Here we go again-the start of a new year. With beginning of every year we think, “Yes! Starting off with a clean slate, starting over, I’m not going to make the same mistakes as I did last year, this time
it’s going to be BETTER!” That’s the mentality I’m going with for this next year. My postings for this blog and Hack Library School have been abysmal. It was difficult to get acclimated to a new city, new school, new everything. I survived my first semester, but I didn’t accomplish maintaining a consistency with my blogging. I’d like to turn that around.
Aside from catching up on some zzzz’s and relaxing back in California, I’ve also done some reading. The following articles are of particular importance to me because they caused me to reflect on my future, what I’d like to accomplish for 2012, and contemplate on what’s to come. The first one is an Op-Ed piece from the New York Times titled The Joy of Quiet. The author, Pico Iyer, makes a bold assertion when he says that in the future, people will seek to disconnect from the world, rather than feel the need to be connected and know everything. My favorite quote is the following, “We have more and more ways to communicate, as Thoreau noted, but less and less to say. Partly because we’re so busy communicating.” In a way I agree with Iyer, as much as I’d like to amp up my web presence, blog, tweet, be on Facebook, there’s a part of me that enjoys the quiet, not having to glance to my smart phone every minute to see if there are any updates, or check my e-mails. It gives me a sense of peace. It reminds me of when I was in college or high school when I can say that I didn’t have any of these gadgets. It’s also a reminder of just how old I am… yikes.
The second article that discusses the future is the titled What 2012 Means and it’s found in the Huffington Post. There’s been this buzz that 2012 is the end of the world,the end of the Mayan calendar. My personnel belief is that it’s not true. The author Luis J. Rodriguez states, “the year 2012 then is not to be revered, feared, demonized, or exalted. It’s not really a date. It’s a presence we are all in. Present to this basic truth: the healthy and adequate development of each is dependent on the healthy and adequate development of all.” I’d like to believe that what 2012 will bring is a change in people’s consciousness.
