Tuesday, August 05, 2014

A few subversive Facebook "Likes"


Well --- I've spent the early morning catching up on Facebook rather than writing, so about the only option left is to write about that, specifically "Likes," which I like --- offering as they do a form of vicarious relationship short of "Friend" that keeps a constant feed of interesting stuff flowing in.

Among the latest is Jim Longnecker's and Shane Pence's We Quit Our Jobs To Ride Our Bicycles, a kind of self-explanatory title. These are a couple of gay guys on a prolonged tour of the American West, focusing on scenery --- and beer. They're also terrific photographers, so the flow of scenic photos is worth the price (free) of admission for those who enjoy traveling vicariously.


I've followed Abandoned Iowa on Flickr and Tumblr for quite some time, but recently "liked" this guy's Facebook page, too. He specializes, as he puts it, in photographs that document "the forgotten, the collapsed, and the condemned" in the Hawkeye state.

My fantasies about living stylishly are so far unrealized, but it's fun to pursue them vicariously. So I started following P. Allen Smith, an Arkansas-based addition to a stable that already includes --- of course --- the "fabulous" Beekman 1802 Boys and Martha Stewart.

Religion remains a continuing source of bemused amazement, but I'm into the Christian left rather than the Christian right, especially the post-Christian potential of defanged and working faith. So I "like" Frank Schaeffer, author of "Why I Am and Atheist Who Believes in God"; Brian D. McLaren, another of those left-wingers; and Jim Palmer, author most recently of "Notes from (Over) the Edge."

If any of these sites seem like they might trip your trigger, have fun.

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