ONLINE
The Internet obviously offers convenient new ways to connect and communicate, but that is not the same thing as being in community with one another. Time and space have to be actually shared, memory and meaning created through mutual effort. There is a hollowness to an all virtual reality. It can be a poignantly alone place. Although it may appear we are better in touch via cyberspace, I believe we are more divided and insular than ever before because of our over-reliance on it. It is not always comfortable or fun being in community with one another, so the Internet allows people an easy avoidance of the hard work required to build and sustain actual kinship. We learn and grow through lived relationship. Without that, we stagnate.
— Mark Thompson in White Crane Journal
another eye opens 
February 18, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I couldn’t agree more with Mark Thompson on the subject of the Internet and how it isolates us while seemingly bringing us together.
By the way, does anyone who is reading this know if this is the same Mark Thompson who translated Umberto Saba’s wonderful novel Ernesto?
February 19, 2010 at 12:25 am
Different Mark Thompson. This Mark Thompson is the author/editor of several seminal books: Gay Spirit: Myth and Meaning, Gay Soul, Gay Body, Leatherfolk.