Confessions

"Hi, my name is Anne..."

"HI ANNE."

"and I am a......geek."

(stunned silence)

"No, I don't bite the heads off live chickens. I don't attend Star Trek conventions in full Trekkie (Trekker?) regalia (or at all)."

(audience shows signs of hopefulness)

"I have never watched Babylon 5."

(stunned silence from the original statement is abating)

"However....I like technology but not for its own sake. I like watching the ways it brings people together and not how it isolates them. I like interactive entertainment. I thrive when people express their creative spirit. Technology is part of life but IT IS NOT LIFE ITSELF."

(The apparently hard core audience begin rummaging through their Comdex SWAG emblazoned bags in search of torches. I am relieved that all of the lighters were confiscated by the government)

"Tech is addictive. It is blatant but also insidious. Sometimes it is just time to TURN THE DAMN STUFF OFF."

(A resourceful audience member is trying to create fire from the chemical compounds derived from some poor woman's purse. Apparently the blue dye from a pack of playing cards contains a small level of iodine. A little lipstick, an Altoid, and ammonia from somewhere (God knows and I WILL NOT ASK). I could be in trouble.)

"Remember that each of our lives touch others. That INTERACTION is what makes life grow. LIVE your lives. BE with people."

(A puff of blue smoke emits from the Chemical Experiment. There is a cheer. Luckily the torches have all been taken off to the other side of the room for a lightsaber battle complete with vocal sound effect. I have a moment.)

"Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. Congratulations to Stacy and Mike on their new daughter T'Pau. Ooh, you actually got that lit! T'Pau will of course be spoiled by her Aunt Anne and this is still the strangest family reunion that I have EVER heard of. "