MY niece's dog, Brandy, is recovering after being hit by a car. My brother's considering rolling over his 401(k) into a Roth IRA. My sister in Portsmouth, N.H., stood in line for an hour for a chance to add to the family Beanie Baby collection, and on Friday morning folks in soggy Virginia were finally looking forward to a sunny spring weekend. The e-mail phenomenon
This stuff isn't earth-shaking, but it's news that would never have reached me a year ago. I got it via a technology often eclipsed by the hype about video on demand and such marvels.
The number of U.S. households online is still less than 50 percent, but it's achieved a critical mass. One happy result is the e-mail phenomenon -- old friends and family getting in touch across the years and across the planet. Directories, such as www.four11.com, turn making electronic connections into a game.
Since college, I'd stayed in touch with family mostly through holiday phone calls, birthday and Christmas cards and an occasional in-person visit.
In just the last year, however, people in small towns in places like Maine and Nebraska can at last dial up Internet service on a free local telephone call. The nieces I last saw at my sister's wedding in 1986 are now chatting with me several times a week and my high school is using e-mail to organize a reunion .
It isn't as glamorous as digital photography or the latest Java animation, but lowly e-mail is making a positive change in our lives.
John Flanagan is editor and publisher of the Star-Bulletin.
To reach him call 525-8612, fax to 523-8509, send
e-mail to publisher@starbulletin.com or write to
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802.