It has been hard for me to describe all the wonderful feelings that this event brought to me. The opportunity to reach out and really touch those voices and spirits I have so often encountered on the internet, was a special pleasure in itself. To get to share several hours of my life with them was absolutely wonderful. I won't forget this night. And it's not just the exploration of the technology brought to that little space on Houston Street in San Antonio, Texas. It's much greater than even that. It represents a reaching out from one side of the globe to the other, of hands eager to share in learning. It respresents the construction of something new....something better than the old...something that WebHeads are only now beginning to scratch the surface of.
As the evening began to run down, final comments were shared. I hope email addresses and Yahoo nicknames were passed, too.
There were folks there that night, that had sort of wandered in, not really knowing what to expect. I cannot help now but wonder what kind of experience they had. I wonder if it has changed them and how it has changed them. In fact, I wonder about that for all of us. I think for me, it will become a special memory. Who knows, I may one day tell my grand-children about the good old days and the Extreme Texas Makeover and the Webheads and the San Antonio Fiesta.
It will be interesting to see if it will be repeated again in other places. Next time, I maybe the virtual guest to someone elses live party. Or who knows, maybe, I will just "mosey on down" to Florida next year and whip up a Beach Bash. Or maybe, this was just one crystal clear event to show us how much we are all alike on this big blue marble.
I know the next time I am sitting here late in the night, bathed by the light of the screen in front of me, when a little Yahoo Messenger light flickers on, I know it will be someone, I am now closer to. I know it will be someone I have connected with. I know it will be a friend in some remote spot.
It fasinating to me now, how my ? depth perception has changed. SInce becoming a Webhead, things dont seem as far apart as they once did. And after San Antonio, I think I shall always be remembering how really close things can get.
I know there were people in attendance this night that I have no pictures of, and I hope if others of you have additional photos, that you will send them along, and tell me who they are. I will do my best to post them here. I want to add whatever videos that were made that night, but so far, only Jim Duber has posted anything I can use (other than my feeble effort). You can see Jim's Video of the event here (Click on the 4/5 entry).
Well, I finally got around to posting to this blog. It was indeed a memorable event, one of the best social events in recent memory of TESOL conferences (since we stopped doing guitar jams in the EV room late at night at TESOL conferences years ago). I certainly hope events of this nature can continue. Meanwhile, looking forward to uniquely resourceful interactions online. Vance
Posted by: Vance | April 09, 2005 at 01:11 PM