I have been watching the Paralympics online the last two weeks with such respect for the runners of all abilities. Unfortunately, NBC’s coverage has been abysmal, but not surprising, which speaks more to the larger problematic treatment of persons with disabilities in our society.
I especially enjoyed watching the guided running competitions. When I learned more about how blind and visually impaired runners trainned, I was immediately impressed and found it inspiring.
I found this video about guided running that was very informative. Congrats to all the Paralympians!!!
I read this piece in the New York Times the other day about this growing movement in London bookstores to opt out of having Wi-Fi and coffee shops within their establishments to maintain a disconnected space for customers. Because of the rise of Amazon and other online book outlets, brick and mortar book shops have tried to find innovative ways to continue attracting customers.
While there are some benefits to having internet access and grabbing a drink, I can also see how this is all a distraction. I worked in a bookstore for many years, and what I liked most about it was the meditative experience of discovering a book, becoming engrossed in reading and becoming more informed about the world around me. However, lately, it has become harder to have this experience because someone’s phone is ringing, or they are talking loudly on the phone, or they are screaming at the barista about their skinny, caramel, soy, macchiato, whatever latte.
I think this speaks more to the larger problem of people who feel that they need to be online all the time. Mind you, I make a living off of being online, as I am a web designer and digital marketing professional who spends between 8 to twelve hours a day looking at a computer screen. Nonetheless, I understand the importance of being offline sometimes to enjoy being in the moment. At the beginning or end of my day, I try to read a print book or periodical just to unwind and disconnect and give my eyes a break from the screen.
We went on a couple of short vacations this summer. On one trip I went on a bus tour of Martha’s Vineyard. One of the women on the bus spent most of her time just scrolling her Facebook feed instead of looking at all the beautiful scenery on the island. On another trip, I was surrounded by people who were looking at their phones and computers the whole time and getting mad that the train’s Wi-Fi would stop working intermittently. This one guy was upset because he couldn’t watch Game of Thrones on his computer. I think I was the one person reading an actual book on the bus in this digital oasis without a care in the world.
Am I an “old-fashioned” Gen Xer, or am I just a lost cause? I mean I just don’t get this constant connectivity business. I don’t have this need to post every aspect of my life online. My only digital vice is listening to audio books or some music I download onto my iPod, but I am not going to lose my mind if I don’t have access to said iPod at times.
This is the main reason I don’t go to live concerts anymore. Now when you go, everyone in the theater is taking selfies and recording the whole performance on their phones instead of actually enjoying the concert.
Unfortunately, the online world has also created a space for insecure people who hide behind imaginary personas, saying the vilest, and most of the time, untrue things about people they have never met or spoken to before in person.
Most of the people closest to me aren’t even online as much as I am. Some of them don’t even have online accounts. This new digital frontier has created a generation of people who feel more insecure if they are not sharing online all the time. I like having an offline life. I interact with other people in person, whether it’s at my dinner parties, going on trips with them or just hanging out together. You can not only learn more about that person, but also more about yourself in real time, and that is a lost art form.
With the summer coming to an end, a couple of my friends and I decided to make our last cycling trip on Cape Cod for the season a couple of weeks ago, this time to the Shining Sea Bikeway. This is one of my favorite places to cycle on the Cape. It is a 10-mile scenic route between Woods Hole and North Falmouth. About three miles of it is along the Vineyard Sound, and the rest of it goes pass beach homes, farms, cranberry bogs and a lot of wonderful Mother Nature!
I stopped a few times during our ride to take some photos. Ah, summer…
Recently, I had the chance to take a peek at this new trend in urban housing – compact living. With the growing rate of people moving back into cities globally, urban developers are exploring new ways of making housing more efficient, comfortable and still affordable.
Like most cities in the United States, there is a crunch for housing and people in most economic brackets are being priced out. I know quite a few people fighting with landlords over rapidly rising rents. Most of the time the high rents are not justified because the landlords don’t properly maintain properties. There are small apartments and houses that haven’t been renovated in YEARS and the landlords are charging ridiculously high rents.
Something has to change.
The City of Boston is touring a 385-square-foot model housing innovation unit around to different neighborhoods to start the conversation about alternative housing options. The units are examples of potential spaces the city could create for future housing. As you can see in the model above, the units have separate spaces for sleeping, bathing, storage, and dining, and are built so that up to four of them could be stacked on top of each other. The compact living spaces have lower square-foot minimums than are currently mandated by the city, which is currently 450 square feet.
I like them a lot, but they may not be for everyone. I can totally see myself living in this particular unit. Technically, there is only one room – the bathroom – as the other spaces in the unit are separated with curtains like the kitchen/living room and bedroom. Ideally, these tiny spaces could work for single people, young couples, students, empty nesters or anyone who doesn’t have much property. I did take some pictures, but I wasn’t able to get good ones because the space is so small. This one-bedroom/studio unit would go on the market for $1,000 – $1,400.
But I think compact living would be a hard adjustment for most Americans because we celebrate a culture of “going big.” The size of your property is usually a sign of success or the American Dream achieved – big houses, big cars, big screen TVs etc.
Also, America is a nation full of hoarders who just don’t throw anything away!
Maybe it is time to change this mindset and be more open to new housing ideas and consumption. A few years ago I went to Tokyo to visit a colleague who just moved into her 200 square-foot apartment with her husband and their toddler! I don’t know how they did it, but they made it work. I wish I had taken pictures of it at the time, but I did find plenty of YouTube videos about other people’s experiences with compact living in Japan, like this one.
Some people think it is a joke when New Yorkers say they live in closets…
I have been watching the Paralympics online the last two weeks with such respect for the runners of all abilities. Unfortunately, NBC’s coverage has been abysmal, but not surprising, which speaks more to the larger problematic treatment of persons with disabilities in our society.
