Today the BP oil "spill" has been capped. It was interesting to listen to NPR discussions about what the "spill" should be called and how BP has co-opted the Internet to influence the "informational" impact. And how the Internet is influencing our language.
Which is one reason why we have to keep reading books, I suppose--to counter this influence. But that sounds like a dumb reason to read books. In past years, I have read Moby Dick and Ahab's Wife on the big sea-like beaches of Lake Michigan, but this year I wanted to read The Old Man and the Sea to think about the fishermen and women in the Gulf. It was fun to pick it up at my local bookstore and read about Santiago's struggle with the giant fish. There are so many who have lost their livelihood due to this catastrophe. Hopefully, this "glocal" issue will continue to be studied. Students have told me that they enjoyed this book; I wonder if they will experience it differently from here on out.
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