August 12:
Very hot in the morning.
In the afternoon sudden thunder-storm & very heavy rain.
About 50 yards from the gate the road & pavement flooded a foot deep after only 1 1/2 hours rain.

Blackberries beginning to redden.

The Orwell Prize, Britain’s pre-eminent prize for political writing, is publishing George Orwell’s diaries as a blog!

For the next four years, the group will post one diary entry each day exactly 70 years after it was written (from August 9, 1938 to October 1942).

And why should we, in our little mountain towns, care about this?

1. While at first blackberries may seem mundane, readers can see how Orwell’s attention to detail in regular life translated to bigger issues. Any Orwellian fan - or critic - should be interested to learn the thoughts and domestic life of the man who gave us the prescient 1984 (50 years before its time) and poignant phrases (Big Brother) that have integrated themselves into our 21st century vernacular.

2. Everybody blogs these days. The most successful are those who do it daily, constantly. I spend a ton of time surfing the ‘Net, reading about other people’s comings and goings. I’d love to add one of my favorite writers to the mix. His will likely be more interesting than most. (Bonus: His blog is in WordPress, same as ours!)

3. Mountain town folks can relate to the broad spectrum of Orwell’s subjects - plants, animals, woodwork, traveling, government control. …

I just wonder what the man who brought us Big Brother would think of The Matrix that we’re all willingly plugged into, addicted to. What would he think of all our blogging and updating (Big Brother doesn’t even need to watch us, we’re broadcasting ourselves constantly.) And what would he think of people from London to Jackson Hole reading the words he scrawled privately into his diary?

Lauren M. Whaley tries to emulate Orwell by writing every single day and paying attention. She learned about The Orwell Diaries from Syndicated Columnist and photographer David J. Swift