tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post6367947332558928462..comments2023-12-18T07:59:16.525-05:00Comments on Hats and Rabbits: Killing Desire?Chris Matarazzohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17885109959459471509noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post-16723244331760346642019-05-24T10:51:11.833-04:002019-05-24T10:51:11.833-04:00Well, from what I know of you, it leaves me at lea...Well, from what I know of you, it leaves me at least a little hopeful!Chris Matarazzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17885109959459471509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post-58317273174242327012019-05-23T22:07:22.519-04:002019-05-23T22:07:22.519-04:00Well, at his age, I was probably in more or less t...Well, at his age, I was probably in more or less the same place...and I turned out okay! (Well, I turned out. How "okay" I turned out is still a subject of considerable debate.)Jeffhttp://www.quidplura.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post-55633791191313781782019-05-21T10:59:11.721-04:002019-05-21T10:59:11.721-04:00Hi, Carl. I'm glad you found my blog! I'm ...Hi, Carl. I'm glad you found my blog! I'm just kind of bringing it back to life -- been pretty irregular with posting for awhile. The trails I walk are in South Jersey. (At least for my daily walk.) Probably not connected to yours because they are pretty self-contained. In the middle of a town and situated around sand quarry. One of two really good systems in SJ, the other being in the Medford area. Only a few miles of trails, but good quality walking! Glad you like the site. I look forward to your perspectives on my posts.Chris Matarazzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17885109959459471509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post-75420668907788783802019-05-21T10:58:06.950-04:002019-05-21T10:58:06.950-04:00I sure hope I can convince them. I do see, at leas...I sure hope I can convince them. I do see, at least in my older sun, a sort of apathy for experience, sometimes. I often wonder if video games are part of the problem. BUT, there are a ton of other factors, too; even how their teachers teach them; the tech in schools; the realism of documentaries... In the end, if you are going to be a snob, an experience snob is the best kind, for sure! Chris Matarazzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17885109959459471509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post-8821101164858881362019-05-20T22:21:22.656-04:002019-05-20T22:21:22.656-04:00I think we're only in danger of extinguishing ...I think we're only in danger of extinguishing dreams if we wrongly tell young people that the things they manipulate pixels to do in video games are actual life experiences<br /><br />I've probably mentioned this before, but: when I was 20, I naively met up with my best friend in Europe, where he had been studying. I had maybe $900 in my pocket, meant to last a month. We wandered around with no real goals, but along the way we had run-ins with law enforcement, hitchhiked, scrounged for food, slept on ferry-terminal floors, got robbed, talked our way out of getting robbed again, hiked in the rain through spooky medieval churchyards, met a weird old ship captain, drank beer with a dude from the Swiss army, dropped in on stunned acquaintances who had said "drop in anytime you're in the area," located some of my friend's long-lost family, sang songs about witch-burnings at a midsummer bonfire feast, ate beans from a can on the cliffside overlooking King Arthur's legendary birthplace, and got lost, a lot.<br /><br />...and so help me, I came home a very particular sort of snob, because try as I might, I could no longer find video games or role-playing games appealing anymore. It's not that I thought my experiences were superior to other people's experiences; rather, it was clear to me that <i>any</i> real experience is superior to the illusion of an experience. Your delightful discovery of that hiking trail is more real than the best virtual-reality tour of Notre-Dame Cathedral, and your kids are luckier than many others for having a dad who knows that to be true.Jeffhttp://www.quidplura.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post-5802180182415520092019-05-20T11:54:40.929-04:002019-05-20T11:54:40.929-04:00Hi Chris. Love this post. Just discovered your blo...Hi Chris. Love this post. Just discovered your blog via a search for the Bull Durham story about LaLoosh etc. and came upon your post on it.<br /><br />I especially noticed your account in this post about the "trails" and wonder where that is. When you first mentioned it, a remembrance of a similar type spot I had discovered, though not so much walking trails as wide riding trails with secluded forest on either side and virtually no one around.<br /><br />I was even more excited after reading on and discovering that your "trails" were in NJ, which is where mine were. At first I thought maybe they were the same and though mine were in Mercer County (I think Lawrenceville but maybe, technically, just outside) until you said "20 miles" outside of Philly. I'm pretty sure mine were further away...but maybe connected in some way.<br /><br />Anyway, glad I discovered your site and your great posts. Keep up the good work. You do it well.carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13793765307265515730noreply@blogger.com