Change I can write about

This is my weekly column that ran in the Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune.

Change I can write about
By Aaron J. Brown

You’re never supposed to start a column with the words, “I didn’t know what to write about so (insert pop culture reference or observation of the weather).”

It’s a good rule, one that I fully understand. This rule was explained to me years ago by a seasoned newspaper professional, the kind of person now working at Arby’s. But that doesn’t change what goes on in the mind of a writer whose deadlines never change even when the government does.

I finally entered the 21st century of column writing the other day. I wrote several months ago that I had begun participating in Facebook, a social networking website. Facebook, along with Twitter, MySpace and similar services, have become everyday realities for some while many others remain – deliberately or unknowingly – oblivious. That’s a pity. The Facebook phenomenon is part of the reason Barack Obama was just sworn into office this week after scores of people were organized to do campaign work through the site vast network of young people.

But I wasn’t interested in votes the other day. Nor was I thinking of change, even though that was this week’s overriding theme. I was thinking of getting my job done, the job of writing a column for you. I posted a status update (a brief statement of what I’m doing right now) that said I was looking for ideas for a column. I was not disappointed.

First, one friend suggested I talk about how great Wal-Mart is. That didn’t stick with me. Another friend suggested I talk about soup, the subject of a recent essay I wrote for a show on KAXE. I was tired of soup. The first friend then suggested I write about “A Day in the Life of Aaron Brown As Told By His Household Appliances.” This led to an exchange about microwaves, razors and blenders among several friends. Oh the tales those implements could tell!

Then the conversation took a decidedly different turn when yet another friend pointed out that the inauguration of Barack Obama was especially significant for the increasingly globalized Iron Range economy. My next friend suggested I explore how life would be different for the Obama’s yet unnamed new dog as compared to previous first pets. The next idea: what the labor movement means to the Obama generation. It was at this point that I realized that my Facebook friends were serving as a crude but serviceable replacement for my actual brain. Roughly speaking, this sort of rapidly changing narrative is what I hear inside my skull every waking hour. I turned up the TV to take in the football game that was on that night. I could go for some chips, I thought. Yes, I will have some chips, I further thought.

Meantime, back in Facebook, my friends were talking about the enduring memory that products sold during TV infomercials seemed to create. The ShamWow, for instance, claims to hold up to 20 pounds of liquid, far exceeding the capabilities of your standard issue washcloth. The Saves-A-Blade is great, said my friend. And then a teacher friend went back to the news of the day, talking about the tireless work going into inauguration cookies at her school. After more deliberation, one final friend said that this whole discussion seemed worthy of a column. I agreed.

In deference to this new age, a hat tip to my “superfriends”: Josh, Kristina, Paul, Jean, C. Ryan, Scott, Melissa, Heidi, Kelly, Susan, and Chris. Without them, this column never would have existed. Just think what social networking could do on a broader scale!

Oh yeah. It can get a freshman senator from Illinois, by way of Hawaii, Indonesia, and New York, elected president even though his middle name is the same as the deposed and executed dictator from the country we just occupied in an unpopular war he opposed. It can change the world, not immediately or as overwhelmingly as some would suggest, but quite a bit. Maybe even enough.

ShamWow!

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune. He keeps a blog at Minnesotabrown.com. His book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” is out now.

Comments

  1. Obama’s gonna change the world!!!

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