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Today Wikipedia is dark. An extraordinary decision by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales to protest two bills now before Congress. “The protest is aimed at the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the Protect Intellectual Property Act under consideration in the Senate,” reported Fox News. Both bills would, in essence, censor the freedom of the Internet.
I believe in protest and applaud Wales’ decision to shut down one of the Internet’s most visited sites, but I can imagine college students, just back in class, having just received a research assignment, going to Wiki this morning and finding it dark. What a shock! Information is not necessarily at a fingertip distance. The shutdown is only for 24 hours so I don’t expect them to go scurrying to the library necessarily, but perhaps it will cause thought.
I’m reminded of something Yo Yo Ma said. A couple of weeks ago, we watched the Lincoln Center Honors and as one of the honorees, he sat in a box with the President and First Lady and watched as a film clip reviewed his life and work. And at one point, his voice, in voice-over, said, “Every day I make an effort to go toward what I don’t understand.”
I hastily scribbled down the line so I wouldn’t forget the exact words and I put the scrap of paper next to my writing area.
Every day I make an effort to go toward what I don’t understand.
Years ago, I wouldn’t let students use Wiki as a source, but over time the site has proved its reliability and is one I use–we all use-to find something quick. And sometimes not only quick but in depth. And sources for more information. It’s one of the places I go toward when I don’t understand.
Every day I make an effort to go toward what I don’t understand.
That’s what writing does. It aims for what the writer doesn’t understand. I’m grateful for that direction. I’ve studied everything from Kansas history to mythology on the Internet, looking for information, wanting to understand my subject. Writers research. We look.
But even if you’re not a writer, if your talent lies in reading, you are still going toward what you don’t understand. Just walking into each day, when you think about it, is going toward what’s not understood. We don’t know what’s going to happen, even if we think we do.
What I don’t understand fills volumes.
So I’ll miss Wiki today if I have to suddenly find out something but I applaud the protest and the time it’s given me to think about where I need to head today. Which piece of what I don’t understand will be the focal point of wondering?
janetsunderland.com 
Great post Janet 🙂
Nice of you to comment, Jake. Thanks!
Just for the record, Yo Yo Ma is well deserving of our attention. On the other hand so is yo Mama. How yuh doin’ Janet? I love your blog. PaulRoland@OregonIssues.org
Paul, my dear, you are too too wonderful. This mama is doing well. Thanks for asking and thanks for reading the blog. I was thinking about you the other day and wondering and look at that! Here you are.
Thanks for the article–really didn’t know what either bill was about.
You’re very welcome, Zane. Thanks for reading!
Brava for you insights, aspirations and Brava to Wiki.
You’re very welcome. Thanks so much for reading what I write!!
Well done, Janet.
I think one of the greatest contributors to the mess our nation is in today as a result of the religious right and neoconservatives that created the eight years of George W. Bush destroying America, is that after the ’70s we stopped protesting. I remember when students lined up outside my office Friday afternoons before going out to protest for the weekend.
That is why I am so proud to share that my oldest son, Kun Sun, has been an active part of Baltimore’s “Occupy Movement” since its beginning and was part of the march to Washington last month. He went on another march to Washington last Friday and returned at 2:00 a.m. this morning. They protested at the Capitol Building, the Senate Building, the White House, and the Supreme Court.
It is in people like Kun Sun who questions everything and is as much a Democratic Socialist as am I that will be the salvation of America. If they fail, our nation will continue its head-long slide into Fascism.
Jack
I really like these 20-somethings, too, and feel lucky to still be teaching to see this generation come along. Thanks for your comment!
Thank you Janet for reminding me and helping me to reflect. I enjoy your musings in my daily routine.
You’re welcome, Holly. You’ve warmed my day with your comment!
What a great quote! I’ll try to hold onto that one.
Thanks, Elizabeth. I’m a long time keeper of quotes, but this one rocked me. Of course!! Head toward what you don’t know….