaction. Do you know anything about the Spokane Democracy Picnic in Manito on the 23rd? Yes, Upward and onward!
You are so “right on” with your observations. I have been noticing similar behavior in society too and doing my best to reduce my interaction with tech and getting more connected. My grown son has been sharing with me about a relatively new gathering of folks in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho. It’s called the “Monday Night Dinner”. You may want to check out this link to this wonderful meeting place: https://www.hellofromastranger.com/monday-night-dinner When I read about it I was very tickled. Let’s get together!
The Monday Night Dinner looks incredible. Guess we are running out of time for this summer if we are t0 make it, but I am considering it. And, yes would love to get together and find what’s new with you. Let’s come up with a plane. The distance between makes it more of a mental gymnastic than it should be. The good news is we have a great deal of flexibility. Hit me up with any ideas. I really do not mind driving to you two, just need to plan.