A series of events:
In 2006, I wrote a post about a piece of ephemera I found at a flea market, an invitation to a 1927 Chicago dance.
In 2012, I found online a 1925 newspaper photograph of the orchestra providing the music for that dance, A. Pellegrino and His Original Alabama Syncopators. I made a post with the photograph and a transcription of the caption, which included the names of the group’s seven musicians.
This past Friday and Saturday, I heard from trombonist Pasquale Venuso’s son Pat Jr. and Pat’s daughter Michelle. I was hoping when I transcribed that caption that someone searching for a relative’s name might find it there. Michelle did, and got in touch. Pat Jr. and I exchanged e-mails too. (He writes a beautiful e-mail.)
In 2007, when Orange Crate Art turned three, I wrote this:
The deepest and most unpredictable rewards of keeping this blog have come in the form of comments and e-mails. The responses to posts about my friend Aldo Carrasco and my professor Jim Doyle have shown me the ways in which the Internet can bring people together, not only across space but also across time.It’s still true.
comments: 2
So much for the supposed isolating impact of the Internet. Of course it has that potential (as does any pastime) but it's more likely to result in connecting with more people than you ever would have before. Like you and me, for example.
Or you and me. :) I wonder whether it’s the Internet itself or ready access to a device that tends toward solation. My image of it again: a dozen students waiting to get into a classroom, each one on a device, no one talking to anyone.
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