JIM INFANTINO

I've been putting off writing about this for decades. In 1986 and 1987 I helped to run a discussion group at Haverford College called A Dialog About Men . Part of our mission was to try to get to the root of male sexual violence through exploring the conditions in ourselves that may or may not exist in all men. It was awkward and fascinating. We started as an open group, but most of the people who showed up were women. The men clammed up. Then we made it a men-only group. That did not go over well, but we stuck with it because the point was to provide a space for men to feel free to open up. In that cocoon, the men started talking. Someone took notes, but I can't remember who now. I'm not sure they would be informative. The conversations were difficult and eye-opening. For some things, you just have to be there. We did stuff around campus like an event called Walk A Mile in Your Sister's Shoes , which did not involve footwear. Rather it encouraged all men on campus to ask for a woman escort when walking around campus after dark. We were trying to build awareness of the sense of danger that was invisible to men but we were told was a nightly reality for women, even in our Arboretum Utopia of a campus. We got a lot of pushback from both men and women. The men generally laughed more »

My comments are indented First, I want to know more about First Nation - can you point me to some information? I brought it up because the most interesting chapters in the book I recommended by Colin Woodward on the Eleven Nations of North America pretty much begins and ends with them. The original settlers in Quebec had the fairest system of integrating Native Americans. The final chapter in his book talks about First Nation being the best hope for the future. I also thought that you book could deal with that very strange boundary of USA and Canada in New England. I learned a ton from the Woodward book. The only American writer who really dealt with this boundary is—of all people—David Foster Wallace in Infinite Jest. Funny how neglected that Maine border is. Second, I think I've confused you on one point - Xombie is a derogatory term used by the Traditionalists or Luddites or Neo-Feudalists or Raiders to describe the Interconnected. The Interconnected are the Xombies - but they don't call themselves that. Yes you did. My mistake. So who does Zeke and the people who do not thext represent? The Traditionalists? My bad on that confusion. Just so you know, I’ve been such a Luddite in my adult life that some friends still can’t believe I’m on FB. So I am extremely sympathetic to arguments that are anti-technology. In Brave New World that is a top-down governmental totalitarian Utopia as I remember it. more »

This is excerpted. David's comments are indented. I cannot tell whether you are describing a utopia or dystopia (though the tension or differences between the Interconnected and Xombies are a major theme). Perhaps you are evading that specific question and only giving hints in order to let the reader decide for him or herself, which is probably exactly what you intended. Scenes where you present technological and cultural conflict are among the best. Perhaps the most enjoyable scene for me was when Marto was in the café that forbid thexting and had a conversation with the owner (Zeke?). That gave me a glimpse into the differing arguments on decisions to thext or not to thext. It seems to be that Marto and the Interconnected represent the utopia or force of good (at least from the author’s perspective), but I am not sure I can buy that based on what I, the reader, is able to discern and surmise as to who the Interconnected are; I found myself less interested in the Interconnected and wanting more information on the outlier tribes (presumably exploited because the post-apocalyptic world must have limited resources and the interconnected appear to flourish without economic hardship). First, I am fascinated by the idea of the Interconnected, but I am not the cheerleader that Marto is. I understand it may seem that I am describing a Utopia, and in a climate-changed world, the technologies that provide food, good health and stability and relative (but not more »