Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Confessions of a Calendar Luddite

Yes, I have a PDA. Of course I use Outlook. But my REAL calendar ... the one that counts ... looks like this:
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It's not that I'm technology averse. In fact, not long ago a media consultant we were working with told me I was "remarkably techno savvy for my demographic." (Let's not go there.) But when it comes to my calendar, I like what I like. And today, I got a new one ...

... which totally makes it feel like the first day of school ... with this blank slate of program year stretched out in front of me ... ready to be filled up with work and witness, mission and ministry, and ... (if I'm paying attention to balancing my life like I'm supposed to be doing!) ... rest and recreation.
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I'm a long time, unrepentant Luddite when it comes to calendars. Exhibit A is this shelf behind my desk where I have all the "save to hard-drive" calendars from years past ready to be referred to at a moment's notice.

No, it may not be quite as efficient as being able to hit "search" on your desktop and find a past appointment or date or time ... but what I miss in the cyber calendar are the notes scribbled in the margins, the doodles along side the dates, the post-it-notes reminding me of the to-do lists that never actually got done ... and that the world kept spinning anyway.
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What will 2009 hold? A January Inauguration and a July General Convention are already on the list ... I've got Board meetings already scheduled in the spring an Urban Caucus Assembly in February and an HRC Capitol Hill action in May ... and who knows what else will come along as "our days increase."
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When I took my now-dog-eared 2008 calendar out of it's plastic wrapper about this time last year, could I have even IMAGINED that it would end up being full of dates for the weddings of same-sex couples who were finally granted marriage equality in the state of California? Or that on the 4th of November we will have the very real possibility of ACTUALLY sending Barack Obama to the White House?
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No sir-ee Bob!
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So bring it on ... I'll take all the YouTube and iTunes and podcasts and live-streaming webchat stuff you can throw my way in 2009. Me and my Luddite calendar are ready to rock and roll!

5 comments:

Fran said...

I am so so so with you on this one. People see me blogging and social networking away, but when it comes to the calendar... paper matters to me.

Great post.

And may this calendar for the year ahead be blessed with many days of joy, feasts of love and celebrations of faith.

Ann said...

Absolutely -- paper is best for a calendar - in fact I have one on my desk and one in my bag. The electronic one is great for reminding me of family birthdays tho.

Caminante said...

Time to get 2009... and you can always tell it from other people's liturgical calendar by its Iglesia Anglicana Episcopal de El Salvador sticker on its cever.

Elizabeth Kaeton said...

YEAH. Three power women I love and admire use paper calendars - just like me.

That means I can't be wrong.

Woo hoo!

cp said...

Where do you get that? It looks sooo cool.