Escaped for a bit of mental/spiritual rest/relaxation at Carter Caves in Northeastern Kentucky. Many underground caves/waterfalls and the biggest natural bridge I have ever seen--mindblowing... I'm going to have to return and just sit under it for a long time and open up to its beauty...
anyways... I'm back and I received an email from my director about my latest chunk of writing toward my dissertation. I've been requested to revist Jurgen Habermas' theory of the "structural transformation of the public sphere"--this sent me after various books to get a quick sense of the current debates. Nodding out after the third book, I strolled online to see what was being said and found a series of interesting papers/positions on the Internet's role in increasing (or damaging--depends on the writer) the public sphere when I happened upon this very cool site. A journal at the University of Minnesota dedicated to investigating the blogosphere:
Into the Blogosphere
I also stumbled upon a heartening sign that the computer proles (ok, some may be elites, but I'm sure that those that own the means of production are not funding this group) are thinking about their world:
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
If anyone has left responses at this site I'll get to them as soon as I get caught up with research...
While down below in the underground depths of Carter Caves the guide turned off the lights and plunged us into a Stygian blackness, free of light, noise, and sensation, my mind roamed freely, swimming in emptiness, it only lasted for a little bit until another visitor started to panic and asked for the lights to come back on. I wish I could have just hung out for a day sitting there, emptying everything out... I think that is also why I was moved so much by the huge cavern of the Smoky Natural Bridge ... no one was there but me and Melissa and it was massive, ancient and imposing. The hollowed out above ground underside of the natural bridge, similar to the dark underground caves, allowed my mind to open up and empty out. It reminded me of the clam at La Jolla Shores, where I used to climb past the no trespassing signs and scale the underside cliffs, so that I could crawl into the worn out passageway and watch the water from the ocean pound against the ever-so-slowly disintegrating rock formations--peace and tranquility.
2 comments:
Harry, where are the Luray caverns?
Thanks Harry--I've been wanting to explore virginia and the neighboring states (haven't really seen much of the East Coast--2 trips) having been raise on the left coast.
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