Locard's Exchange Principle Day 27 Y2

from spopp17.edu.glogster.com

The first time I heard about Locard’s Exchange Principle, I was reading a detective novel.  The main character was explaining to his less-experienced colleague that 

a French man in the late 1800‘s postulated that, at every crimes scene, there is a transfer of matter between anyone or anything that enters or leaves the scene.  His point is that we all leave -- sometimes, microscopic -- footprints. Locard’s Exchange Principle is taught in beginner’s Forensics classes. When one of my daughters was attending Emma Willard, I saw a reference to Locard in one of the high school forensics textbooks.  What captivated my attention was the possibility that we do not merely exchange matter.   Wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume that we exchange parts of our emotional and intellectual selves as well?  It strikes me that, whenever we are in the presence of others, we leave a bit or ourselves and they entrust something of themselves with us.  Once I turned over that particular thought, the idea of placing a virtual bubble around ourselves as suggested by many New Age practitioners made a kind of sense to me. How else to repel someone’s unwanted negativity, anger, depression?  It made me really think about my part in every day situations.  What about the exchange with the cashier at Walmart, or the waitress at the roadside stop, or  person who steps out in front of my car unexpectedly?   What did I want to leave of myself?  What was I willing to pick up from them? I can’t help but wonder what Locard would have to say about that?

Unsaavy Techno-Geek and the Key Day 27 Y2

Locked in

This morning, my daughter was slightly late leaving for work.  I am visiting her in her tidy, clean, studio loft.  It is the kind of place that, when I make my monthly visits, I will notice that there is a substantive change in things when the book on the coffee table is swapped for one on the bookshelf.  There is order here.  

The delay this morning was because she recognized the panic in my eyes when I received an error message on my computer. Start-up Disk is Full  Then, all of my applications - BLINK- disappeared from their place at the bottom of my screen.  Since I have had my MacBook Air, there have been such a lack of “incidents” that when something goes awry, I experience something close to... well.... panic.  I use my computer for ten hours a day on average.  As a lifelong Student of Life, I am curious.  I may want to know about the new tax reform laws and long-term health care.  I may want to look up, once and for all, is it “that” or “which” if you observe grammatical etiquette.  I have to confess that I enjoy watching tons of British detective shows at night.  So many in fact, that my son commented that I seem to be speaking with a British accent. I am very pleased to find essential items of life on sale online that will be shipped for free. That takes some time, let me tell you! My photos, query letters, essays and novels are neatly housed inside this flat piece of plastic, metal and electronics.  Yes, there just may have been panic in my eyes.

Empathetic and enterprising young woman that she is, my daughter used her cell-phone to research the glitch and resolved it with three key strokes.  Tada! Magic!  Meanwhile, the clock kept ticking.

Just as she went out the door, my mobile phone rang. We exchanged quick waves goodbye to each other, and out she went.  I heard the lift doors whoosh closed when I realized that she was leaving with the house keys.  Without the house keys, I would be stranded in her flat until she returned in the evening.  Yet, I had a pressing conversation on the phone and even if I did call her back, she would be later than a little late. 

I reasoned that, if I really had to leave, I could call the concierge, explain the situation, and maybe, with a call from my daughter, she might let me back into the loft.

I rationalized that being home-bound for the day would give me a first hand experience of house arrest.  Truthfully, I frequently do not leave the house all day, anyway. Still, the sense of a no-key, no-return policy has grown in importance as the day has gone on.  I remember the days of having three children under four and being home with them from when my husband left for work in the morning until he returned at night.  It was challenging at times.  Even though I could go for a ride, in the middle of winter, bundling up an infant and two toddlers to take them for a drive was not my idea of fun.  Today, I have been productive - written an essay, edited another.  I wrote a challenging letter... word ....by..... word.  I started dinner, did my exercises, made some phone calls. I have found plenty to keep myself busy.  But since I am telling the bare truth, what I am most thinking about right now is seeing my daughter and getting that KEY!

$1200 into thin Air

I bought my first car from my grandmother's estate for $1200. It was the most I had ever spent on anything. It was a 1969 Dodge Dart. The car brought me freedom and a promise of future adventures. I was surprised to find that today, I felt like I was facing another $1200 opportunity. Recently, my son has been urging me to replace my MacBook. The laptop was a gift from my daughter when she outgrew it eighteen months ago. It served me well. Regrettably, I have over burdened it with music, television shows and photographs. My son's sales pitch succeeded in 1. getting me to the YES computer store 2. getting me to bite the bullet and buy a $1200 computer (which actually came to $1361 when all was said and done) and 3. landing him a job offer at YES computer for next summer. I learned today that, thirty-four years later, $1200 still seems to offer freedom and a promise of future adventures.