Today’s church sermon was about being a good friend – a topic I think we’ve all given thought to as we form relationships and meet people over time.  I know, at least, that I’ve struggled with what it means to be a good friend throughout the years and it has been on my mind lately.  When I wrote my Digital Divide: Poems book throughout this past year, I thought much about friendships and the connections we make/maintain online – they became the topic of a number of poems.  Like everything in life, there are both negatives and positives.  You can’t have one without the other – and that’s okay.  It is William Blake, after all, that tells us that “without contraries is no progression.”

This poem Without You from my Digital Divide collection speaks of the good side – of my appreciation for the people in my life and the technology that helps keep us together.

-cct

Without You
by Charity C. Tran

If I did not hold
A place in this digital space
Would I be without you?

If experiences were mapped
By string
Threaded and multiplied
Across this network these networks
Would I find my way
Home to you

I want to believe
That it is not this online space
That keeps us alive
That it is not this digital place
That is the heart of our connection

I do not think that this is true

I would not be here
You would not be here
If we were just
Almost faceless friends
Connected by
A confirmation button

But it would be a lie
To not recognize a pulse
That could be faint and threaded
That could run strong and true
Along this line
That leads me
Connected to you

So while I would rather
See you from across the way
To hear your voice
The magic of your laugh
Unwedded from this web
I am glad to not be
Without you

Pictured: Tulips of Friendship, Washington D.C.: A Gift from the Netherlands.

Today I dressed in mostly red – a coat and rain boots – and declared that red was the color the day.  This flower is what I found after I struggled to open the door to the building, brightly sitting on the lobby floor, as if brought by the wind and even – if by random chance – brought to me.

-cct

Cameras flash at Madame Tussauds – faux celebrities are almost the real thing, right?

Pass by Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, compare your footprints with them – celebrities who walked on the air of fame past and present.  How do your hands compare against theirs?  How do your feet?  If they match, is your joy because you are almost like them or that you see that they are more like us – who exist on the fringe of red carpets and lit ceremony?

Walk on the Walk of Fame pavement – remember the crowd that gathered in droves to see Michael Jackson’s star, laying to rest a fountain of flowers and gifts, mementos and memory.  See it today: one woman, feet perched on the star, one camera to capture a memory far from the moment you remember before.

How did time move forward so quickly?

A car is stopped at the light between Hollywood Boulevard and Orange, a large dark SUV.  Two blondes sit in the front, an unknown number of passengers in the back.  The blonde on the passenger side has a row of dark tattoo lettering bright across her arm; she talks to a group on the street as if she knows them.

Maybe she does?  Maybe they do.

She asks about something on one of their shirts, approving of the logo, the expression, the phrasing…  Whatever it is, does it matter? Sometimes approval is all you need in this town.

Earlier, on the same street,  a stretch limo drove by.  Think bigger.  Hummer H2 with an open back, as if it were taking its passengers on safari – into the wilds of Hollywood people-watching armed with bottle service and disco lights.

A young woman walks down Orange dressed in a purple ball gown complete with hooped skirt.  Remember Donna in 90210, the prom episode?  Except not that awkward.  Her entourage follows her tiara-crowned figure in jeans and t-shirts.  Her mother is among her people.  Is she wondering “where did my little girl go?”  or “can it be tomorrow yet?”

And I sit in the corner coffee shop, not studying.

-cct

• Rebecca Black – Friday
• Alexandra Wallace – Asians in the Library
  • Response videos: David So’s Vlog #4 and Jimmy Wong’s Ching Chong song

Especially when you get to associate them with Cicero and Quintilian!

And yes.  I do realize this is very nerdy.

Check it out here: http://charitytran.com/index.php/2011/03/25/seeking-cicero-and-quintilian-rhetorical-dialogue-on-youtube/

xoxo -cc

Today I began a serial about zombies.  I’m assuming it will have a love story, but for now – it’s a wide-open adventure!

-cct