Launch of my tour of California at HASTAC II

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Information Superhighway to Nowhere

Ted Stevens would be appalled.
Submitted by jonathan.tarr on May 23, 2008 - 1:59am.
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I'm happy to have landed in California in time for the launch of HASTAC II.  You can see Cathy Davidson's most recent blog entry for the full agenda and join us in this space for the experiences of various attendees (yes, I promise it won't be only me).  I have wonderful notes on Howard Rheingold's opening keynote, entitled "Literacies, Collective Action, Participatory Media," and will share them later.

Right now, though, I want to take a different approach: today is the start of my weeklong tour of California. To ready myself for the experience, to clear my mind (and, by extension, my blog) of the detritus of California popular culture and unflattering impressions that I feel unable to escape, the car chases on KTLA, the single bike rack lost in the parking lots of Dodger Stadium, the recalled governors, and so on, I offer this:

 What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families
shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the
avocados, babies in the tomatoes!--and you, Garcia Lorca, what
were you doing down by the watermelons? ~Allen Ginsberg, A Supermarket in California   

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Posted on: May 23, 2008 - 12:50pm #1
Great intro, Jonathan!
Here's to hoping the the peaches and penumbras are not cell phones and laptops. bww
Posted on: May 23, 2008 - 1:02pm #2
Or maybe I could write the
Or maybe I could write the sequel: A Parking Garage in California.
Posted on: May 24, 2008 - 9:42am #3
Ginzberg, Lorca, Parking Garages
At HASTAC without a laptop (by design:  it's an experiment!), I love reading your blog and the other livebloggers to see all I've missed.  This conference is so full and alive that you have to be at least three people at once to take it all in and, thanks to you and the other livebloggers, I almost feel that way.   Thanks so much, and the photographs are just beautiful.   My one regret:  missing the auto-rumble in the parking garage.  Now, that is a SoCal experience!