Bernie Michalik's posterous site

When I was younger, living in a small town (Glace Bay) in Cape Breton, I
often felt as if I lived at the edge of the universe. Everything I watched,
listened to, drove, wore, even ate (for the most part) was produced
somewhere else. Media in particular eminated from some place far away at
the centre of the world. Even when I went to the ocean (which was a short
walk from my house), I would stare off to the horizon and imagine Europe or
the United States, like someone does who is off in the distance. It felt at
the time that the only way to move from the edge to the centre was by
making a serious migration. And so I did, moving first to Halifax, and then
to Toronto (often mocked as the centre of the universe by most Canadians).

Nowadays, when I go to Cape Breton, I no longer feel that way. Technology,
be it better supply chains or high speed telecommunications, has squashed
the distance I used to feel there.
As technology gets better, the networks that we belong to become more
intertwined, more instant. When I was younger, I felt like I was at the
edge of a network. Now, technology allows me to bring the centre of the
network wherever I go. Wherever I go, I am at the centre of the world. The
physical location matters less andless: what determines whether or not I am
at the centre of the world or the edge of the universe is what networks I
am connecting to and how I am participating in them.

Tonight I was in my living room, reading email, texting my daughter,
downloading songs for my son, skimming blogs, and updating statuses and
replying to pings from people. I was at the centre of my world, because of
my participation in the social networks I belong to. After everyone went to
bed, I came out on my porch, watched the stars, and imagined looking out
from the edge of the milky way into it's centre and beyond. No social
networks, no mobile devices, just me on the porch at the edge of the
universe. Shifting once more, I am back in my living room, sending this
out, seeing once more what everyone is up to. Back and forth, from the edge
to the centre, effortlessly.

Thanks for reading this.
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Sent from my BlackBerry Handheld.