On Twitter:
I’ve come late to Twitter and I’ve had a hard time committing; too often it seems like a bunch of people talking at once. It also marks a danger zone for me. For time wasting, which I seem prone to, and also because, as someone who reads the people column in the Washington Post, it’s not such a good idea for me to have access to the mundane musings of thousands of celebrities. For the record, I’m only following about 80 people, most of them related to kidlit. But not all. I don’t have much interest in the likes of Paris Hilton, but I will admit to getting a little thrill when I witnessed William Shatner sending birthday greetings to Levar Burton. (I follow Burton because of the late, great Reading Rainbow.) I follow Judd Apatow for his movie recommendations, although lately he seems to just be watching The Bachelor. And I follow the Mythbusters crew, collectively and individually, because I’m not beyond wanting to impress my kids.
And then yesterday, something happened that made me love Twitter: Judy Blume retweeted me! And suddenly the world seemed smaller and Twitter made sense. There’s not much more to the story: I have always remembered that March 8 was Margaret Simon’s birthday. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret had a profound effect on me growing up — to the point that when I’ve had to write my bio for a conference or an article, it has occasionally read: Madelyn Rosenberg would not have survived middle school if it weren’t for Judy Blume. I still think of Margaret as a friend. So I tweeted about Margaret’s birthday, and included @judyblume in the tweet. I fell asleep putting the kids to bed. When I woke up later, I’d been retweeted by Judy, which for me is something like being retweeted by the Queen of England. And then I lived happily ever after.
As long as I’m talking about technology: We become used to technological changes so quickly now that we often forget to be blown away. Two little things I’ve seen lately that remind me I live in The Future.
– My son skyping with his friend, who moved to Brazil. I love it when she carries her computer into their yard to show him the lizards.
– The new Coke Freestyle drink machine at Elevation Burger. (Apparently the future is soda.)
“We become used to technological changes so quickly now that we often forget to be blown away.”
For me, the internet is the big one. It’s hard to believe the internet hasn’t been around for all that long, and yet now it’s the first place most of us go for information of all sorts.
Then there are the changes with phones, from VoiceMail to cell phones. I remember how it was to be tethered to the phone if you were waiting for an important call. If you went out, you had no way of knowing if the person had called.
Judy Blume…now that is AMAZING (both that she is ON Twitter and that retweeeted you)!!! And, look at you…actually remembering Margaret’s birthday. I still have such vivid memories from her stories ~ the glitter toothbrush that the boy gives his grandmother in “Then Again, Maybe I Won’t” pops into my mind every time I shop for toothbrushes. I wonder if…somewhere…there is a grad student writing a thesis on the impact that Judy Blume made on the psyche of young girls everywhere (just think…”Blubber”, “Deenie”, “Starring Sally J. Freedman…”). She completely shaped how I perceive the personalities of others.
OMG I WOULD DIE. I would just die. Judy freaking Blume! *swoons*