Wandering with an avatar? Where would we go?

Allrighty then. I have now explored the warm and cozy world of image generators online. My reaction: disgust. Sorry, but it's just not for me. It's not for me the same way comic books and graphic novels are not for me. It's flash in the pan and airless. It's an image that floats in cyberspace with no dimensions and no connecting ports. Yikes.

I just read a book review in the Washington Post about reading and the brain. The book is Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf - it explores what parts of the brain need to operate to make reading a possibility. The book sounds way beyond me and was a self-admitted stretch for Michael Dirda, the reviewer. But what I culled out of it was the simple fact that it is important to read or tell stories to kids when they are young because the brain needs to start developing the physical pathways that will enable reading. It turns out those pathways to reading may also be pathways to empathy and critical thinking. Dirda poses the possbility that it "may already be too late for many young people. They will never be able to read with the same thoughfulness and comprehension as their parents. Think about that."

I'm thinking, I'm thinking. Yes, I know the computer has wonderful possibilities and potential and yes, you're all correct - how wonderful that we can all connect with each other on such a grand scale. I guess it's those smaller scales that I value so highly. A cup of tea and a chance to hear about someone's life from across the table. A smile at a stranger whose face lights up in return and you know you just gave that person a gift at a time when he/she really needed it.
A journey through the pages of a book that takes you inside your own brain perhaps via your own heart for a bit of a tune-up.

No avatar will take me there.