Dystopia in RL

[cowgrrl]

I have a fascination with novels depicting near-future-earth dystopias: everything has gone completely to hell for one reason or another (environmental disaster, war, whatever.) But it's horrifying to see such scenarios being played out in real life. Yes, these things happen way too often but usually in some far-away place on the planet, where I've never been, so I find a way to stay detached. Not this time. Not when my entire household lived in New Orleans before moving to the Boston area, and they're all posting lists of names on their livejournals: "if you hear anything about the whereabouts of ___________ please let me know."

And I can't imagine what it's like to have your entire home town under water. Not just your own house, but everything: your friend's homes, your grocery store, your favorite hangouts, where you worked until the disaster, everything... Even worse: imagine if you were one of the tens of thousands still stranded in the now-leaking superdome, with no electricity, in 90-something degree heat and high humidity.

So, yeah, I've send money to the Red Cross and I'll probably send another donation to animal rescue people.

I've now known enough people who have lost their homes: to fires, to tornadoes, that I don't take for granted that all my possessions are necessarily safe. I've already lost stuff in a basement flood, stuff I cared about. But this morning I asked myself: if I suddenly lost my home, what, among my possessions, would be most devastating to lose? And the answer was: my photographs.

Therefore I think it makes sense for me to start scanning my most precious photos (I don't have a scanner at home--I'll have to bring them into work). It would be good to have my favorites stored in cyberspace somewhere just in case. Of course if all of western civilization crumbles, cyberspace will go away too but at that point I'd be too busy with day-to-day survival to be missing that photo of my grandmother and me when I was four years old.

Comments

[ladychatter.livejournal.com]

Have you read "The Rift" by Walter Jon Williams? It is so close to all this mess that it is scarey.

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

No, I haven't read that one. Sounds interesting... (for later...)

[n2kaja.livejournal.com]

yes photographs, I wonder what the world is going to be like even just 10 years down the road.

[kyrene.livejournal.com]

I've donated, prayed, and cried--not necessarily in that order.

*hugs*

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

*hug* to you too. I know how important NOLA is to you. And of course everyone in my household is devastated. I'm the only one functioning at all and that's because I don't have ties to that area. I've been there once, to go to a science fiction convention.

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

I too have thought about how I can preserve my family photographs ... because in many cases, that's all I have left of my family.

[scorpio56.livejournal.com]

ever since Andrew down here i have had recurring nightmares where all i pack to take with us are my photos...problem is, i have literally hundreds. those, my children & pets are my most precious belongings.

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Anything else can be replaced.

[galaxygrrl.livejournal.com]

If you do scan your photos, I recommend storing them with an online service that has off-site backups. A standard information security plan provides for regular backups that are shipped to another location.

BTW, did you see the recent remake of War of the Worlds? It was so dystopian, it nearly made me sick. The movie was too much.

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

I avoided War of the Worlds after hearing reports about it from Sabrina. It sounded awful.