What Will They Find in 100 years?

I've recently been thinking about our society and whether we will leave anything for our grandchildren to be proud of. What will historians 100 years from now find out about our society? Will they find ruined-out buildings that once housed Wal*Marts? [One can only hope] Will automobiles be a vestige of the past only to be found in boneyards and museums? Will technology go only so far and finally fail us as we toss away our laptops and other computer operated machineries? Will we go back to pre-industrial living if we run out of oil?

There are so many questions and so many ways to answer them. I personally think we are ruining this Earth and there will be very little left of natural resources in 100 years.

What do you think?

Renovating an Old House

This weekend and last we have been doing more renovations on our 70 year old house. Recently we've been putting trim up outside for the new windows we put in. We installed a new french door in the living room and a new front door as well. The weather has been perfect for doing all of this work!

We live in Stillwater one block from campus so our neighborhood has turned into a nightmare of rental housing. It's a shame since most of these houses are 80+ years old and full of character and nuance. Every time a house sells it sells to some parent who will parcel out the house to 3 or more renters. I get depressed sometimes when we renovate since our home will eventually become a rental unit.

On the up side the more renovations we do the more money we will get for the house. The more money we get the more land we can buy in Montana!

Communal Living

Lately I've been interested in the concept of communal living. Communes, to be exact. I'm thinking that if we ever run out of oil, we will have to live in smaller communities and walk or ride bikes everywhere we need to go. The hippies of the '60's had it right, I think, but unfortunately not very many communes made it. There are so many questions to be had, like should a commune have a leader? Who cooks? Who cleans? Who handles the money? What about health care?

Today we drive our cars long distances to go shopping. [In my case I do, I live in a small town]. If oil ever runs out, and some analysts contend that it will, what will we do? No more trips to Tulsa, no more commuting to school or work. We will be a pedestrian society. Communes will pop up everywhere as people try to make sense of what life has brought them. But communes will have a different purpose than they did in the '60's. It will be a purely survival tactic. In the '60's it was protest and the "back to the land" movement. It will be different next time.

I had a professor tell his class once that every 100 years a society disintigrates and rebuilds a different one. Will this happen to us? What will archeaologists of the future find out about us?

Are Vampires Sexy?

This weekend I will be writing a paper on childhood TV shows...my favourite to be exact. In 1968 my favourite show was Dark Shadows. I remember being completely mesmerised by this delicious production. Beautiful vampires, sexy vampires, eerie castles, lovely gowns, dashing men. I loved it all and I was only 6 years old!

Why are vampires sexy? Is it because they consume their victims so completely? Or is it because in most vampire movies/shows they are made to be that way?

Back in the day, when I would watch that show, I wanted to be one of those beautiful female vampires. That was my childhood fantasy. Of course today I have no such fantasy, but when I was a child I lived in a completely chaotic household and I think I wanted to slip into vampire mode just to escape the mayhem.

Speaking of being a child-vampire, it reminds me of my favourite vampire novel, Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. Claudia was made a vampire when she was very young by the beautiful Brad Pitt. I suppose that movie was the epitome of the sexy, beautiful vampire characters.