Freedom of Information (The Façade)
At work
they're very friendly.
Picture 40 people working together,
where 10 of them
have been working together
since the mid 1980's
and half the staff has been there
since the mid-to-late 1990's.
If you've been there less than 5 years,
you're "new".
(fun fact: I have never worked somewhere for 5 years)
Last weekend I went to our Development Director's 40th birthday
and it was 1/3rd co-workers,
1/3rd friends,
1/3rd family.
In fact, it was a family reunion of sorts
with people in from 5 or 6 states,
and some from Canada
to join in.
And I saw something
I've never actually seen before.
An intimate timeline.
Above the coolers were you could grab a near-beer or a soda...
above the tables covered in hot trays of rice, beans, and fruit...
next to the guestbook
and a map of their family tree
was a year-by-year timeline of my colleague.
Not just pictures and interests...
but every girlfriend he ever had was named
and the length of their dating was mapped out.
When he won awards in school.
Every paid job he ever had and for how long.
Every place he lived and for how long.
When he quit drinking.
When he started camping.
When he converted to Christianity.
When he started drinking again.
When he converted back to Atheism.
When he learned to swim.
When his partner had a miscarriage.
His favorite books at any given time.
When he traveled for pleasure, and where, with whom.
His divorce, his vasectomy, his health, his open-marriage
every volunteer job, every club membership
were all explicitly mapped
and contextualized chronologically
and against each other in an overlapping
color-coded dance of
pretty personal information.
I am not a particularly private person,
but I was surprised at the breadth of information revealed
and contextualized on it.
And I was ENCHANTED by it.
There was his 98 year old grandpa,
next to his executive boss,
next to a nephew,
all candidly studying this port-hole view
that maps out his life
(without hierarchical precedence or
judgmental tone)
full of successes,
and failures,
and love,
and habits,
and losses,
and choices,
and accidents,
and interests.
for all to see and know
in 22pt font
covering three poster boards.
From his first kiss to his first car
to the first time he quit college.
I thought it was beautiful.
Sure, its a lot of TMI....
.. but it's also a lot of trust.
Would you be interested in reading an acquaintance's intimate timeline?
If you had an intimate timeline of yourself,
who would you share it with?
Who would you not?
I think Livejournal is the best I have
for an intimate portrayal of me
over the years...
... but I rarely share it with people I know.
I've met people VIA this journal,
and then we became friends in real life.
And I have real-life friends/family who know about/read this place
but I definitely don't advertise to people in real life that I have this
semi-private/semi-public space
of personal sharing.
they're very friendly.
Picture 40 people working together,
where 10 of them
have been working together
since the mid 1980's
and half the staff has been there
since the mid-to-late 1990's.
If you've been there less than 5 years,
you're "new".
(fun fact: I have never worked somewhere for 5 years)
Last weekend I went to our Development Director's 40th birthday
and it was 1/3rd co-workers,
1/3rd friends,
1/3rd family.
In fact, it was a family reunion of sorts
with people in from 5 or 6 states,
and some from Canada
to join in.
And I saw something
I've never actually seen before.
An intimate timeline.
Above the coolers were you could grab a near-beer or a soda...
above the tables covered in hot trays of rice, beans, and fruit...
next to the guestbook
and a map of their family tree
was a year-by-year timeline of my colleague.
Not just pictures and interests...
but every girlfriend he ever had was named
and the length of their dating was mapped out.
When he won awards in school.
Every paid job he ever had and for how long.
Every place he lived and for how long.
When he quit drinking.
When he started camping.
When he converted to Christianity.
When he started drinking again.
When he converted back to Atheism.
When he learned to swim.
When his partner had a miscarriage.
His favorite books at any given time.
When he traveled for pleasure, and where, with whom.
His divorce, his vasectomy, his health, his open-marriage
every volunteer job, every club membership
were all explicitly mapped
and contextualized chronologically
and against each other in an overlapping
color-coded dance of
pretty personal information.
I am not a particularly private person,
but I was surprised at the breadth of information revealed
and contextualized on it.
And I was ENCHANTED by it.
There was his 98 year old grandpa,
next to his executive boss,
next to a nephew,
all candidly studying this port-hole view
that maps out his life
(without hierarchical precedence or
judgmental tone)
full of successes,
and failures,
and love,
and habits,
and losses,
and choices,
and accidents,
and interests.
for all to see and know
in 22pt font
covering three poster boards.
From his first kiss to his first car
to the first time he quit college.
I thought it was beautiful.
Sure, its a lot of TMI....
.. but it's also a lot of trust.
Would you be interested in reading an acquaintance's intimate timeline?
If you had an intimate timeline of yourself,
who would you share it with?
Who would you not?
I think Livejournal is the best I have
for an intimate portrayal of me
over the years...
... but I rarely share it with people I know.
I've met people VIA this journal,
and then we became friends in real life.
And I have real-life friends/family who know about/read this place
but I definitely don't advertise to people in real life that I have this
semi-private/semi-public space
of personal sharing.