Trying something new

http://becsinthecity.wordpress.com/

Is Facebook unchristian?

During an attempt today to find an article in Our Sunday Visitor pertaining to the province I work for, I stumbled upon, "How to steer clear of pitfalls when using Facebook."

Being more or less your average 24-year-old, I remember the days when Facebook was far more exclusive. The days when students with smaller enrollments had to petition TheFacebook.com to take pity on them and add their college to the database so they could keep in touch with friends in a new and exciting way. The days when there were no applications, photo albums or notes; just walls, groups (which were limited to your college network), profile pictures, and pokes (and who really understood those anyway?).

In fact, I even remember the day the student body of St. Bonaventure University was granted access to Facebook. It was the last day of finals for my sophomore year. It was, to say the least, a bit of a distraction in my attempts to study that day. I'm sure by the end of that day I was thrilled to have something like 20 friends.

Today, between high school and college friends, YouthWorks and GreaterWorks peers, community members, youth who came on mission trips, a handful of relatives and all the random people along the way, I now round out at 595 "friends." (I'm thinking I should break the 600 mark soon enough, being in a new city and all.)

Facebook truly can be a time suck. There have been days when I've found myself looking at baby pictures for people I've only spent a week with in my entire life, or looking through countless wedding photos of a classmate I haven't talked to in at least five years. It is a fabulous way to keep up with who's pregnant, engaged, married or some combination of the afore-mentioned. In a lot of ways, its like a tabloid tailored to my life, with all the latest gossip about former classmates instead of celebrities.

But the powers of Facebook are not all pointless and/or evil. Given the places life has lead me, I do believe it would be impossible to foster relationships some people I genuinely enjoy without facebook. I can catch up with people I see only on a limited basis but like to think we would hang out and be real friends if we didn't live all over the country. Closer bonds might get a longer e-mail, or, if I'm feeling adventurous, a phone call. And, I did use Facebook to reconnect with some college and high school friends I'd lost touch with that were living in the same Big Apple as me.

If you're still reading, you might be thinking, "So what does all this rambling about Facebook have to do with the OSV article?" While I recommend reading it; it was interesting — one idea in particular popped out at me: According to Wally Metts, a professor of communications and media at Spring Arbor University in Michigan, "Trying to sustain hundreds of relationships will almost inevitably distract you from sustaining a few meaningful ones." Metts goes on to suggest limiting news feeds to report on only people "you geunuinely care about."

So tonight, that's just what I did. I went through the most recent days of random information about the nearly-600 so-called friends I have and "hid" anyone I haven't talked to since graduating college, as well as anyone I know I'm never going to have a meaningful relationship with. While this might sound a little harsh, I can still keep in touch with all these people should I need to without being constantly clued in on their daily lives. This frees up space to hear more about that handful of relatives, my close high school friends I left behind in Cincinnati, and the people who have really impacted my life in the past year and a half.

I think ultimately its going to prove to be very freeing.

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow

"April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks 'Go.'"
—Christopher Morley

Living in Arkansas, where you can practically blink and miss winter, made me forget how much appreciated the arrival of spring can be. Living in New York has made the arrival of the season much anticipated, particularly after a very cold, very wet Monday this week where I unintentionally walked the wrong direction going somewhere and arrived at my destination longing for warmth with jeans soaked practically to the knee.

All week I eagerly discussed the 80 degree weather predicted to be coming this weekend with colleagues, random friars in the elevator and a college classmate I bumped into on the subway platform. I was skeptical when Thursday was still fairly cold and trying not to get my hopes up Friday morning when it was still relatively chilly. I was even doubtful Saturday morning when I checked the temperature to find it was in the high 50s.

But sure enough, the temperature rose as the day went on and by the time I was ready to venture out it was somewhere in the 80s, just as promised.

Its amazing how much warmer weather can brighten a day and beckon you to be outside. Yesterday I walked to the grocery store and made a pasta salad for lunch (I also bought some strawberries and angel food cake for strawberry shortcake). After a bible study later in the evening, I couldn't believe I wasn't shivering in my short sleeves when the sun went down.

I strolled to church in warm weather for the first time this morning and took more time than usual making my way home. But that wasn't enough time outside for me. Sitting in my apartment knowing how warm and sunny it was outside I decided to go for a walk with no real destination. So I headed toward Williamsburg (the neighborhood next to Greenpoint, often described as being full of hipsters*) and the park. Mostly I just walked in and out of shops and didn't buy anything, although I did end up getting a few more groceries, a couple of blisters, and possibly a slight sunburn on my back (too soon to tell).

All in all, it was a lovely excursion that left me truly appreciating living in a place where I am walking distance to pretty much anything I need (not the case in Ohio) as well as some things I don't need but are still very interesting.

So now the important question: Is the weather going to stay this way? Well, the weather channel is predicting highs in the 80s tomorrow, and a high of 90(!) on Tuesday. Honestly, 90 degrees might be a little high for me, especially in April. After that it trickles down into the 60s and 70s.

And with that, I am exhausted.



*Definition of hipster, per UrbanDictionary.com: Listens to bands that you have never heard of. Has hairstyle that can only be described as "complicated." (Most likely achieved by a minimum of one week not washing it.) Probably tattooed. Maybe gay. Definitely cooler than you. Reads Black Book, Nylon, and the Styles section of the New York Times. Drinks Pabst Blue Ribbon. Often. Complains. Always denies being a hipster. Hates the word. Probably living off parents money — and spends a great deal of it to look like they don't have any. Has friends and/or self cut hair. Dyes it frequently (black, white-blonde, etc. and until scalp bleeds). Has a closet full of clothing but usually wears same three things OVER AND OVER (most likely very tight black pants, scarf, and ironic tee-shirt). Chips off nail polish artfully after $50 manicure...