JPB - Africa Rising
I've been on a John Perry Barlow kick these past few weeks. Reading and watching seemingly everything I can find on the man, and for reasons I find it hard to explain.
Maybe it's some sort of parasocial relationship one gets when they ingest content about a person. Or perhaps there's some indiscernible cognitive hook that my brain is trying to reach some sort of conclusion to about the man. Or it could simply be that I like his speeches, articles, personality, and the music he wrote for the Grateful Dead 1.
JPB is on my mind and I can't seem to shake him, not that I'm in any hurry to do so. Currently reading the article he wrote for Wired magazine titled Africa Rising 2.
This article was published in 1998, so all of this is dated. This is more of a time capsule than anything to be considered current. It's a neat read regardless.
His friends at Wired had him fly to various countries across the African continent to see, in a time when the internet was a bit more of a fresh concept, if his techno-evangelist-optimism and theories on Africa being the future hub for the information age would hold up upon actually traveling to the continent. He talked to students, reported on getting internet connections, and the people and places he encountered along the way.
JPB talking about his journey sort of made me a little embarrassed; because I realized I know very little about the countries on that side of the world.
Usually when I think of countries in Asia, Europe, and the Americas, I can at least recall some trivia about the places over there. Africa though? My knowledge is frustratingly sparse.
Nobody from either side of my family3, nor any of my friends, has been to the continent. I feel like one year I really need to plan a vacation to some of the countries4 in the article. Maybe see how many of the places mentioned are still around decades later.
I think it would be a lot of fun, and something to put on the bucket list. Anyway, off to read more JPB.
Mail reply
In addition to having been a songwriter for that band, and damn good writer in general, he was a co-founder to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Pretty sick. RIP JPB.↩
I'm biracial, and I'm apart of two very different cultures. Those cultures being, geographically, very far from one another. So it's odd nobody in my circle has ever visited that side of the world.↩
After checking travel advisory sites, some of the countries he visited may be impossible, or at least very difficult, to travel to now. At least with my passports.↩