Facebook and the return of the native.

{This memory stone sits at a boat launch on Lake Garrison, celebrating the life of a young man}

Today, as I sat here, thinking about the past and the future, I visited my hometown of Venosa (province of Potenza, Italy!) with a click of the mouse, and a scroll of the screen. For a second, I returned to my hometown without even blinking.
It cost me nothing.
It took me less than a minute.

I discovered that its wines, Aglianico del Vulture, won an exhibition in New York City recently.
I knew that wine well, as my father was a winemaker, growing these same ancient grapes.

I also learned that the town was inhabited continuously for over 600,000 years! Remains of old Lucani civilizations can be found all over the place. I knew that Greek and Roman civilizations left their mark there. But 600,000 years of habitation in the same vicinity seems unbelievable.

What an interesting world we live in. When I was a youngster, I knew just a few people with phones in their homes. A letter to The States cost as much as a steak, and people communicated with loved ones who moved across the ocean  on special occasions only.

Today, I can read newspapers from all over the world, purchase a piece of jewelry from a vendor in an unknown shop, leave a note to a farmer or an artist in big and little cities all over the map, and return to my hometown with a click of the mouse.

When communication expanded, companies were required to bring connections to rural towns as well. Schools and hospitals were the first to join the internet.  Then, it became available to every household through cable or phone lines. Of course, it's not as fast as the same communication in big cities, but it is available none the less.