Many years ago, just when I began to become interested in meteorology, my social existence was once in balance. Back then I felt like I could recite everything that was swirling in my mind at that moment and could unite with another person in heart and in spirit. But unfortunately as I grew older that feeling melted away quickly and I was considered something to scorn and to toss aside as some kind of sideshow to the greater realities of everyday problems. I had no voice, and seemingly had no meaning in a world where other things took higher precedence.
That year was 1998, and since then I have become the meteorologist that I've worked to become for 17 years. I have a voice in poetry and in photography also and despite the continual economic challenges of the early 2010s my career feels like it's going in the right direction. However beyond any accolade, award, or dream job that I receive, my greatest accomplishment is something far more deeper.
This new time in my life gives me an element of power that I felt that I would never reach again. Instead of fearing of being berated on the reasons why I am worthless, I can now change to some extent the circumstances in which my life is based around. Movements, politicians, promises of some golden empire that I'll rule from a subdivision, they all mean nothing without being free of a system that almost destroyed both my soul and my personality. What are rebellions to rally around if you are hated? In my view they are absolutely nothing and even in college horrid social circumstances have reminded me what brings me solace and what is just a collection of false promises.
So as I now join the adult world, I do this without longing for the past or fear that I will become a castaway or leper of my generation. I make my life my sanctuary, not a worship of ideas that I'm coerced to conform to. It will take a long time to heal all of the damage my peers have done to me, but I have come to forgive those who are still ignorant to understand and cherish those who actually gave just a small amount of time to be with me. I know that my life is worth something, I just had to silence the voices that told me that it wasn't.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Ownership and Meteorology for a Liftetime
17 years ago, I gained my first exposure to meteorology by seeing the PBS special Cyclone and connecting what was introduced to me there to the atmosphere I had seen even when I was still a toddler. From there my journey took me through the brightest and darkest sides of humanity and through the many workings of the atmosphere itself.
This Thursday I will complete my last final exam of my undergraduate degree and at last will officially become a meteorologist. Something I have poured creativity, soul, tears, and shattered pieces of my heart into. My early career has taken me to places and ideas that I didn't even know existed and to things that were only hinted at in my young childhood. Although the insight and inquiry that I have learned to love as a scientist are now two key aspects of my identity, these revelations haven't come without sacrifice.
Right now I am currently placed in an economy that is the worst for young people and college graduates since WWII. After being rejected from the graduate schools that I had applied to (for what reasons I'm still not completely sure) I will now have to enter the workforce before student loans come due. And after my extremely heavy academic workload I will have to find time to regain both my physical and emotional health in the real world. At many times I have been extremely disillusioned with the profession that I have chosen and in many cases felt abandoned for some predisposition that I cannot discern. But I know that things will change for the better no matter what forces are in control.
Despite these circumstances, I feel that this week is one of the most important in my life. Where I feel that my true personality will be finally free to express itself after being shoved to the side for "more important things in life". My personality is both my gift and the bane of my existence. With it I can break from conformity and realize what happiness truly is. However at the same time, I'm mostly considered too strange to even be embraced fully. Though despite fads, ridicule, so called "advice", and pure lies I feel like when I am living on my own things will change. Even Steve Jobs promoted "thinking differently" and I refuse to be subjugated to banality and the loss of things that are beautiful. I will make each day my own and give it those I care for the most. I have no regrets about who I am or what I have done. If certain people still do not care about these kinds of things in their lives, then that will be to their own detriment.
Even through all these obstacles and fear I still remember the scientists that chased after tornadoes long ago, fuelled by their curiosity and desire to learn alone. I still remember the childhood before ostracism where I felt pure happiness, the Holy Spirit, and creativity flow between me and others like a river. And I know that this period in my life will return soon and in a better form than even before. When I did visit OU during my freshman year, Chuck Doswell lectured me about "ownership" and how preparation and opportunity could bring us both academic an professional success. Although this is a subsidiary of what I believe, "ownership" to me is the full circle of my personality being revealed to not be useless, but the key to my successes. With my inner self I beheld the perfect sunrise of what my life could be and now I feel that I will realize it. However where I will go is still unclear, but I know that where I end up will be the place I have dreamt about ever since I was a young child.
This Thursday I will complete my last final exam of my undergraduate degree and at last will officially become a meteorologist. Something I have poured creativity, soul, tears, and shattered pieces of my heart into. My early career has taken me to places and ideas that I didn't even know existed and to things that were only hinted at in my young childhood. Although the insight and inquiry that I have learned to love as a scientist are now two key aspects of my identity, these revelations haven't come without sacrifice.
Right now I am currently placed in an economy that is the worst for young people and college graduates since WWII. After being rejected from the graduate schools that I had applied to (for what reasons I'm still not completely sure) I will now have to enter the workforce before student loans come due. And after my extremely heavy academic workload I will have to find time to regain both my physical and emotional health in the real world. At many times I have been extremely disillusioned with the profession that I have chosen and in many cases felt abandoned for some predisposition that I cannot discern. But I know that things will change for the better no matter what forces are in control.
Despite these circumstances, I feel that this week is one of the most important in my life. Where I feel that my true personality will be finally free to express itself after being shoved to the side for "more important things in life". My personality is both my gift and the bane of my existence. With it I can break from conformity and realize what happiness truly is. However at the same time, I'm mostly considered too strange to even be embraced fully. Though despite fads, ridicule, so called "advice", and pure lies I feel like when I am living on my own things will change. Even Steve Jobs promoted "thinking differently" and I refuse to be subjugated to banality and the loss of things that are beautiful. I will make each day my own and give it those I care for the most. I have no regrets about who I am or what I have done. If certain people still do not care about these kinds of things in their lives, then that will be to their own detriment.
Even through all these obstacles and fear I still remember the scientists that chased after tornadoes long ago, fuelled by their curiosity and desire to learn alone. I still remember the childhood before ostracism where I felt pure happiness, the Holy Spirit, and creativity flow between me and others like a river. And I know that this period in my life will return soon and in a better form than even before. When I did visit OU during my freshman year, Chuck Doswell lectured me about "ownership" and how preparation and opportunity could bring us both academic an professional success. Although this is a subsidiary of what I believe, "ownership" to me is the full circle of my personality being revealed to not be useless, but the key to my successes. With my inner self I beheld the perfect sunrise of what my life could be and now I feel that I will realize it. However where I will go is still unclear, but I know that where I end up will be the place I have dreamt about ever since I was a young child.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Sunlight of a New Day
As I sit here tonight, like so many other nights, wrapped in my own thoughts and ideas, I can't help but look back over the time that I've been through college and what I've learned and how I have such a clearer picture on what I want out of life.
Through both an economic recession, and with a very few exceptions, a big waste of my time socially, I've come to realize that no amount of academic prowess, unions of ideas, or inquiries will bring you closer to the friendships that you've always wanted. The white picketed fence, the social changes, some empire to revel or worship over is nothing without someone to pick up the pieces when you shatter. Such simple nourishment, such trust, is something I've rarely, or possibly never, had in my life and if I had my own Mirror of Arised; that's what it would show.
What remains of my time here in college, I realize that the aspects of my personality that I have suppressed to help alleviate these social circumstances cannot be held back any longer. Slowly my inner feelings, desires, and visions of the future will be all held entirely for everyone to see. If this causes some form of conformist (or bohemian hipster) animosity than that is their own inner workings. Just because of your social circle doesn't make you better than me. If this makes me "ignorant" or "non-progressive" or any other epithets that might be levied my way, the let it be so.
If the most ardent conservative who wants to know how I compete, or some angry college liberal wants to know how I somehow rectify some nascent intolerant tendency I would tell them this. My heart is forever unified with the inner workings of my mind. Inquiry is what I live by, but yet I take the time to let my soul fill with the nourishment that only those I trust provide. As long in some small way I advance humanity through my professional work or personal actions I will still have the light of a new day woven inside me. I will never be able to satisfy everyone and the things that define their existence. I just hope that I will one day unify my heart with another kind and like minded person.
Have a wonderful night,
Justin Lynn Reid
Through both an economic recession, and with a very few exceptions, a big waste of my time socially, I've come to realize that no amount of academic prowess, unions of ideas, or inquiries will bring you closer to the friendships that you've always wanted. The white picketed fence, the social changes, some empire to revel or worship over is nothing without someone to pick up the pieces when you shatter. Such simple nourishment, such trust, is something I've rarely, or possibly never, had in my life and if I had my own Mirror of Arised; that's what it would show.
What remains of my time here in college, I realize that the aspects of my personality that I have suppressed to help alleviate these social circumstances cannot be held back any longer. Slowly my inner feelings, desires, and visions of the future will be all held entirely for everyone to see. If this causes some form of conformist (or bohemian hipster) animosity than that is their own inner workings. Just because of your social circle doesn't make you better than me. If this makes me "ignorant" or "non-progressive" or any other epithets that might be levied my way, the let it be so.
If the most ardent conservative who wants to know how I compete, or some angry college liberal wants to know how I somehow rectify some nascent intolerant tendency I would tell them this. My heart is forever unified with the inner workings of my mind. Inquiry is what I live by, but yet I take the time to let my soul fill with the nourishment that only those I trust provide. As long in some small way I advance humanity through my professional work or personal actions I will still have the light of a new day woven inside me. I will never be able to satisfy everyone and the things that define their existence. I just hope that I will one day unify my heart with another kind and like minded person.
Have a wonderful night,
Justin Lynn Reid
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Reflections of a Semester
As this year finally draws to a close, the times have gone by like blurs on an impressionist's canvas. I only have one semester of undergraduate college left and I will be applying for graduate school soon. Around this January I'll will be applying for several graduate programs, but my first choice is the University of Oklahoma, whose research programs first inspired me to begin my interest in meteorology.
However even with these things that I've wanted all my life, I know that reality can make things so much different. Like the recession and other social problems around me I know that things don't always work out the way they should and sometimes this life can feel very loveless and appear like a frigid void. However as my personality is slowly revealing itself after so many years of remaining hidden I now look at my goals through a different lens.
What I want in life, more than any prestige, dollar amount, or charisma worship from other people is simply love and acceptance; more valuable to me than any profit that I will ever attain. If I can even reach that level of living and at the same time contribute anything, at any level, to my science; then I know that most of my life goals have been met, and even in this sometimes broken world of ours I will come to know a content that I have been seeking for a very long time.
Have a nice day!
Justin Reid
However even with these things that I've wanted all my life, I know that reality can make things so much different. Like the recession and other social problems around me I know that things don't always work out the way they should and sometimes this life can feel very loveless and appear like a frigid void. However as my personality is slowly revealing itself after so many years of remaining hidden I now look at my goals through a different lens.
What I want in life, more than any prestige, dollar amount, or charisma worship from other people is simply love and acceptance; more valuable to me than any profit that I will ever attain. If I can even reach that level of living and at the same time contribute anything, at any level, to my science; then I know that most of my life goals have been met, and even in this sometimes broken world of ours I will come to know a content that I have been seeking for a very long time.
Have a nice day!
Justin Reid
Sunday, November 6, 2011
My Own Autumn of Life
I have always loved the different colors that appear at this time of year when the air gets colder and daylight becomes less and less. Some of my poetry has been inspired by this time of year that seems to be drenched in golden waves of afternoons and early evenings. Whenever I see things like these, I remember what I have forever wanted in my life more than anything that the world can give.
In college I've been exposed to many sensibilities, philosophies and perspectives on the human experience. I've also seen warriors for social justice wage battles of rhetoric and existence against those they perceive as oppressors. However among all these wonders, horrors, and temples to materialism they cannot fill the part of my soul that hungers for my greatest desire from this world, true acceptance at last.
No amount of money, influence, or change that I could enact would replace those time that I remember when I was younger, when I could bring forth my emotions like a paintbrush whisking clouds on an empty canvas, and others there would fill my heart with happiness in return. All these contemporary ideas that try to replace this experience (be it with pets, alcohol, or sexual excess) fail miserably in my eyes and lead to the utterly depressed state of many people I've met here. Everyone just seems so distant, either avoiding being hurt by some force or that I don't fit enough for what they put on a pedestal. However these times that I have lived through are changing.
No matter what type of "Mythical American Norm" that I supposedly belong to, or how socially awkward I am will change the person inside myself that I have been too afraid to reveal since I was a child. Not that this matters much to a busy rebellious person hypnotized and enthralled in the young life or the winds of change, but this is who I am. I am someone who has loved meteorology and the sky above us for most of my life, but I have other things too. I also have feelings and perceptions that I have experienced, since I was young, from the world around me that has matured into the poetry that I write today. This is how I derive my inspiration and expression, an act of respect and love for other people, places, and events. Finally I do want to truly fall in love with someone one day. She isn't a prize, an object, or some nominal significant other to extend my personal space with. She is a node within my soul, as much a member of my being as my right hand (probably more). To suggest I would think otherwise as a part of my natural tendencies, is utterly offensive to the very foundation of how I live.
These things always swirl within my mind when I am alone staring at the beauty of the world that I observe. My greatest dream, more than winning the lottery, becoming an AMS Fellow, or being the top researcher of the National Severe Storms Laboratory, is the day when I can walk up to my friends and be welcomed fully once more. That connection, that other side, is where I know that I can at least for a moment, find true happiness on planet Earth. I think of those smiling faces when I see the leaves fall in the late autumn sunlight. I know that I will meet them again, but sometimes I'm not sure when that will happen.
Have a wonderful day,
Justin Lynn Reid
In college I've been exposed to many sensibilities, philosophies and perspectives on the human experience. I've also seen warriors for social justice wage battles of rhetoric and existence against those they perceive as oppressors. However among all these wonders, horrors, and temples to materialism they cannot fill the part of my soul that hungers for my greatest desire from this world, true acceptance at last.
No amount of money, influence, or change that I could enact would replace those time that I remember when I was younger, when I could bring forth my emotions like a paintbrush whisking clouds on an empty canvas, and others there would fill my heart with happiness in return. All these contemporary ideas that try to replace this experience (be it with pets, alcohol, or sexual excess) fail miserably in my eyes and lead to the utterly depressed state of many people I've met here. Everyone just seems so distant, either avoiding being hurt by some force or that I don't fit enough for what they put on a pedestal. However these times that I have lived through are changing.
No matter what type of "Mythical American Norm" that I supposedly belong to, or how socially awkward I am will change the person inside myself that I have been too afraid to reveal since I was a child. Not that this matters much to a busy rebellious person hypnotized and enthralled in the young life or the winds of change, but this is who I am. I am someone who has loved meteorology and the sky above us for most of my life, but I have other things too. I also have feelings and perceptions that I have experienced, since I was young, from the world around me that has matured into the poetry that I write today. This is how I derive my inspiration and expression, an act of respect and love for other people, places, and events. Finally I do want to truly fall in love with someone one day. She isn't a prize, an object, or some nominal significant other to extend my personal space with. She is a node within my soul, as much a member of my being as my right hand (probably more). To suggest I would think otherwise as a part of my natural tendencies, is utterly offensive to the very foundation of how I live.
These things always swirl within my mind when I am alone staring at the beauty of the world that I observe. My greatest dream, more than winning the lottery, becoming an AMS Fellow, or being the top researcher of the National Severe Storms Laboratory, is the day when I can walk up to my friends and be welcomed fully once more. That connection, that other side, is where I know that I can at least for a moment, find true happiness on planet Earth. I think of those smiling faces when I see the leaves fall in the late autumn sunlight. I know that I will meet them again, but sometimes I'm not sure when that will happen.
Have a wonderful day,
Justin Lynn Reid
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Ostracism, another synonym for "Bullying"
For this post, I'm writing in response to recent reports, especially through CNN and Anderson Cooper, about the "bullying" phenomenon going on the public school system. For the record, I must point out that I am heterosexual and a Christian and I didn't receive this treatment due to sexual preference, race, or religion. I've always found this subject uncomfortable for me to talk about and I thought airing the subject would be too crass, but I now think it is time for me to tell the story. What I experienced, I believe, is a form of conceited discrimination that I dealt with for nearly 8 years of my life.
Before the "bullying" started I was 8 years old. I was interested in meteorology even during those days (I first got interested when I was 5 after watching the PBS special Cylcone) and even took a tour of my local NBC station's weather center with my father. What I remember from those days was a mostly positive life with the creative experiences that come with childhood. This creative impulses that I felt so often during those days are those that ultimately lead to me writing poetry, and stories when I came to college. School was school during those days (even with it many administrative quirks) and I learned what I needed and left, and I even had a few friends during those times.
However this all changed in the fourth grade and what followed was what I call a deep and persistent spiral into isolation and ridicule. It started out as your usual immaturities but then I began to feel more and more distanced from my peers, even the ones that I knew before this began to happen. Many seemed to take an extreme displeasure to my presence. By sixth grade even though I changed schools, this sense from the people around me grew by such a large extent (one student even suggested that I drop dead) malicious rumors began to fly around (I believe of something an explicit nature) and soon I became a social outcast, something to be parodied like the subject of a South Park episode. The teachers and administration either didn't care and in some instances exacerbated the problem. Ultimately I left this public school because of death threats against other students.
When I moved to my new school the direct threat of violence ended, however the new people I began to know at my new school started to follow in the same good ol' American tradition of alienate the weird kid that's so different. This ultimately mushroomed in my sophomore year of high school where I literally almost went an entire school year isolated and without any friends to speak of. I was a cast away in my own thirsty mind among the rebellious and the condemning. All sorts of new expressions such as punk music, myspace, MTV, and other things spoke about freedom and having a sense self worth, but the same culture denied me the glittering friendship that it promised. I pretty much had no friendship at all and was something of an emotional punching bag when someone had a bad day. These desolate times that I call "high orbit" even affect my fashion sense today and is why I utterly refuse to buy Hollister, American Eagle, and other products that I associate with the treatment I endured.
In the end I graduated third in my class and retained high academic honors that have lead me to the college years that I am almost done with. With these memories still deep in my psyche I still question of what I am really worth. Am I a true member of this "free" American society? What is so wrong about me that someone would literally take the time to effectively devalue my own existence and make me feel at time like I am a life form lower than rotting pond scum? Even in college I still sense some of this bitterness and though I don't do all the things everyone else does, is my personality that much of a pestilence and a bother?
Now you know a little bit more on how I think and how some of my opinions and style choices were made. Not by a simplistic flow of trivial trends and memes, but by enduring a state of malicious condemnation and pure hatred that I lived with for a very long time. Anderson Cooper and the activist groups have only just unearthed the skylight of an entire underground cavern that has been interwoven among American society. So if you decide to dodge hanging out or preach to me about accepting other lifestyles due to college "liberal" ideals think twice, because I have already lived and learned the sensibilities and lessons that you are only now considering because it is politically advantageous and finally "cool" to understand.
In closing I consider what happened to me not "bullying" in the regular sense. Rather, I use the word ostracism to describe the interaction I had most often with my peers during those days. I remember one the first of my childhood's creative moments (a dream) that I have always considered close to my religion. Even with all that has happened and may happen again, I still keep this image in my mind and in my soul.
I behold the perfect afternoon, pure and unending, drenched in the patchwork of love and words. I feel no evil and I relinquish my connection to avarice. Each day is a story, a second is a metaphor, everything around me is a blessed actor. Even if I find emptiness, I'll travel back to this world, and find all the connections to my inner purity once more.
Have a fulfilling day,
Justin Reid
Before the "bullying" started I was 8 years old. I was interested in meteorology even during those days (I first got interested when I was 5 after watching the PBS special Cylcone) and even took a tour of my local NBC station's weather center with my father. What I remember from those days was a mostly positive life with the creative experiences that come with childhood. This creative impulses that I felt so often during those days are those that ultimately lead to me writing poetry, and stories when I came to college. School was school during those days (even with it many administrative quirks) and I learned what I needed and left, and I even had a few friends during those times.
However this all changed in the fourth grade and what followed was what I call a deep and persistent spiral into isolation and ridicule. It started out as your usual immaturities but then I began to feel more and more distanced from my peers, even the ones that I knew before this began to happen. Many seemed to take an extreme displeasure to my presence. By sixth grade even though I changed schools, this sense from the people around me grew by such a large extent (one student even suggested that I drop dead) malicious rumors began to fly around (I believe of something an explicit nature) and soon I became a social outcast, something to be parodied like the subject of a South Park episode. The teachers and administration either didn't care and in some instances exacerbated the problem. Ultimately I left this public school because of death threats against other students.
When I moved to my new school the direct threat of violence ended, however the new people I began to know at my new school started to follow in the same good ol' American tradition of alienate the weird kid that's so different. This ultimately mushroomed in my sophomore year of high school where I literally almost went an entire school year isolated and without any friends to speak of. I was a cast away in my own thirsty mind among the rebellious and the condemning. All sorts of new expressions such as punk music, myspace, MTV, and other things spoke about freedom and having a sense self worth, but the same culture denied me the glittering friendship that it promised. I pretty much had no friendship at all and was something of an emotional punching bag when someone had a bad day. These desolate times that I call "high orbit" even affect my fashion sense today and is why I utterly refuse to buy Hollister, American Eagle, and other products that I associate with the treatment I endured.
In the end I graduated third in my class and retained high academic honors that have lead me to the college years that I am almost done with. With these memories still deep in my psyche I still question of what I am really worth. Am I a true member of this "free" American society? What is so wrong about me that someone would literally take the time to effectively devalue my own existence and make me feel at time like I am a life form lower than rotting pond scum? Even in college I still sense some of this bitterness and though I don't do all the things everyone else does, is my personality that much of a pestilence and a bother?
Now you know a little bit more on how I think and how some of my opinions and style choices were made. Not by a simplistic flow of trivial trends and memes, but by enduring a state of malicious condemnation and pure hatred that I lived with for a very long time. Anderson Cooper and the activist groups have only just unearthed the skylight of an entire underground cavern that has been interwoven among American society. So if you decide to dodge hanging out or preach to me about accepting other lifestyles due to college "liberal" ideals think twice, because I have already lived and learned the sensibilities and lessons that you are only now considering because it is politically advantageous and finally "cool" to understand.
In closing I consider what happened to me not "bullying" in the regular sense. Rather, I use the word ostracism to describe the interaction I had most often with my peers during those days. I remember one the first of my childhood's creative moments (a dream) that I have always considered close to my religion. Even with all that has happened and may happen again, I still keep this image in my mind and in my soul.
I behold the perfect afternoon, pure and unending, drenched in the patchwork of love and words. I feel no evil and I relinquish my connection to avarice. Each day is a story, a second is a metaphor, everything around me is a blessed actor. Even if I find emptiness, I'll travel back to this world, and find all the connections to my inner purity once more.
Have a fulfilling day,
Justin Reid
Thursday, October 13, 2011
The Beauty and the Dark Side of my Linux Experience
Since I've been in middle school I have had to learn about computers and the applications that they've run. No fanboy-like rant intended, I've never actually taken pleasure out of that singular experience until I used the Linux operating system. For what I do, Linux does things faster, more intuitively, and for free. The Ubuntu Linux distribution is one of my main weapons against the hard times of the recession in my country. However even with my current knowledge of programming and my interest in Linux, I sometimes feel a sort of resistance coming from one of the system's hallmarks, the Linux community.
Many articles have been written about the Linux snob syndrome. Although I believe that the Open Source development process is one of the best paradigms for creating and maintaining software, I feel sort of alienated when I try to interact with some of its members. Sometimes when I ask a question I get the go to response of "please ask me something more specific". You're a computer programmer, if you understand recursive algorithms you can answer a general question about a bug or how an application works, I'm not asking about a kernel spec. This sort of sensibility also carried over to another ambition of mine, being a Linux developer.
Earlier this year I wanted to play an active part in being a developer for my current distribution Ubuntu. Although I knew I needed to learn C++, I thought I knew enough programming to begin learning more about Linux and actually getting real world coding experience by becoming a developer like someone who maintains and creates Linux applications (such as GIMP or Emacs), however when I looked at all the information it was truly an overwhelming experience and when I went into what is called and internet relay chat (irc) room I was only advised to go back to the links I had already visited, and that I needed a to have an exact definition of what I wanted to do. I can understand where the people in that irc came from, however I do not work for Canonical (the corporate sponsor of Ubuntu) and trying to synthesize all the different ends and outs (MOTUs, Upstream vs. downstream, Launchpad, etc.) without some form of more concrete guidance seems counter intuitive to the Linux and open source mission. The path to becoming a developer seemed for me to be fuzzy and non-direct, and I didn't think I would get any more help from the community sources.
Ultimately I realized that development for me would be impractical because I only have one machine and I would have to buy another for the sole purpose of stability. In addition I also bought Mark Sobell's A Practical Guide to Linux which has helped me extensively understand Linux's elegance in its many flavors sans the aloofness. I do feel that most of the Linux community is not this way, especially when reading articles from sources such as OMG! Ubuntu and Nixie Pixel, however this gravitas does exist in places. I really do see a bright future for Linux and will be my primary operating system moving forward. But in some ways I wonder if I'll still be looking at the Tux from the outside in.
Have a peaceful day,
Justin Reid
Many articles have been written about the Linux snob syndrome. Although I believe that the Open Source development process is one of the best paradigms for creating and maintaining software, I feel sort of alienated when I try to interact with some of its members. Sometimes when I ask a question I get the go to response of "please ask me something more specific". You're a computer programmer, if you understand recursive algorithms you can answer a general question about a bug or how an application works, I'm not asking about a kernel spec. This sort of sensibility also carried over to another ambition of mine, being a Linux developer.
Earlier this year I wanted to play an active part in being a developer for my current distribution Ubuntu. Although I knew I needed to learn C++, I thought I knew enough programming to begin learning more about Linux and actually getting real world coding experience by becoming a developer like someone who maintains and creates Linux applications (such as GIMP or Emacs), however when I looked at all the information it was truly an overwhelming experience and when I went into what is called and internet relay chat (irc) room I was only advised to go back to the links I had already visited, and that I needed a to have an exact definition of what I wanted to do. I can understand where the people in that irc came from, however I do not work for Canonical (the corporate sponsor of Ubuntu) and trying to synthesize all the different ends and outs (MOTUs, Upstream vs. downstream, Launchpad, etc.) without some form of more concrete guidance seems counter intuitive to the Linux and open source mission. The path to becoming a developer seemed for me to be fuzzy and non-direct, and I didn't think I would get any more help from the community sources.
Ultimately I realized that development for me would be impractical because I only have one machine and I would have to buy another for the sole purpose of stability. In addition I also bought Mark Sobell's A Practical Guide to Linux which has helped me extensively understand Linux's elegance in its many flavors sans the aloofness. I do feel that most of the Linux community is not this way, especially when reading articles from sources such as OMG! Ubuntu and Nixie Pixel, however this gravitas does exist in places. I really do see a bright future for Linux and will be my primary operating system moving forward. But in some ways I wonder if I'll still be looking at the Tux from the outside in.
Have a peaceful day,
Justin Reid
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