Wary as an elephant on the internet (8.17.2020)

Did you hear about Mara the elephant? Her story moved me to write. (Her name is MARA, for crying out loud.) I rarely hear of anyone - human or otherwise - with that name so I couldn't help but draw some comparisons between her life and mine. She's in a great place now, but she wasn't always. I think the same is true for me, but why?

Well, I got big-time spooked. A while back I high-tailed it out of facebookland and didn't look back, because: - Without my permission, a picture I shared as part of a post was taken from my profile and reached the front page of Reddit. It went big for a day or so, but the feeling of disgust, and mistrust, lasted much longer. - After the emotional havoc of the 2016 election, I found myself where I imagine several of us have been: subject to the whimsy of the Algorithms of Misinformation. (How exceedingly well-executed, Russia! P.S. - thanks, Facebook) I discovered I had unwittingly become part of the dangerous propaganda machine we've inherited by sharing bogus info from inaccurate sources.

Ew. I ghosted. (If you reached out to me in the past 2 years and I never responded, I'm sorry.) It was really amazing to clear my psyche of the digital noise and the emotional roller coaster of the casual scroll. (I humbly encourage anyone and everyone to try disconnecting for a while. Even in this pandemical world... actually, especially BECAUSE of it.)

So... Why am I back? Because the collective energy of so many taking their heads out of the sand and looking around is too much to miss out on; because I realized that I should be the last person to silence my voice; because I've learned how to be vigilant about checking the sources for anything that lands in front of my eyes; because I have developed useful tools for managing my emotions (no more need for triggered facebook posts); because I'm finally learning about the strength that comes from vulnerability.

I really did miss y'all. Who wants to catch up? I mean, really catch up. Not on my facebook wall, but through a text or a phone call or private messaging. Also, I've waded into the Instagram world, which I resisted for so long. LMK if I need to come find you on there.

(Read about Mara the elephant here: https://www.nytimes.com/.../coronavirus-elephants...)