"Since I've chosen the car-free life in Gate City, I usually use the Internet there; no need to drive or car-pool. So the news that Yuma had its own computer center didn't mean much to me until an employee of the telephone company mentioned that the Yuma computer center had been cut back to half its original opening time, and was threatened with loss of funding, because people weren't using it.Whew. Last week, for the first time, I saw the computer center fill up. Today, a line started to form; luckily someone who'd finished doing her grown-up work and was only killing time, playing games, left before I had to. The Yuma computer center doesn't host "story hour" programs and parties for preschoolers, but the regular Internet offers plenty of game sites--mostly not as quiet and wholesome as http://www.freerice.com/--for children to waste their time and eyesight on. They're doing it.
"Whaaat?!" People are waiting in line to use computers in Gate City free of charge. Because there is usually a waiting list, these computers have been equipped with annoying "time minders" that slow down everything even when nobody's waiting. The computers in Yuma do not have "time minders." Also, the Yuma computer center does not host children's programs, so neither the tiny tots' rhythm bands nor the middle school kids' demanding time to play solitaire on the computer are there to distract serious computer users. Most of the people who use the computers in Gate City own cars and could drive three or four miles. So why are they waiting?"
Meanwhile, the Gate City computer center was there first. What this means in cyberspace is: older computers. What this means is that, even if I could edit everything into the right format from my home computer and upload it from floppy disks within an hour, these older computers will hardly run Yahoo e-mail any more--much less Yahoo e-mail and Google-, Amazon-, or Facebook-affiliated blog pages. Serious work there is not an option for me at this site. I have to go to Yuma.
This is the sort of choice that you know has to be motivated by desperation, either to publicize a floundering venture or to do my Internet writing "job" at all. The computer center is open from 3 to 8 p.m. We have no form of public transportation after 5 p.m. Yuma is officially classified as a sort of suburb of Gate City, but it's more than a seven-mile walk around the mountain. The road is dark and narrow and has no shoulders to speak of. It takes me about three hours to walk to or from the computer center; if I do happen to be offered a lift by a decent person with a reliable car, which happens less than half the time, that means I have to kill the rest of that time sitting outside in front of the computer center, which is locked--whether the outdoor temperature is 95 in the shade, or 35 in the sun.
Considering what a burden this commute is, it may be a good thing that the computer center is open only three days a week. (Not counting Friday mornings...nobody goes from Gate City to Yuma on a Friday morning.)
Christian readers, please pray for me. Other readers, please send me helpful energy. I can't afford to open a new computer center in Gate City but I do happen to know an investor who could do it, and would do it, if convinced that enough local people want to use public-access computers. The need for more public-access computers is growing almost to the proportions of the need for public transportation. This is something our whole community needs, and not merely me.
Feel free to chip in if you can...I really don't have any business in Yuma at night, and with yourall's help, I just might not have to come out here any more. I think these people can keep their own computer center going without further help from me.
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