I sent out an e-mail to a dozen people or so the other day inviting them to come bowl on Sunday. The subject line of the e-mail was the same as this blog entry, “NOT bowling alone.” The phrase was a play on the title of an article written several years ago called “Bowling Alone”, an article that lamented the declining tendency of Americans to hang out together. When I googled the article, I found out it was actually written by a Harvard guy named Robert Putnam and is now also a book. (For some reason, I was thinking it was written by Neil Postman, who wrote the inestimably good and entertaining book, Amusing Ourselves to Death.)
I have no idea when I was first exposed to this article, or to the concept of bowling alone, but I’d argue that the trends Putnam pointed to in his article and subsequent book are either on the reverse or were overstated, to some extent. I’ve never had more people in my social circle than I do now, and I sometimes have a hard time selling new people on the idea that I don’t always want to hang out in a big group. What can I say? I am just blessed with lots of really cool friends. 🙂
At any rate, I just thought I’d share that, for the sake of context and all. I should mention, though, before moving on, that I’m really not this academic most of the time. These are just things I read/researched for my master’s thesis.
On a related note, we bowled nearly two games, and while I didn’t finish the second, I was able to break (or come within a frame of breaking) 50 both times!!! Yay me! hehe