"An intellectual snob is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture
and not think of The Lone Ranger."
~Dan Rather
Finding the Pearls Amid the Pebbles
The web is really boring these days. Oh yes, I remember glorious days of yore when I cast my mouse forward, looking for bits of Pagan lore and wisdom. I was so excited to follow link after link, celebrating in Pagan graphics and flashy animation. Then, one day, I realized something; something I could not put my finger on until the day I clicked off the internet with something regarding a fierce annoyance. The web was boring.
What happened to all the past glory and flash? Oh, it was still there, now buried under "cut and paste" pages with lousy backgrounds and even harder to read text. "Click on this" small icons scream, go to another page full of links and advertisments. "Click on this" to go to yet another page with the same Charge of the Goddess and 'An it harm none admonition. They all start out the same way, something to the affect of the page being created to dispelling the myths surrounding Witchcraft or somesuch. Really, like other religion pages cannot be boring also.
Now, I realize many pages are really new and many are learning how to create a little nook on the web, but let's make more of an effort! I know I started by cutting and pasting HTML onto blank pages and pulling apart the code to make it work, but I also made a page that included some original content. So many "informational" pages are no more than the same old thing, but with flashier graphics and Gothic fonts. Where is all the originality? I search pages looking for "Soapbox" and "Rants" pages, hoping to find an original opinion. Unfortunatly, many of these pages have nothing more than vague paragraphs telling the viewer to come back later, the webmaster/mistress is working on it. Please tell me your world is not so perfect you cannot find SOMETHING to complain about! Coffee too bitter? High taxes? Intolerance of religion in schools? The purpose of having a webpage is to put your opinions into the viewers face. Even if I disagree with you, I love to read a good rant.
What I want to see is more of an effort in our Pagan community. Paganism has a huge share of the internet, yet the best we seem to give is a small page with a link to the Witch's Web. I love to read Wren's Nest to keep up with the latest in Pagan news, but that cannot be the only full Pagan Page out there? Why won't anyone write about walking outside in the golden autumn leaves or throwing snowballs at one's spouse? Where are all the grandmother recipes and Mom's kitchen cookin'? When will we learn that there is more to the web than we imagined. When will we really be free enough to cast to the four corners and create, really create something origianal and unique.
Every day, someone not Pagan clicks on a Wiccan page. Let's show that person something to remember. How about the May Pole or how to create a Yule Log cake (for those who are not outdoorsy)complete with birthday candles and M&M's? Let's show pictures of sunsets and gorgeous sunrises. How about bird soundtracks or the croaking of summer frogs and chirping of summer crickets. How do clouds form and what causes rain...Science and magick can coexist, all it takes is someone to explain the basic principles. How about a Pagan birthday party. How does one create a pagan cake? With chocolate and sugar icing. Same as anyone else. Presents may be a little different, but my daughter still likes her Barbies. Maybe what we need is not so much showing what the differences are, but as what the differences are not. I don't know about you, but I really like cream in my coffee and putzing with the computer. How Pagan is that? Very...
It's too bad we don't think to put these very simple items into webpages. But they would go very far to showing how very much alike we really are. What American adult likes to pay taxes or likes to go to work (Okay, I like my job)? Pagan or otherwise, we have quite a bit in common. Let's start making pages to reflect that fact.
To flip through the pages of my BOS faster...
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Brightest of Blessings