Sunday, June 28, 2015

Television Eyes

When I was an undergrad, my roommate made a comment one day as I was showing him some pictures from childhood. He looked at photos of one of my relatives from about the age of five to fifteen. When he saw the adolescent images of her he remarked:

"She has television eyes."

I compared the photos of the innocent, wide-eyed gaze of her girlhood to the teenage pictures, and it seemed that she had indeed developed a vacant stare, as if under hypnosis. Television Eyes.

These days, it seems everyone is guilty. If television was a powerfully corruptive force in the sixties, today's constant stream of real-time internet updates creates the same sort of hypnosis. Everywhere you go, you see people staring down at their hands, at their laps. Since I joined Facebook, I have been doing pretty much the same thing. I wonder what's happening to my brain, to my health, to my natural self? In a few short days I'll be marching across the tundra, needing my more ancient systems fully intact for the physical and mental challenges of weather and data sampling in the field.

Will you be up for it, Television Eyes??

merrrr......

did somebody just say something????



2 comments:

  1. A scientific artist - an artistic scientist; the best of both - sometimes very conflicting - worlds.
    I love the fact that you have nurtured your artistic spirit through the years utilizing this context.
    With much love and respect, x husband-o.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Beloved Xhusband-o! Right back at ya! Keep nurturing what makes you you!

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