a placeless world

For several millennia, we’ve all assumed communities were based upon principles of safety, survival, belonging and identification.

Maybe that’s true. But yesterday, scores of emailers learned of another, perhaps paramount, factor: Accident.

It started with a simple mistake: Casey Journalism Center conference coordinator Carrie Rowell sent an email, intended for a few select individuals, to the center’s listserv — a list primarily comprised of journalists from across the country interested in issues relevant to child and family development.

“We would like to cordially invite you to our annual board meeting and Casey Medals awards luncheon in Washington, D.C. Please RSVP by Aug. 8...” Rowell wrote.

Moments later, Rowell sent an apologetic email to the same group, noting there had been a mistake.

But it was too late.

“Yes, I would love to attend. Please reserve a table for me and 100 of my
closest friends. Side note to closest friends: Please RSVP (regrets only) by using the ‘reply to all’ function. (That way, somebody who cares is sure to receive the response.) See you there! — Doug”

That’s Doug “Pandora” Fox, of Utah’s own Provo Daily Herald.

And away it went...

Tom Gorman, of the Los Angeles Times, offered to accept all the Casey medals. He then observed that, despite the fact that everyone’s collective inboxes were filling up faster than a NASCAR pack leader on a pit stop, a sudden community had been formed. “Pass the S’mores” he begged.

And with that, folks started introducing themselves, making small talk and mulling about, “like we all got momentarily stuck in a digital elevator, looked from side to side and started speaking to one another,” noted Larry Oakes, Northern Minnesota Correspondent for the Star Tribune.

Like any community, this one had share of dissidents... “I'm going to put every one of you on my junk mail senders list!” threatened Marcos Martinez, Program Director for Albuquerque’s KUNM-FM.

And profiteers... “I’m a freelance journalist who recently moved to London,” Laura Roe Stevens wrote. “Feel free to get in touch if you need any coverage from the UK.”

And conspiracy theorists... “Mercury retrograde rides again,” postured Christiane Schull of LA’s Benevolent Witness Productions.

Ultimately, like Rome, Atlantis and Harappa before it, the society crumbled — shortly after InventorEd.org publisher Ronald Riley sent out an email entitled “CJC list setup incorrectly - How to fix it.”

In a few fleeting hours, a community was born, thrived and died -- without so much as a war, economic depression or plague.

Not bad for a bunch of journalists.