Skip to main content

Looking back at history

I've often wondered about how the recording of history would be affected by so much online communication. A few years ago my family got some things out of storage we'd put in storage before moving to Germany. Twenty years later things that seemed so precious now mostly looked like junk. One of the  treasures, in my eyes, however, were letters my mother had written home during her time as a Red Cross worker in Vietnam in 1969. They were so interesting! What I'm sure seemed like boring routine to the eyes of 1969 was so informative to the eyes of 2006. 

 But today we text and blog and facebook. None of it is written down in diaries or journals to be discovered by family or historical researchers in a hundred years. Would we lose our history? 

 Take this blog for example, as lousy as it has been in recent years. It records much of what it's like to live with Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (and other life things from time to time). How might that inform a future world of medicine? What if in all the progress we're making in genetics, someday everyone knows so much about their genes they don't live with unknowns the way we do. What if those of us who know we're  going to get sick before it happens are breaking  ground from a life experience standpoint that someday everyone has to encounter? What if there's value to my boring day to day that could one day be very enlightening to historians? 

 I'm happy to say there is someone out there archiving the internet world, including blogs. Sadly, I found by little blog wasn't archived. Well, I can't say I'm surprised - grin! But, it is nice to realize this thought has occurred to a number of academics. (Not that I'm surprised - I just never  knew the answer.) 

Here's the site: http://archive.org/web/web.php
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ratner's Cheesecake

Here's another recipe from Toby! Thanks Toby......and I'll get the others posted soon! Ratner's Cheesecake and plain cookies Ratner's was a Jewish dairy restaurant in the lower East Side of Manhattan. This recipe, from my disintegrating, no longer in print Ratner's cookbook, is the closest I've ever gotten to reproducing the rich, heavy cheesecake my mother made when I was a kid. It's worth the time it takes to prepare and every last calorie. Dough Can be prepared in advance. Makes enough for two cakes. Can be frozen or used to make cookies – see recipe below. 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup shortening 1 teaspoon lemon extract 1 cup butter 2 eggs 3 cups sifted cake flour ½ teaspoon salt 2 cups all purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1. In a bowl, combine all ingredients with hands. Refrigerate 3 -4 hours, or preferably overnight. Filling (for...
1 comment
Read more

The next generation with Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome

I'm so behind on posting about the trip to Puerto Rico. Since the episode of Mystery Diagnosis on Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome ran right after we got home, it's been a little busy. These, however, are my favorite pictures from Puerto Rico. I know, not pretty senery etc - but these little guys and gals inspire me. They are the next generation of folks with HPS, and if we keep up the hard work, they will live better lives because of it. They motivate me.
Post a Comment
Read more

The blog is back, I hope

  What started as a way to share news about HPS and what it is like to live with Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome has fallen apart badly! There are a lot of reasons for this. Some are related to health. Some are related to time. And some are related to mental health. Finally, the last obstacle was technical. I lost access to my blog. Every time I started to work on regaining access, something interrupted the process and I’d have to start all over again. Before you say it, I know. A blog is so old school. Haven’t you heard of a vlog Heather? Or maybe TikTok? I know my limits. I have a great face for radio. I’m not particularly eager to film myself. When I do, I feel I need to spend extra time putting on makeup or fixing my hair. Yet, often when I have the time to do something like this, it is early in the morning or late at night. I don’t want to “get ready.” I’m having a hard enough time squeezing this in without staging myself. Grin. I’m trying to start with small goals. Right now, I...
Post a Comment
Read more