Thursday, July 20, 2006Moon Dance37 years ago today, we were all mesmerized by what was happening on our small, grainy black and white television screens.Three men. Walking. On the moon. It was fantastic. It was straight out of science fiction. It let us know, without a doubt, that the future would hold glorious, unimaginable things. We were married, on this day in 1969, to technology. It seduced us completely, by proving once and for all that the cold linearity of science could actually be used to conquer something as unattainable and romantic as the moon. The marriage, as is usually the case, both held up its end of the bargain, and let us down completely. We could not imagine, 37 years ago, the ways that technology would evolve. We all know what we have -- I don't have to list it all out -- and we all know how it both liberates and encumbers us. A day without email for me feels both like a stint in a sensory deprivation chamber and, simultaneously, the first day of a long summer vacation. Turning the phone off in a movie is a bold claim to being completely focussed and present, for two whole hours straight. (It's also absolutely imperative, if you want to claim yourself a member of civilized society.) So we know where technology went. But what happened to the romantic moon? She was left there and remains celibate and remote, up there in the sky. Technology harnessed her beauty for a few short years, then turned its attention to more worldly things. After the ultimate seduction, it seems, there's been almost 40 years of post-coital ennui. Technology and romance. Of course we use our electronics in a thousand ways to help enhance the romance in our lives. That is why technology turned its attentions away from the sky, of course, at least one of the reasons. Hooking people up down here on planet earth is far more lucrative than throwing a lassoo around the moon. Yes, it's nice to say we've been there and done that, but meanwhile how can we cross-hatch our ability to fuck with each other (in both ways) with even more granularity? I guess I want the moon back. I don't want MacDonald's franchises and Starbucks up there, which was the big fear 37 years ago (or would be if we'd known about Starbucks yet). I want the IM'ing and the texting and the emailing and the cell phones to be quiet long enough for us to find the wonder of space, both out in the cosmos and inside our own bodies and lives. I want us to see each other again with a shimmer of mysticism and wonder. I want that moment in front of the TV, watching as romance unfolds, jaw agape and heart fluttering. # posted by Katherine Doughtie Nolan @ 7:16 AM  
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