On the Phone

What we gain from the narrowed, sensory-restricted form of distant communication enriches our full sensory experience of the present? Maybe we need new definitions. I think present has largely meant physically present, though my yoga teacher would say that one should be fully present in a particular place, meaning emotionally and mentally in attendance as well. I started a post a few days ago on this subject, then unintentionally hit a key that made my words disappear. But I'd been thinking about the old-style phones. About the condition of being "on the phone", a presence within a presence. A person would be "there", say home or in the office, but "on the phone".
    Did I mention that when I was last in NY I took the train from there to Chicago and when my sister picked me up I complained about cell phone talkers that had plagued an otherwise peaceful ride west. She asked me why they bothered me more than people having a conversation behind me. I'm still thinking about the why, but so far I feel it has something to do with the absence/presence issue. I feel that the balance has shifted and some people purposely avoid their surroundings, including people with whom they might or might have interacted, by talking on their phones. They prefer to inhabit whatever spaces they have checked into via their cells. I haven't read the book you refer to on your p0ps blog, The Social Life of Information, but from what you say, the author also seems to be concerned about the loss of the social context of communication.
    In good plays the audience feels strongly present at the fictional proceedings, engrossed in the invented action. The challenge for the playwright is to create a work that achieves that effect. Last week I saw a play that was nominated for the Pullitzer a few years back. Thom Paine. It was part of our PUsh Festival, which offers new and/or risky work. It had received great acclaim when it premiered in NY. And did it disappoint me. It's a one man show about a fellow who has suffered some boyhood and relationship trauma and become existential and dark about it. Though the actor did a good job, the gimmickry - confronting the audience, leaving the stage, talking in the dark - bugged me. Everyone I've talked to about it felt virtually the same. Out of curiosity, I looked up some web reviews and found a headline from The Washington Post. Thom Paine - The Hype Hurts. That reviewer felt the same as I did. It makes you wonder what NY reviewers found so special about it. Was the reaction was a NY reaction? Making the play provinical for all it's urban slick?
    Small progress to report on my book. Three pages. That I might end up tossing, or deleting, I should say. I'm going to try a first-person voice for this one and I'm not sure I have it right yet, but it feels imminent. And I have started it. The holidays distracted me, then prep for a new term. Now there's hockey. As the season moves into the early second half the Canucks have picked up steam and are playing like the great team they can be. And we have a Federal Election on Monday. Polls say the Conservative leader will win this one, but I hope not. Some of us worry about him cozying up to George Bush. I hope these fears turn out to be groundless if he is elected.
    Tomrrow is Sunday and you describe yourself as a Sunday painter. What are you working on? Still collaborating with Ruth?