"Instead of lots of people saying, “You know, somebody should … ” there were lots of people saying, “So I did this, this, and this” - Postman pondering Orwellian (control) v Huxlean futures (indifference), media not as means of communication but shaping our conversations - indifference - what do you plan to do (in 1984? nothing) - what's new? What's the difference between classroom and American idol auditions - (dis)engagement? "escaping from the anonymity of modern life" (Henry Canby in 1926!) - Being on the assembly line, existing in suburbia, connected only by roads - a brief history of 'whatever', meh, here we are now, entertain us - generations - narcissism and search for identity (in culture that doesn't give it) - knowing ourselves through relations, new media enabling new conversations, new way of knowing - a new language, remixing Charlie (ouch!): masks, constructing identity - tension between values of individuality and community - we speak video - lets do whatever it takes

"Reviewing Maine books for the past seven, almost eight years for Maine Life and other publications, I begin to feel like the great film director, Federico Fellini, who once remarked, "I read all these books about Rome so as to forget what Rome was like.""