Someday, I hope I will compose a poignant tweet
Writing a memoir has taught me one thing very clearly:
I tweet about the wrong things.
What do I post? Reactions to the Browns games. Selfies with new outfits. Bragging about having actually exercised.
I exist online in a self-enforced mode of triviality. What are nice, non-controversial things to post about? What would lightly entertain? It's not that I don't have these deep, controversial opinions, I just don't want to bother answering the angry attacks by people who disagree. I am a hostess, politely keeping chatter along.
Still, I've always assumed I'd post any momentous happenings in my life. "That was a day that changed me," I think, starting to write a chapter of my memoir, "I should check my tweets and blog entries to make sure I have the facts straight."
"Oh, no mention of the momentous events - but I did buy a new dress that week."
We don't know what's momentous at the time. When we are asked, "So what have you been up to, lately?" no one ever knows what to say, do they? At least I never do. In the year where I went to Clarion, even. "Oh, nothing. What have you been up to?"
The real important stuff happens unnoticed while we compose tweets about lunch.
I tweet about the wrong things.
What do I post? Reactions to the Browns games. Selfies with new outfits. Bragging about having actually exercised.
I exist online in a self-enforced mode of triviality. What are nice, non-controversial things to post about? What would lightly entertain? It's not that I don't have these deep, controversial opinions, I just don't want to bother answering the angry attacks by people who disagree. I am a hostess, politely keeping chatter along.
Still, I've always assumed I'd post any momentous happenings in my life. "That was a day that changed me," I think, starting to write a chapter of my memoir, "I should check my tweets and blog entries to make sure I have the facts straight."
"Oh, no mention of the momentous events - but I did buy a new dress that week."
We don't know what's momentous at the time. When we are asked, "So what have you been up to, lately?" no one ever knows what to say, do they? At least I never do. In the year where I went to Clarion, even. "Oh, nothing. What have you been up to?"
The real important stuff happens unnoticed while we compose tweets about lunch.