Baratunde Thurston's Internet "Detox"

Baratunde Thurston

Creating an online recollection of one's detox "vacation" from the digital world takes a combination of imagination, chutzpah, and time. The writer Baratunde Thurston produced such a work, which appeared in fastcompany.com and is featured in recent editions of The Washington Post.

It would be easy to pick apart the inconsistencies in Thurston's approach, such as having a "chief of staff" handle his timely professional contingencies during his sabbatical. How many mere mortals have the equivalent of an industry valet? In fairness, he's aware of them and does consider them in his entertaining piece. What's far more interesting is his discovery of the difficulty fully disconnecting from the digital networks. Thurston discovered that the principal social media firms make adieu from their data empires nearly impossible to execute. This awareness seems much more ironic now, in the wake of our sense of the depths of data mining undertaken by the military-technology complex (to restate Dwight Eisenhower's famous characterization).

Thurston's story embraces plenty of wit, a warm sense of humanity, and self-awareness that's mostly refreshing and occasionally promotional. You should read it before you decide to unplug, either temporarily or permanently.

Texas City Transforms Abandoned Walmart Into Public Library

Once a Walmart, now a public library
(photo and associated story from Latina)

In a rare instance of civic development jiu-jitsu, the South Texas city of McAllen has transformed the ugly duckling of an abandoned Walmart into a charming prince of a public library. The approximately 124,000 square foot structure is now the largest single-story library in the United States. Its presence has encouraged patronage, as the library has experienced a 23% registration increase since the former Walmart structure's rehabilitation. The story about McAllen's library initiative appeared in the Co.Exist portion of Fast Company.

The irony is that a library's physical presence still has important community impact. This is especially true in areas with high poverty levels, such as Texas' Rio Grande Valley, where McAllen is situated. There are some things e-books just don't replace: a physical sense of community is among them.

Bravo, McAllen!