The window on my left side

as I sit facing the west

while the sun rises behind me…

watching the colors and textures ..

There is something about the light rays that come down from behind as the sun rises

Something in the way they reflect on the colors and textures around me

the way they caress the leaves of the trees outside the window

the leaves changing colours as fall sets in

but nonetheless reminding me of the coconut leaves whispering to me

as I sat at another window to my left side

facing westward

Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2003 22:31:07 -0400
To: sa-cyborgs@lists.village.virginia.edu
From: radhika gajjala
Sender: owner-sa-cyborgs@lists.village.virginia.edu
Reply-To: sa-cyborgs@lists.village.virginia.edu
I have such stories to tell . . .
how will I tell them to you?
what will I weave them into
weaving in and out
talking in code
which code will you understand
will you understand why
why i use code?
is the code I use what you can read in between?
what are you reading in the code I write today?
why are you understanding this and not that
that and not this
i will sit under my virtual tree and tell you the stories
sentencesrunningintoeachotherstoriesrunningagainsteachot
heryoursandmineaswespeakandweaveweaveandspeak and
listen . . .
and interweave. . . .
what story does my coding say to you today?
what raaga is my tune falling into?

Okay now that M has her own email address and K wondered about blogging for her - I have now officially started a next generation blog - let’s see if they pick up on it

we go back to asking what is “real” what makes something “real” and what is “virtual” and how do these two terms travel through time and context and acquire meaning based on values and social philosophies embedded in everyday living and meaning making….

Okay now that I have raised the issue of alts in my previous post - I will need to unpack that -eh?

but I have to rush to work now so will come back and edit this post to elaborate on the alt vs clone discussion happening in my head at the moment.

We started with looking at racialization - but we are also finding so many located, contextual offline practices that are being recoded online…nothing new really (others have written about how this happens in various cultural venues) - but its in the way they are being (re)done in online worlds such as secondlife that is interesting. These are practices based in marketing, trading and global exchange of material (whether fabric or hair) needed to “build” identities (even offline - for centuries) in relation to currently existing hierarchies of appearance…. (”fashion” if you like - but more on that some other time).

C, C and I are now looking at some of this in relation to Race and Technology in Sims and in SL - I need to go back and try WoW I suppose…

of course the key is - when the examination shifts from re-presentation and text to practices what happens (and I have written about this before in relation to other sites … …)

On another note…

sometimes an alt that no one recognizes is the only way to get work done - I wish I could have a few of those in RL… sigh

busy offline with semester beginning - hope to have something to post eventually…

This morning - catching up with online stuff - I found myself on the racism review much to my pleasant surprise - although I dont explicitly blog about politics or the political scene(s) worldwide.

We have a mega incoming class again this year (last year was tiny). Great fun meeting everyone - am looking forward to getting to know them.

read in the basement these days. So when I have to get connected - I have to run up two flights of stairs to my room where all the connecting gadgets are lying around…

(I have stopped having the laptop in the living room)

This means that when I am dying to share something with A or S or someone else about something I am reading I have to run up and blog in my private blogs or send email or find my cell phone (we dont have a ground line) ….

But of course the time zones dont always cooperate - so it usually is email or blogging.

Okay - back to the basement.