Does Tweeting Make me a Twit?

Despite the fact that I have managed to take a class on Twitter for Teachers and teach two workshops on social media, I remain a bit of a skeptic. I find it intriguing. I suspect there really is no fighting it. Yet, I'm not sure we really understand the way that social media is altering our reality, our literacies.

Today I was struck by a NY Times article from a few weeks ago, I Tweet, Therefore I Am. And one slice in particular:

"Back in the 1950s, the sociologist Erving Goffman famously argued that all of life is performance: we act out a role in every interaction, adapting it based on the nature of the relationship or context at hand. Twitter has extended that metaphor to include aspects of our experience that used to be considered off-set: eating pizza in bed, reading a book in the tub, thinking a thought anywhere, flossing. Effectively, it makes the greasepaint permanent, blurring the lines not only between public and private but also between the authentic and contrived self. If all the world was once a stage, it has now become a reality TV show: we mere players are not just aware of the camera; we mug for it."

And I don't think Twitter is the only target here. I'm sure this can be said for all forms of social media, this blog included. I'm not sure the realization is enough to change anything for me, but awareness is worth something, I think.

article found via Swiss Miss

Zombie Love.

I Find this Pretty Amusing.

Maybe someone should move those signs to Butte, MT.

The Butt(e) of Montana

Emma's quest for tea and my curiosity about Bozeman led us through the business districts of both Bozeman and Butte, Montana. While we felt Bozeman might be a nice place to live, we felt quite the opposite about Butte. Perhaps we were in the wrong section of town... on the wrong streets? We drove through the historic district and let me tell you, those buildings were "historic." It resembled a ghost town. At one point Emma mentioned that she expected to see zombies staggering out of the buildings into the empty streets. I almost forgot to mention that all around the city we kept seeing posters warning against "Meth Mouth." Maybe our zombie assessment wasn't too far off.

We did find a rather funky little coffee shop though, so it had some promise, I guess.