Open Letter to Ivor Tossell, Globe and Mail

[also sent to Globe and Mail's Letters to the Editor]

Re: "Who's kidding whom? On Facebook, we're all a bunch of phonies"

Your article today that Facebook is all flash and no substance comes
on a morning when one friend changed his status to say he is "not a
failure, he just looks like one most of the time."

It's followed by seven responses along the lines of "Big love," "dude,
you're my hero", and the charming quote, "It's not much of a tail, but
I'm sort of attached to it."

Browsing my News Feed, I see one friend in Minneapolis posted photos
of newly installed solar panels on her roof, someone in Guelph has bad
writer's block, and a friend in Boston sent out a "gut shabbes, y'all."

I want to say thank you for this article which gives me another reminder
to treasure my friends for their uniquenesses, honesty, and comfortableness
with being genuine even in public. It might be that the internet gives
us a mask to hide behind, but it does also give us the tools to connect
in very honest ways. If we choose to.