Someone at the last class (Joe, my dear friend and ex-husband?) said that no one goes bowling any more, no one belongs to the Elks Club. Agreed. We are all so busy with our "main" lives that we don't carve out that escape-from-reality place like our forefathers (and mothers) did. I guess we don't value it as we should.
Well, you guys are my lodge, my bowling team, my Starlight Lodge (that's was a women's club in the Catskills). Once a week, I get to just hang and talk with an interesting group of people. What I do for a living, how my kids are, what my husband's name is, whether I can pay the mortgage, all not relevant. It's a sanctuary of sorts, and the closeness is a product of blogging and sharing our thoughts with each other. But I thought it was just me, or just a couple of us mushy, emotive types. Then I listened to Eric's blog...
Anyone for one last post-class gathering Thursday night?
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7 comments:
Yeah, a post-class meeting might be good to ease us out of it. I just hope we don't all start bawling. Okay, maybe I'm just hoping I don't start bawling.
I suspect the quote you were looking for isn’t that no one goes bowling anymore. Plenty of people still bowl. The real issue is that no one belongs to bowling leagues anymore. We have lost our sense of community and civic engagement. It was this observation that prompted Robert Putnam to write his famous book, Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community .
Blogging can be a tool to help people return to a sense of community and civic engagement. It is part of why I blog, both personally, and for the various political blogs I write for.
As to “The Lodge we are”, I write for Orient Lodge. I used the historic name of my house for the name of the blog. Yet I was well aware that the Mason’s call their lodges ‘Orient Lodges’ as well.
The community around Colin’s class may disperse, but you are all welcome to continue to hang out at Orient Lodge, and for those of you that keep blogging, I will keep stopping by.
Also, I'd like to know about all your "private" blogs, if you wish. You can e-mail me if you do not want to make a public connection between your two blogs. I promise I will not reveral the connection.
Just E-Mailed my paper to McE. I'm definitely up for a post-class party.Don't let Brett start bawling, again.
Just E-Mailed my paper to McE. I'm definitely up for a post-class party.Don't let Brett start bawling, again.
Good idea to gather after class! Even for procrastinators who haven't even started narrowing down the hundred possibile topics for a paper (you know who we are!).
And let's be certain to get our beer (or margaritas, as the case may be) in pitchers.
I'm a little late on this one, but I wanted to toss in my .02 nonetheless. Do you really think elks/vfw/orderofthesacredwaterbuffalo are really ways to "escape reality"? I dig what you said about "What I do for a living, how my kids are, what my husband's name is, whether I can pay the mortgage, all not [being] relevant", but don't micrcommunties help us to develop relationships with eachother and open up more than we would on our own? I know I miss you guys, and Thursday nights, even if you are convinced that I'm a closely guarded cynical misanthrope ;)
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