feeling isolated...

Do you ever feel like you're surrounded by small people? Not small, like size, but small in views. I was driving into work today and thinking, as only a one hour commute can force me to do, and I came upon the realization that the problem with living in Utah is that so many of the people here have no concept of a world larger than the small town they grew up in, and yes, I include Salt Lake City as a small town... The 300 or so people that make up the daily community of their lives are all they know and, for the most part, all they want to know. Life for my roommates, for example, is about the next singles activity, the next date, the next boyfriend. They go from class to class and are solely focused on thier own small lives... The world is so much larger than all of that.

I lived outside of this state for most of my life. In fact, I lived out of the country for several years, even. And this could have something to do with the perceptions I have of the world, but I'm not even sure that matters, because one of my roommates lived in France for 2 years while she was in high school, and she is just as limited by her world as anybody else I know.

Not that everyone in Utah is limited. I know plenty of people who aren't. My Aunt Jerry, and her daughter, Jenny, for two, are open minded. And I'm sure that there are scads of people outside of Utah who can be every bit as narrow minded about thier lives as anyone else.

Now that I'm thinking about it, all the poeple I know who aren't limited by their lives were students of the arts. Barbara and her Latin/History/Library Science degrees. Jana and her English/Library Science. Jaymi and her Art degree. Myself with English. Perhaps we have a bigger perspective because we've studied other people's perspectives. Most of the people I know here in Utah are Education majors. They grew up wanting to be teachers, so when they got to college they became teacher majors, and when they graduate, they'll teach in the same elementary school, junior high, or high school they graduated from. It's all they know, and all they care to know.

Digressing for just a minute... (don't worry, I'll tie it back in by the end).
I'm have a serious affair with technology. I think it rocks. I can't get enough of it. I'm hooked by all the little gadgets and toys they're coming up with nowadays. I want one. And it doesn't even matter what it is, but I want one. The coffee table computer touch screen, the tablet PC, a wireless electrical system, the wireless waterproof iPod and earphones. They have all kinds of internet applications, like the capability to access your own personal computer, from your work computer, or vice versa, that I can't even begin to describe in such a short amount of space. I follow it all, from rumor to development to general release... I'm addicted. I'm so hooked that I want to get involved.

There's a whole new medium of communication out there call podcasting. For those of you who don't know, podcasting is something akin to radio broadcasting. It's an online radio show, but instead of a live timed show, where you have to tune in at a certian time or you miss it, podcasting is something that can be downloaded anytime, and listened to whenever you want. Podcast topics are usually so specialized that they appeal to a certain kind of limited audience. Whole communities of like-minded individuals have sprung up around these podcasts. And I want to be part of it. More specifically, I want to be in the center of it.

My friends don't get that. They tease me because I like Star Trek, Alias, and Lost, and because I listen to podcasts that make me smarter, and they call me a geek, which I'm okay with most of the time... The problem is, I'm surrounded by people who don't get me. They don't get who I am and what I'm interested in. They have no concept of the larger world out there; that people are connecting on a global scale and that it's not just about who you can see and touch anymore, but about who can hear, and talk to, and connect with anywhere in the world. Ideas are being shared at a rate and scope like never before. It's amazing. And they're oblivious. It's like things were 200 years ago when literacy was the new thing. Some people refused to learn, thinking it was just a fad. But it's not the case. The information age is here and it's staying.


...why won't my friends get on board?...