A Pale Moon’s Shadow

Shelley Powers catches onto the millenialism that seems to be percolating around about blogging (see Jeneane Sessum’s, Ralph Brandi’s, and Antonella Pavese’s

posts on the subject).

Shelley sums up — or unravels? — one of the mysteries of online connectedness:

[from A Pale Moon’s Shadow]

Communities, friendships, a sense of companionship and sharing can’t be made or broken through the use of tools. If anything, when we become friends through our online associations, we have done something extraordinary–we have reached beyond the limits of technology and created something human, and real.

But it’s a fragile reality–like the shadow of a pale moon.

And — although I have gone back to using an RSS reader on my desktop, for Basecamp alerts — I still maintain that a hunter/gatherer wandering around model is best. I am happier with a blogroll, tracking through tags and links, and living outside the RSS machinery. Staying closer to that sensation of the pale moon shadow, headed across the clearing to the neighborhood bar for an evening telling lies and singing loud, with a few good friends.