Memoir of a Real Life Archives

Media Literacy Will Destroy Civilization

By Chris Carosa on March 4, 2025

A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, the idea of bringing computers into classrooms emerged as a real possibility. More than a possibility, it presented a strong controversy. “The kids lack the media literacy to judge what is real and what is make believe,” cried concerned citizens.

This was back in the 1990s. I was on what was then called the HF-L Technology Committee because of my computer background (and also because, as Town Board school liaison, I had to be on some committee). Today, those complaints seem naïve. And they were. But not for reasons you think.

It turns out secondary school students aren’t the only perpetrators of media illiteracy. We all Continue Reading “Media Literacy Will Destroy Civilization”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, History, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 1960s generation, Alexis de Tocqueville, American Dream, American Exceptionalism, Baby Boomer, Bill Murray, Bob Woodward, Democracy in America, extreme skepticism, Founding Fathers, Gell-Mann Amnesia effect, George Carlin, George Washington, HF-L, hippie, historiography, History, Joe Rogan, John Belushi, media illiteracy, media literacy, Murray Gell-Mann, Nixon, question everything, skepticism, Technology Committee, Thomas Jefferson

The Empirical Past vs. The Remembered Past

By Chris Carosa on February 25, 2025

If you don’t know it by now, I like to tell stories. While I enjoy spinning yarns on historical events that captivate audiences, I much prefer those drama-in-(my)-real-life vignettes that allow me to explore fun lessons I lived through. Indeed, one of the first Carosa Commentary columns published in these pages told a coming-of-age tale that really took place at the bus stop when I was in fourth grade. It was a three-part series (that began with “Terror at the School Bus Stop—A True-Life Story (Part I),” Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, January 11, 1990).

The trouble with these personal stories is that they’re personal. Unless I can figure out a way Continue Reading “The Empirical Past vs. The Remembered Past”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Abbott Parkway, acausal, Carosa Commentary, classical physicist, determinism, entanglement, future, Kenny, memory, past, philosophy, Physics, present, psychology, quantum philosophy, quantum physics, retrocausality, School Bus Stop, Schrodinger's cat, superposition of states, Teresa, Time, Time Travel, wave-particle duality

My Life With AI—Part IV: Curses! Foiled Again!

By Chris Carosa on February 18, 2025

Many years ago, I sat in a strategic planning session for our local school district. My kids were young, not even in school yet. My participation represented a legacy of sorts. When I served on the Town Board, I was the youngest member by a generation or two. They figured that made me the perfect person to serve as liaison between the Town Board and the School Board. I soon found myself sitting on quite a few school committees, from capital projects to technology.

This strategic planning committee was a little different. For one thing, it was ad hoc. For another, it involved a lot of big mucky mucks from every facet of the school district. Still closer to my twenties than my forties, I kept my mouth shut for the most part. Oddly, despite my Continue Reading “My Life With AI—Part IV: Curses! Foiled Again!”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 1987, AI, AI Agent Framework, artificial intelligence, Borland, Chinese, computer, CrewAI, database, debugging, English, FORTRAN, grammar, hack, internet, kludge, Latin, left field, Mendon Town Board, Microsoft, Multi-Agent Systems Platform, outside the box, programming, Prolog, Python, School Board, scientific method, strategic planning, Turbo C, Turbo Prolog, Visual Studio 2022

My Life With AI—Part III: What Comes Around Goes Around

By Chris Carosa on February 11, 2025

If you recall from past columns in this space, you might remember one of the first things I did during my second run at publishing this esteemed periodical was to replace myself.

Allow me to explain.

Among the software we found buried deep within the bowels of one of the two extremely outdated computers we inherited was an ancient DBase III program. For those not old enough to recognize the name or even the purpose of that old code, it allowed you to collect and update a customized database you could then manipulate in any way you desired. I installed this program in 1989 when we started the newspaper. I then created a database in which we could keep our subscriptions on. We used it not only to know when people needed to renew but also to print out the mailing labels to attach to the newspapers every week.

Nearly thirty years later, the previous owners of the Sentinel were still using this archaic software. The very first thing I did was extract the data (into a comma-delimited file for all you nerds out there), which I promptly imported into an Excel spreadsheet. From that spreadsheet, I wrote a mail-list merge routine in Word to print out the mailing labels.

And with that, I had replaced myself. (For those keeping score at home—and who notice how Continue Reading “My Life With AI—Part III: What Comes Around Goes Around”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged AI, AI chatbots, AI tools, artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, Claude, DBase III, DR-LINK, Gemini, generative AI assistants, Grok, hallucination, Large Language Model, LLM, Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, New York State Press Association, programming, Publishers Conference, Textwise, Wikipedia, X

How Psychic Numbing Weirdly Helps You… Or Doesn’t

By Chris Carosa on February 4, 2025

If you read a lot of spy novels or watch a lot of action-adventure movies, you’re used to scenes involving at least the threat of torture. Now, we know torture might happen in real life. As a dramatic element, however, it has very limited appeal. This is especially true in shows that want a family-friendly rating.

How do writers deal with this? They bring us right up to the edge of the actual torture and maybe a little beyond because Continue Reading “How Psychic Numbing Weirdly Helps You… Or Doesn’t”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged beatnik, behavior, Buffalo Bills, Cold War, coping, Death In Life, emotion, Gates-Chili High School, hipster, Hiroshima, Holocaust, Kirk, peer pressure, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, psychic numbing, PTSD, rational, Reykjavik, Robert Jay Lifton, Ronald Reagan, Soviet Union, Spock, torture, Vietnam War, wide right, Yale

The Layers Beyond The Image Reveal Mesmerizing Rabbit Holes

By Chris Carosa on January 28, 2025

Take a look at this picture. What do you see? What do you feel? Does it spark your curiosity? Does it inspire you? Or are you simply left wondering if you’re coming or going?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but those thousand words often represent just the start of a great story. Here are the thousand words (and beyond) prompted by this picture.

First, just the facts. I took this picture in August of 1988. It’s just outside the medieval village of Fontecchio in the Province of Abruzzo, Italy. That’s the hometown of my father’s father. I was the first of his descendants to visit there. (My father and his sister wouldn’t get there until a year or so later.)

But it’s not like we didn’t have family there. It’s just that I didn’t know any of them, and I assumed they had no idea who I was. Indeed, during a scouting trip to Fontecchio the day before, it certainly seemed that way. After all, despite my pedigree, I felt I looked a lot less Continue Reading “The Layers Beyond The Image Reveal Mesmerizing Rabbit Holes”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged a picture is worth a thousand words, Abruzzo, Angelo Rosati, Buffalo, Fontecchio, great grandfather, Mike Morris, Nunzia, Rhode Island College

‘I’ve Been Contemplating The Death Of An Old Friend…’

By Chris Carosa on December 3, 2024

The titular quote comes from the climax scene of the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” While this aired on September 22, 1966 as the third episode of the first season, “Where No Man Has Gone Before” was produced in 1965 as the second pilot for the seminal series. It sets the stage for all that is Captain Kirk.

Briefly, (spoiler alerts here, but if you haven’t watched it yet, that’s another issue), Captain Kirk’s good friend Gary Mitchell (played by actor Gary Lockwood), gains God-like powers when the starship Enterprise becomes the first vessel to go beyond the barrier at the edge of the galaxy (hence, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”). In a fight to the death, Kirk (with a little help) prevails. Despite his near-fatal confrontation, Kirk says Mitchell died in the line of duty because “He didn’t ask for what happened to him.”

“Where No Man Has Gone Before” stands out as a story of the bonds of friendship and its undying importance to Captain Kirk. Of all his friendships, it’s the one between Kirk and Continue Reading “‘I’ve Been Contemplating The Death Of An Old Friend…’”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life Tagged 765874 - Unification, Amok Time, brother, Chris Pine, death, Dr.Tolian Soran, Edith Keeler, Frank Poole, friendship, Gary Lockwood, Gary Mitchell, Kelvin, Kenny, Kirk, Leonard Nimoy, life, Nexus, Picard, Spock, Star Trek, Star Trek II, Star Trek III, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek: Generations, The City on the Edge of Forever, The Original Series, The Search for Spock, The Wrath of Khan, Where No Man Has Gone Before, Whom Gods Destroy, William Shatner

I’ve Seen My Lifetime Disintegrate Before My Eyes

By Chris Carosa on November 5, 2024

I’ve seen my lifetime disintegrate before my eyes.

Do you have a recurring dream that you just can’t understand? No, I’m not talking about the one where you realize the final exam is today and you haven’t cracked open the textbook. Nor am I talking about the one where the giant ape is slowly chasing you, but try as you might, you just can’t run.

Those are typical anxiety dreams. They have nothing to do with final exams or giant apes. They’re more likely related to something in your daily life (usually work or some other stress-inducing environment).

Here’s the kind of dream I’m talking about: it involves a familiar landscape, maybe current, maybe from your past. It’s “familiar” in the sense that it evokes the real thing except it’sContinue Reading “I’ve Seen My Lifetime Disintegrate Before My Eyes”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged 187 Abbott Parkway, 83 Victory Avenue, Abbott Parkway, Blasdell, Blasdell Bowling Academy, Blasdell Junction, Carthage, Erie Railroad, George S. Patton, hamburg, Honeoye Falls, Ingham Avenue, Lackawanna, Lave Avenue, Lehigh Valley Railroad, Mendon, New York Central, Nickel Plate Road, Our Mother of Good Counsel, Patton, Pennsylvania Railroad, Roman Triumph, Salvator's Pizzeria, South Park, St. Anthony's, Victory Avenue, Woodlawn, Woodlawn Elementary, Woodlawn Intermediate

Halloween Memories

By Chris Carosa on October 29, 2024

There’s a certain childlike innocence about Halloween. It’s childlike because it’s best captured through the eager eyes of young children. Perhaps no holiday other than Christmas brings forth more enthusiasm than Halloween for youngsters.

Quite possibly, for a kid, it’s tough to say which yields more joy. Christmas certainly has its upside. After all, who can deny the happiness of receiving a roomful of gifts? But, for a child, these gifts come at a cost. You must wear stiff clothes, suffer through a long Mass, and put up with the boredom of even longer dinners with the extended family. All this keeps you from playing Continue Reading “Halloween Memories”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 1964, 1967, 1968, Abbott Parkway, Christmas, costume, Dad, Dad Tax, devil, dinosaur, dragon, Halloween, home economics, Kenny, mannequin, mom, pumpkin, second grade, sewing, third grade

Remembering Father Latus

By Chris Carosa on September 10, 2024

Father Charles Latus presides over the first Wedding Mass celebrated at the new opened St. Catherine’s Church in the hamlet of Mendon, NY on September 28, 1991.

My father and brother erected the family estate with their own hands. After a long search my parents found a perfect parcel on which to build. While I toiled away deskbound in some distant cubicle, the other men in the family conveyed materials in a beat-up Ford pick-up to the site. Reminiscent of “Carosa and Son” (the masonry business started by my grandfather with my father riding shotgun), the two constructed a home of their dreams.

Oddly, it wasn’t their dream home. That would come decades later.

Coincidentally, they located both homes in the Town of Mendon. The first was the ideal family home. The second was the ideal home for retirement.

That first home was more than the “ideal” family home, it was the last home that housed the entire family – Mother, Father, two adult sons, a high school daughter and an elementary school daughter. We were all there. Until the company my father worked for decided to shut down the Rochester office and transfer him to Albany.

But that’s another story. This is a story about melding into a community.

We quickly adopted Mendon as our home. There are three things that make a community a Continue Reading “Remembering Father Latus”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Andrea, Betsy Carosa, Carosa and Son, Catholic, Charles Latus, Chris Carosa, Chuck Latus, Dad, Father Latus, Hamlet, Heidi, Kenny, Mary Lee, Mendon, Mendon Community Preschool, Mendon Fireman's Carnival, Mendon Youth Baseball, mom, Monsignor Schnacky, Monsignor Schnacky Players, Pack 105, Pre-Cana, St. Catherine's, wedding