I think it is wonderful to turn on my computer and with a few keystrokes bring up information on the screen. My choice - descriptions, history, news, cartoons - all at my fingertips on the keyboard. I accepted that concept easily enough but when I began to put articles and pictures on my websites I questioned the mysterious wonders of those thousands of kilobytes zipping through my phone line. Where did they go in cyberspace? And could I ever find them again? I learned that if I couldn't it was because I didn't send them out with the right clothespins in the first place.

That' correct, clothespins. You see my clever webmaster, actually a son of mine (luckily for me genes work wonders too) explained the technology to me in a most primary way by using the metaphor of a clothesline, hence the need for clothespins. I send a very profound article over the phone line and it just doesn't go out and dance around until some needy scientist or happy surfer puts on a tutu and dances after it. Well it probably does. But I have a URL out there. That was established by my webmaster and I should think of it as a clothesline. I send pearls of wisdom and images of delight to that URL and pin them on with clothespins so to speak. Isn't that clever of the Internet? Or my software? Or my son's metaphor?

The process is really more clever than that because the symbols I send out are changed into ones and zeros and hung out to permanently wait for some lucky computer keyboard to swoop out and haul in my clothesline, pins and all to enjoy my efforts. Now if you've never hung clothes out on a clothesline or ever saw a clothespin you are just going to have to use your imagination to figure it out. But then you have plenty of imagination or you wouldn't expect to take advantage of all the empty cyberspace out there full of kilobytes hanging around tingling to be captured by your tender fingertips on your very own keyboard. Happy surfing!

Naomi Sherer