To my friends and fellow netizens

By Jim Rodden, rodden@alumni.cse.ucsc.edu.

Those of you who know me well, or have actually been reading my rantings lately, know that I've been fairly stressed out over the last month and a half. A couple of really stressfull things have happened recently, I'm sure you've read about them in the news. I've been in knots trying to deal with them, keep a straight face and a stiff upper lip. I tried not to let these things bother me too much, but they've slowly been eating away at me. I just stumbled accross something that I hope may begin to help me find some closure to whats been bothering me. It made me cry. It brought into focus the emotions I've been wrestling with while trying to work full time and finish my degree. I hope it does something positive for you too.

I stumbled accross a project that happened to have just begun. A project that truly represents the voice of people taking action. The kind of thing that brings a glimmer of hope into view. The project is called 24 Hours of Democracy. Yeah, it comes straight on the heels of the 24 Hours in Cyberspace project, but this one FEELS different. It doesn't come from the mass media or the 10 o'clock news. This project is about individuals, real people, expressing their own emotions about this great revolution that no one really understands. Its a chance for me to focus my energy and frustration over recent events and maybe, just maybe, have an impact.

The essay that brought it all home for me is titled For Emma. A dad writing to his infant child, "I had a part in bringing you into this world. I'll make sure they don't strip you of your freedoms before you have a chance and the right to fight for them yourself."

The mere fact that I accidentally came across this project...and don't even remember how I got there...is poetic in itself, at least to me. It demonstrates the power of this new medium that so many are trying to understand...and control. The idea of finding something beautiful that isn't preplanned, prepackaged, or forcibly sterilized--completely by accident. Something that can change my life or change my mind, and I have the power to turn it on, turn it off, or participate.

Maybe I should keep my day job and not become a writer, but fortunately Apple isn't dead yet...and I have the freedom to write whatever I want, and you have the right to disregard it. Thats what its all about.

Jim