Simplicity Now

One of my first purchases every January is a datebook, also known to several of my closest friends as my "prehistoric Blackberry."

It's the little book that lives in my purse and keeps track of all the upcoming shows, openings, lectures, readings, dates and plans I have. It's invaluable in preventing me from saying yes to more than one person.

Over the years, I've gotten rather particular about the kind of book I prefer. I like to see one week take up two pages so that each days allows room for multiple events to be listed in my chicken scratch handwriting. I prefer a pretty color- no black or brown - and a certain size.

It's an archaic way to keep track of my life, or so I've been told, but it's how I like to roll.

Just yesterday, I got all kinds of validation about my old-fashioned choice while reading a review of a new book, "The Internet is Not the Answer," which makes a case for people like me. In it, the reviewer points out that sincere criticism of the mounting technology swallowing American culture whole usually results in labeling the outlier a Luddite. Because who but a Luddite would try to rain on the big, shiny parade of non-stop app usage?

Many is the time I have been labeled a Luddite, but it's a badge I wear with honor. While away on vacation for 11 days, I checked e-mail only twice, never looked at Facebook, never posted to Instagram and or Twitter, both of which I eschew.

After procuring my new datebook, I eagerly brought it home to fill in with the ever-growing list of things I already have planned for 2015, writing in events as far off as June.

If the Internet is the answer, I don't want to know the question. If you need ideas for what to do in this town, though, I'm happy to make some suggestions from my prehistoric Blackberry.

I am a dying breed, or as my friend Jon likes to say, the last of my kind. Call me what you will.