Obviously i'm coming at this topic from a perspective that isn't all that common--mom of woman-to-be of color, white (not including the Sicilian ;-) ) wife of a black man living in America, the south even, south east to be precise--not too extraordinary; not your every day thing either.
you can say that's a disclaimer; you can say them's the facts, jack. either way. all I'm really trying to figure out is why black history month bothers me--and why it bothers me that it bothers me.
First, let's talk about what's good about Black History Month. Obviously, the incorporation into a sorely lacking public school curriculum when it comes to the accomplishments of an entire group of Americans whose contributions have been largely overlooked in favor of a distorted image of homogeny. Really Important Contributions, one might say, by people who were once Not Free (AKA enslaved) in the aforementioned country, and in the not-so-distant past--making these contributions all the more meaningful.
So, good goal: Teach the little children that black americans (contrary to what Broadcast Mainstream Media & Advertising have done their best to infuse into our children's growing brains) have done more than play sports and music, light fires, and loot. Who knew?
Inventors, physicians, astronauts, executives, artists--lots of Smart Successful People who these same little children never saw in mainstream curriculum, on their local news channels, in the newspapers, or on the bookshelves at the library.
Given that reality, I see lots of good reasons for schools to "celebrate" Black History Month.
As a mom, I don't.
My experience is that Black History Month has become a 30-day paranoia immersion period for the white children rather than a learning experience about our culture and shared history.
Let's look at it another way.
Jenna has white friends--and I mean Nordic white. Jenna has friends of color (all different shades and ethnicities). But the poor white kids don't quite know what to do when black history month comes around.
And i don't blame them. Here they've been, playing along for years without distinction, except for the occasional summer tan contest, in which "peach" and "brown" have always been the closest crayola colors to the real deal, so that's what the children have naturally labeled each other's skin hues.
Along comes a school "celebration" that alerts our children to their differences and explains that sometimes children of different backgrounds (EMPHASIS on the Black and White during this special in-class intervention) have a hard time playing together, but that the color of our skin shouldn't make a difference. AND NOW: Let us All Focus On the Color Of Our Skins for the Next 30 Days.
Thank you for making an issue out of what we as parents (our friends and us) believe is a non-issue.
Put into practical purposes, here's a story from 2 hours ago. We're at a friend's house tonight, we moms are hanging out while Jenna plays with her friends of four years. The kids get into a conflict over some x-random thing. And out of the friend's mouth:
"I think maybe we're having trouble playing together because I'm white and she's black."
We look at each other with a sly smile, yah--that isn't even her own sentence structure, let alone the way the kids have ever described one another. Any correlation between the book report due next week on a Role Model of choice for Black History Month?
A similar uncharacteristic exchange happened with another of Jenna's friends of many years last week. Again, the homework topic: African American Heroes.
The peach kids don't know if they're supposed to say Black as in "Black History Month" or "African American" as in "Your Favorite African American Heroes."
And so, forced symantics enter their world of "peach" and "brown" -- shades of the same family, more similar than different. Our childrens' variations on a theme are replaced with learned symantic segregation.
Like any good idea, Black History Month needs to evolve in order to remain relevant and positive-purposed. How about taking the combined knowledge base of the many resources around Black History Month and incorporate it into various curriculum approaches -- resulting in an HONEST, overall look at American history, one that does not exclude, but includes.
How about we drop the 30-day rehab sensitivity training intensive for elementary school kids and replace it with real WORK on the part of the adults shaping public education and classroom curriculum into the future.
How about peach and brown?
Technorati Tags : black+history+month, race, ethnicity
February 04, 2006
when i used to write here
sometimes i get email saying damn, j., it's nice you're posting all this interesting stuff since you left your last gig, and we're glad you have work, and it's nice to hear about web2.0 and photo sharing and chewing gum and contests, but remember when you used to actually w-r-i-t-e shit?
and i usually say, you mean when I was a practitioner, practitioning the art of blogging on a daily basis rather than a practitioner OF blogging? and then they/you say yes, that thing then.
now i don't take offense, but sometimes i like to write back and say didn't you get the press release--blogging grew up. and then we laugh. as if. i say, did you know i got my first check from Google in four fucking years? i don't know it must be like .000000008 cent per word if you average it out. Usually I charge like $400 per word. unless the word is common. like i'll give you crap for $4. but dude, google sent me money. ha!
i can't wait until blogging gets stupid again and we can all go back to REALLY talking to eachother, post to post to post, him to her to me, rather than aggregating and newsreadering up one another's asses.
There's too much too much and who is listening? the last of the bunch who care can't stop it from becoming everything it wasn't supposed to, from becoming one big broadcast to no one, supermedia to the supernova, one big barge on one big lake moving one big river of shit. Did i say river of shit? on the nosy.
the real tricky part comes when you start to make a living that is at least partially related to this space. why is it tricky, well, because it is. because some people tell other people they own this space and other people are doe-eyed, asking: Does that mean I blow you now?
of course the king says yes my dear--let the blowing commence.
i remember when i used to watch run-ins with heavy weights on the tech/blogging scene, and the heavy weight would threaten or take action, quite literally, to put someone else's gig in danger. not because they should, but because they could.
now we all can, and what's next is that folks will be getting dooced from their blogosphere gigs and stuck back into some dumb corporate gig for sticking too many pricker bushes in the socks of too many of the blogfia's army.
my point is, janice was right and is right, the best feeling in the world is having nothing to lose. you want to talk bitter sweet, then taste my bile baby because i'm home. all-gone is the firmest ground you'll ever stand on.
these are some of the things i say to people when they write me.
sometimes i use different words, but same basic theme: destrangulation.
no wonder you've all stopped emailing. maybe i should reevaluate the honesty thing.
i guess what i'm trying to say is that some of the folks i made mad when i called them on shit and told them the precise color of their excrement are waiting for something from me now. it'd make life easier to give it to them.
but you know what? HA!!!
no.
my boss is my blog and my ass is my own.
and i usually say, you mean when I was a practitioner, practitioning the art of blogging on a daily basis rather than a practitioner OF blogging? and then they/you say yes, that thing then.
now i don't take offense, but sometimes i like to write back and say didn't you get the press release--blogging grew up. and then we laugh. as if. i say, did you know i got my first check from Google in four fucking years? i don't know it must be like .000000008 cent per word if you average it out. Usually I charge like $400 per word. unless the word is common. like i'll give you crap for $4. but dude, google sent me money. ha!
i can't wait until blogging gets stupid again and we can all go back to REALLY talking to eachother, post to post to post, him to her to me, rather than aggregating and newsreadering up one another's asses.
There's too much too much and who is listening? the last of the bunch who care can't stop it from becoming everything it wasn't supposed to, from becoming one big broadcast to no one, supermedia to the supernova, one big barge on one big lake moving one big river of shit. Did i say river of shit? on the nosy.
the real tricky part comes when you start to make a living that is at least partially related to this space. why is it tricky, well, because it is. because some people tell other people they own this space and other people are doe-eyed, asking: Does that mean I blow you now?
of course the king says yes my dear--let the blowing commence.
i remember when i used to watch run-ins with heavy weights on the tech/blogging scene, and the heavy weight would threaten or take action, quite literally, to put someone else's gig in danger. not because they should, but because they could.
now we all can, and what's next is that folks will be getting dooced from their blogosphere gigs and stuck back into some dumb corporate gig for sticking too many pricker bushes in the socks of too many of the blogfia's army.
my point is, janice was right and is right, the best feeling in the world is having nothing to lose. you want to talk bitter sweet, then taste my bile baby because i'm home. all-gone is the firmest ground you'll ever stand on.
these are some of the things i say to people when they write me.
sometimes i use different words, but same basic theme: destrangulation.
no wonder you've all stopped emailing. maybe i should reevaluate the honesty thing.
i guess what i'm trying to say is that some of the folks i made mad when i called them on shit and told them the precise color of their excrement are waiting for something from me now. it'd make life easier to give it to them.
but you know what? HA!!!
no.
my boss is my blog and my ass is my own.
February 03, 2006
How Bummed am I...
That I had to miss this event?
My level of bummed-ness is hardly describable. The problem was, having very recently left my last business venture and again entered solo-space (and the mom thing, well you know), I was completely snowed under. It's a good problem to have. But it's bad when it comes to going across the country to explode my mind with the 3,244 ideas they seemed to have managed to come up with despite my absence.
If I'd have gone, I would still be high as a kite, de-focused, thrilled, inventing, loving all of the new women I read but haven't met. That sure beats the four press releases I have due over the weekend. ;-)
I'm so happy for Halley that it was a success, and everything I've read says the event was on-the-money as far as brainstorms go. I look foward to getting my ass to both SXSW and BlogHer, which ought to take me into the idea stratosphere for a month. Not good, pragmatically speaking.
I also look forward to some new models emerging for our children attending AND LEARNING from these events. Why not a 'road school' component to homeschooling? Why not conference-and-business-and-brainstorming that includes our children? In the article I wrote recently for December's Atlanta Parent magazine, Jenna came up with the interview questions and got credit. She also illustrated the article. Listen, Pepsi built its brand around talking to kids (who eventually grow up). Prediction: The companies who start talking to our kids now -- for real, online -- will win big.
Anyway, I'm just thinking. 'Cause the other thing is, you'd have to promise and deliver me a rose gargen before I'd fly six hours from my kid. That's just how it is right now.
My level of bummed-ness is hardly describable. The problem was, having very recently left my last business venture and again entered solo-space (and the mom thing, well you know), I was completely snowed under. It's a good problem to have. But it's bad when it comes to going across the country to explode my mind with the 3,244 ideas they seemed to have managed to come up with despite my absence.
If I'd have gone, I would still be high as a kite, de-focused, thrilled, inventing, loving all of the new women I read but haven't met. That sure beats the four press releases I have due over the weekend. ;-)
I'm so happy for Halley that it was a success, and everything I've read says the event was on-the-money as far as brainstorms go. I look foward to getting my ass to both SXSW and BlogHer, which ought to take me into the idea stratosphere for a month. Not good, pragmatically speaking.
I also look forward to some new models emerging for our children attending AND LEARNING from these events. Why not a 'road school' component to homeschooling? Why not conference-and-business-and-brainstorming that includes our children? In the article I wrote recently for December's Atlanta Parent magazine, Jenna came up with the interview questions and got credit. She also illustrated the article. Listen, Pepsi built its brand around talking to kids (who eventually grow up). Prediction: The companies who start talking to our kids now -- for real, online -- will win big.
Anyway, I'm just thinking. 'Cause the other thing is, you'd have to promise and deliver me a rose gargen before I'd fly six hours from my kid. That's just how it is right now.
The bubbleshare community
If you haven't browsed through the bubbleshare community yet, take a walk through sometime. I'm not saying that because I help them out part-part-part time. I'm saying so because it feels different and interesting. What's interesting to me is the meat-to-cake variety of things people are posting story albums on. You'll find very nice photography like this, and then you'll find "stuff" like this, which I'm thinking, maybe, represents folks using the simple email-and-send ability of BS to show and sell their wares. I puzzle a little over Iran Air pics and wonder who was taking the trip. Going to, coming from? I wish more folks would add audio -- please? -- so we could hear the story behind an album like this--huh? Is it all an illusion or do these stories help us get real? Maybe some of both.
Take a stroll through. It's not a bad way to spend your lunch break.
...and don't forget the contest runs through Feb 20th, so get busy!
Technorati Tags: photosharing, photography, bubbleshare, contest, photos
Take a stroll through. It's not a bad way to spend your lunch break.
...and don't forget the contest runs through Feb 20th, so get busy!
Technorati Tags: photosharing, photography, bubbleshare, contest, photos
testing out performancing for firefox
I've heard about performancing. The first time I tried it, I couldn't figure out how to associate it with all of my blogger blogs. I don't know if it changed or if I got smarter, but it seems pretty nice. Would like to hear Qumana's take on what's different between their app and performancing.
No time to understand intricacies. Only time to use.
Technorati Tags: performancing, qumana
No time to understand intricacies. Only time to use.
Technorati Tags: performancing, qumana
chew me a new one.
Call it a compulsion, but i give seemingly dumb ideas credit whenever possible. In this case, I gave a buck.
February 02, 2006
I need a job description
If all of my clients and all of my family and all of my pro-bono favorites and all of my bill collectors and all of my kids' teachers and coaches and all of my friends and all of my pets and all of my errands and all of my blogs could all get together and write me a little job description, I would very much appreciate it.
Remember when you worked in an actual corporation and you had actual performance reviews? HA! Now you get paid--that's your review. Remember how your manager's manager made her come up with those stupid "development opportunities" (DOs) for you, no matter what job you had, and it was always stuff that made you say -- Wha? what's that have to do witht the price of tea -- but they had to come up with something, otherwise what would they tell you the next time you had to sit there staring at someone you just saw blow sprite through her nose in the cafeteria and wonder what you two would talk about this time?
And what is a development opportunity when you're 45? I want to fucking retire before I die, and my retirement won't look much different from this that I do right now. That's my objective. How's that.
Anyway, sorry--got to happily reflecting there. What I'm saying is HOW MUCH the business environment right now right here requires flexibility--how little time there is to stop and wonder, hey, when can I pick up a free training class, instead wondering, hey,when can I pick up a free two minutes?
It's nuts. I love it. It's hyperlinked. The Web is my DO. But I'd still go for a good old fashioned job description.
it's too precious
Jenna and George are in the living room: he's on bass; she's "playing" the piano--they piece together a song unwritten, father-daughter notes and patterns and strings and hearts exploring, quickening, modulating; she plunks the keys in her pattented cadence; he follows along on his five string until she gets so noisy it all flutters and falls and unwinds and its bedtime. Tonight she'll sleep.
The Boy in the Bubble
Go on over to Chris Pirillo's place to see AND HEAR his bubble wrap story album in honor of the BubbleShare phot++ contest. Oh. My. Holy. All. That. Is. Sacrey. And his dog too. The horror.
observations
I'm not keeping up. Too many freyed edges in too many weakened strands. Not the only one, I know. My introject is at the ready. "It's Web 2.0; suck it up bucko, we may never pass this way again."
Which reminds me that a friend handed us a children's CD the other night as we walked out to our cars together. Jenna loves any manner of cd/dvd/gameboy/nintendog/consumable, so she begged me to put it in as soon as we started the car. It's the Bath and Body Works feel good cd with children singing fun songs. One of the songs is Puff the Magic Dragon.
Now listen, I didn't fall off a turnip truck yesterday, quite, and if I did, I didn't bang my head too hard, and if I did, I wouldn't tell you. Of course I have heard the legend that the song was REALLY about weed and puff was more of a puff than a Puff. It's not like I'd never HEARD the song before.
Until I realized I really had never listened to the song before. It's that simple. One of those songs that I'd heard for so many years I never bothered to hear it.
And there in the car the sweetest innocent voice of a boy about 7 or so sang the song with a simple instrumental behind him, and for the first time I listened to the song, saw the illusion slink away--not fade, but slink, disheartened. I understood that magic doesn't exist without the magician, that our creations have feelings too. Who knew immagination could see us. I never thought of how disappointing it was for ideas not to ever be had. I always thought I was the one doing the work in the imagining. To think, all this time imagination is waiting for us.
When the boy singing got to the part about puff's scales falling like rain, there I was driving along, glad for the night, with tears streaming down my cheeks, wondering how in the hell did I miss THIS song the first 305 times around, or maybe I didn't.
Maybe the song missed me.
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal PUFF,
and brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff.
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal PUFF,
and brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff.
OH PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout perched on PUFF's gigantic tail,
Noble kings and princes would bow whenever they came,
Pirate ships would lower their flag when PUFF roared out his name
Jackie kept a lookout perched on PUFF's gigantic tail,
Noble kings and princes would bow whenever they came,
Pirate ships would lower their flag when PUFF roared out his name
OH, PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And PUFF that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And PUFF that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain,
PUFF no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his life-long friend, PUFF could not be brave,
So PUFF that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave.
PUFF no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his life-long friend, PUFF could not be brave,
So PUFF that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave.
Oh! PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee
January 31, 2006
WHY EXACTLY didn't they let Barack Obama give the Dem response?
The democratic response to the SOTU came from the Virginia governor. If he says, "there's a better way" one more time, I'm going to go over and hug instapundit. STOP IT, man. Just stop it. You look like you're doing an ad for a personal injury law office in an overpriced hotel room.
Newt liked it. That's a sure sign it didn't go well for our team.
Technorati Tags : state+of+the+union Powered By Qumana
State of the Euan
Glad tidings and good luck to Euan Semple who joins the ranks of the independents after many years at the BBC. Euan no doubt will enjoy his new found freedom in this era of webby webby joy joy. Hope you get some time to visit those "favorite places" before jumping into the action, Euan. No worries, we'll save a spot for ya. ;-)
Thanks frank for the heads reup.
Technorati Tags : euan+semple // Powered By Qumana
State of the Union
Number of important Programs cut: 140.
Number of weird Initiatives initiated: 141.
Technorati Tags : state+of+the+union //Powered By Qumana
I sort of heard the energy thing this way.
cole fire plants? solar and wind technologies? and CLEAN SAFE NUCLEAR ENERGY.
ethanol from switch grass? That's fewer switches to beat the young ones with.
By 2025 we'll be 75 percent free of mideast oil dependency? (Duh. By then we'll pretty much own the place.)
Technorati Tags : advanced+energy+initiative //Powered By Qumana
oh please don't let him talk about healthcare
Watching the State of the Union. He's on taxes. I fear his solution for healthcare is right coming up soon. Oh man. Oh great, he's cutting 140 programs. Like food, water, shelter.
We're all dead. Instapundit really does win in the end.
what was that jaw thing bush just did...9:35
Right before saying, "I ask you to re-authorize the Partiot Act" our fearless bleader did this odd jaw wiggle move. Something to this jaw-wiggle thing he's doing right before he says something very fishy. Ah... I see now... did he just authorize a wire tap program (sorry, terrorist surviellance program) after the second jaw wag? "If someone's talkin' to el caida we wanna know about it..." Fool me once, we won't get hit again. Jeesh. They're eating it up. Listen to them. His nostrils are flairing he's so tough. Or maybe it's the hole the cocaine bore into his septum. Okay Instapundit. You win. I'm dying now.
LAUNCHING NOT DONE YET!!!
Today was a tiring one. Not so much because I'm sick and on antibiotics, although yah, that kind of stinks, but also because I had to take care of three children because the primary caregiving parent had to leave town unexpectedly for an out-of-state funeral for a family friend.
Coincidentally, today was also the day we launched the BubbleShare Photo++ Contest and my BlogHer surfing guide. The kids didn't get to bed until 9:30. I was relieved of my sitting duties about 10. That gave me two good hours to get in a couple of launches, right up the old Web 2.0 24x7 alley. Think it, do it, do it some more.
I've been thinking that sometimes the simplest news is the most astonishing. The quiet whisper away from the rush of excitement.
Today was also the day that my blog student, Father Matt Kawiak-- a dear family friend from Rochester, NY, a Priest and counselor and gifted photographer who has had a website for years but has never been able to add to it himself, control it himself, or get his writing and photos up without favors and pleas and lots of lost time -- launched Father Matt's Sonshine Blog to his parishioners and email community.
Many of Father Matt's Friends only know how to use email. They've been surprised and stunned to see his work come alive through his blog. So has he. Previously, he would email his friends a new "sonshine" writing and original photograph each Monday morning. They would read the text and open the photo.
I'm sure many of them didn't know how to keep those Sonshines or photographs--and it's not very practical to keep text and photographs in email for reflection later on. The bottom line: there was no convenient way for Father Matt to direct his own creative process or share those results with his readers and friends.
Enter blogging, a simple, free blogspot blog, a blogroll with an assist by me, and a two-hour lesson over email and phone.
He's on his way.
The reaction so far to Father Matt's blog has been humbling for me.
Something as easy as wrapping text around photos, which those of us who have been here for years take for granted, has moved some of them to tears; they've never seen his words and pictures together before.
With Father Matt, a whole new group is coming along, a little baby toe into the waters of self-publishing--as readers first, yes, and then, who knows, his community, his friends; they are lovely people.
Launch #3 complete.
signing off....God bless.
Coincidentally, today was also the day we launched the BubbleShare Photo++ Contest and my BlogHer surfing guide. The kids didn't get to bed until 9:30. I was relieved of my sitting duties about 10. That gave me two good hours to get in a couple of launches, right up the old Web 2.0 24x7 alley. Think it, do it, do it some more.
I've been thinking that sometimes the simplest news is the most astonishing. The quiet whisper away from the rush of excitement.
Today was also the day that my blog student, Father Matt Kawiak-- a dear family friend from Rochester, NY, a Priest and counselor and gifted photographer who has had a website for years but has never been able to add to it himself, control it himself, or get his writing and photos up without favors and pleas and lots of lost time -- launched Father Matt's Sonshine Blog to his parishioners and email community.
Many of Father Matt's Friends only know how to use email. They've been surprised and stunned to see his work come alive through his blog. So has he. Previously, he would email his friends a new "sonshine" writing and original photograph each Monday morning. They would read the text and open the photo.
I'm sure many of them didn't know how to keep those Sonshines or photographs--and it's not very practical to keep text and photographs in email for reflection later on. The bottom line: there was no convenient way for Father Matt to direct his own creative process or share those results with his readers and friends.
Enter blogging, a simple, free blogspot blog, a blogroll with an assist by me, and a two-hour lesson over email and phone.
He's on his way.
The reaction so far to Father Matt's blog has been humbling for me.
Something as easy as wrapping text around photos, which those of us who have been here for years take for granted, has moved some of them to tears; they've never seen his words and pictures together before.
With Father Matt, a whole new group is coming along, a little baby toe into the waters of self-publishing--as readers first, yes, and then, who knows, his community, his friends; they are lovely people.
Launch #3 complete.
signing off....God bless.
BlogHer - LAUNCH!!!!!
As If the BubbleShare contest isn't exciting enough, I have another launch to report today--and it is still today many places in the world, including that U.S. coast a way over yonder.
Ladies & Gentlemen:
BlogHer has a brand new look and enhanced purpose. Now you'll find a supersite of sorts, not only with the latest blogher and conference news, but also with comprehensive and evolving blogroll and series of surfing guides that further demonstrate the women of blogging are indeed alive and well and writing up a storm.
I'm proud to help out as a contributing editor in the Business & Careers section, with the beat of PR and Communications.
BlogHer conference info can also be found on the site.
Blogroll the site. We're making it worth your while.
Ladies & Gentlemen:
BlogHer has a brand new look and enhanced purpose. Now you'll find a supersite of sorts, not only with the latest blogher and conference news, but also with comprehensive and evolving blogroll and series of surfing guides that further demonstrate the women of blogging are indeed alive and well and writing up a storm.
I'm proud to help out as a contributing editor in the Business & Careers section, with the beat of PR and Communications.
BlogHer conference info can also be found on the site.
Blogroll the site. We're making it worth your while.
Technorati Tags : blog+her, surfing+guide, women, blogging
Bubble Rap?
Frank the Stank takes a shot at some Bubble Rappin'
with plans to win the iPod Nano zappin'
already calcifying in his cranium
unfolding like a geranium....
with plans to win the iPod Nano zappin'
already calcifying in his cranium
unfolding like a geranium....
January 30, 2006
Bubble Flow - Appreciate the Love
Got a BubbleShare Bubble Wrap Photo++ contest question a few minutes ago. Why are you launching the contest so late in the day?
HA ha.
To that I ask: whose day? The business day or the web day? The BigPR day or the conversation day? The blog day is not 9-5; bloggers don't go home--they are home; the web clock doesn't punch out--it isn't linear; work gets done and keeps getting done, and while you sleep someone else is doing it still.
SO don't fret. Just get started. You've got nearly three fun-filled weeks to get your bubble wrap story album onto your blog and the link emailed in. Read the details. Itzzzinthere.
Snap ya later.
HA ha.
To that I ask: whose day? The business day or the web day? The BigPR day or the conversation day? The blog day is not 9-5; bloggers don't go home--they are home; the web clock doesn't punch out--it isn't linear; work gets done and keeps getting done, and while you sleep someone else is doing it still.
SO don't fret. Just get started. You've got nearly three fun-filled weeks to get your bubble wrap story album onto your blog and the link emailed in. Read the details. Itzzzinthere.
Snap ya later.
BubbleShare & Friends Wish You a HAPPY Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day!
PRIZES PRIZES PRIZES!
FAME FAME FAME!
OKAY, PRIZES PRIZES PRIZES!
Bet you've been wondering what we've been up to at BubbleShare.
Wonder no more. In case you hadn't heard, today is Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, celebrated the world over as the day Bubble Wrap was invented.
Bubbles--get it? HA! We figured what better way to celebrate than to launch a blog photo++ contest that brings prizes into the keyboard-weary fingers of bloggers.
We've lined up some of the web's best as sponsors to supply prizes, incentives, and creative motivation--sponsors like and Tucows, Red Flag Deals, LockerGnome, ElimiTaste! and the Naked Conversations team. You'll hear more from them in the coming days.
To participate, all you have to do is set your creative spirit loose on BubbleShare. Yep, your creative spirit, some bubble wrap, and a desire for great prizes, including an iPod Nano, Tucows and BubbleShare wear and gear, Naked Conversations books hot off the presses, ElimiTaste (the blogger's gum), Startup.com DVDs, A BubbleShare VIP account, and MORE.
You've got from now until February 20th to blog your BubbleShare story album of 10 photos or less) plus audio, telling your funniest, oddest, sassiest, most depressing, most inspiring, or "most anything else" story involving bubble wrap.
Now get ye to your cameras and mics, and get hoppin' (or poppin' as the case may be).
GOOD LUCK AND A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!!!
Technorati Tags : bubbleshare, bubbleshare+contest, photo+sharing, tucows, red+flag+deals, naked+conversations, elimitaste, lockergnome, contest, prizes
Oakland Cemetery Photostroll
| Is she really burried in Oakland? How did I not know that. Rest In Peace, Margaret. |  Oakland Cemetery Photostroll Originally uploaded by FLC. |
King and Queen Buildings
| Hey, someone took a picture of our King and Queen buildings down off 285. I pass these on my way to group therapy. Now you can visualze as you ride along with me! I can hear you going: "Ooooo!" |  King and Queen Buildings Originally uploaded by FLC. |
I thought he was on hiatus
I thought Tom Shugart was taking another break -- he's right; we've to respect, or at least accept, one another's rights to do that over time -- but turns out this break was almost his last. Tom, well wishes!!! I didn't know. Oh my. Holy. And we're glad you are still here to talk with us.
I’ve been blessed with a youthful appearance and attitude. But the interior organs and pipes, and the family genes, are not fooled. They are beginning to do what they tend to do after seven decades--and in my family, usually before then.
I’ve eaten healthy, low-fat foods for over twenty years, stopped smoking thirty-five years ago, walked vigorously for over a mile every day, or nearly so, but the genes and the passage of time are what they are.
The life-saving (at least for the time being) repairs have been made and I’m now feeling fine. But the new reality is that I’ll spend the rest of my life with a bottle of nitro tablets within reach at all times—always with the hope that the other shoe doesn’t drop, but being forced to accept the fact that it could at any moment.
Tom points to Dervala, who also posted from a beyond of sorts with her usually-gifted reflections -- this time about wanting and expecting.
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January 29, 2006
A Quaker and His Friend
Frank crafts a terrific riff off Dave Winer's Friend essay. I kind of got lost in the computing stuff and wish Frank had talked more about the real deal of Friends from a Quaker point of view, you know, since Frank's a Quaker and they call one another Friend, at least I think so from what I've read, a kind of Quaker-by-Proxy that I am------and all of that aside, I'm with Frank on the nature of Net Relationships today.
This is not 1996 and we're not just emailing anymore. Many of us are writing our souls bare here. And we skype voice to voice, or pick up the phone and we talk for real, and we log hours of talk time, know where one another lives, go to hotels to ride up and down elevators with blog children, occasionally bail each other out of jail---err, trouble I mean--and celebrate birthdays, weddings, funerals, and all kinds of stuff that are what you do for and with friends.
Disclaimer: I'm Frank's Friend.
Disclaimer: Dave would not call me a Friend.
Disclaimer: I don't have enough fans to tell any of them they have to stay a fan and can't be my friend.
'good writing' for short
Tom:
"The mystery of some people's rightness of intuition, the rarity of not just seeing into the actuality of what's going on, but then of doing the necessary thing at astonishing personal risk."
And while we're at it, Tom makes good sense about Google's seeming rollover. The real danger may very well be in the coopting of Google's stand, which may be more wily than it seems. It's our job to make sure that coopting doesn't happen online or in our neighborhoods--at lest not without a pointed finger and something more than righteous indignation.
When The Guys Get Clued
It might have also read, "and trying to avoid what Jeneane Sessum called the Death of BigPR."
By the way, it's not the Me2 revolution. It's the me-to-you, or M2Y, revolution. Of course, I've been known to sell my domain names for the right price. Great minds.
And though some may wonder why I would say yes to becoming the contributing editor for the PR and Communications beat at the soon-to-launch BlogHer Surfing Guide, I'm telling you, it's not because I have nothing better to do. It's because it needs to be done, and I'm a good choice to do it.
watch out.
...
You tell me.... Why would anyone pay it in a tight economy when they can get smart, senior level people out on their own for around $100 an hour. And thanks to the Web, the same clients who are paying inflated rates to BigPR can tap into an entire network of loosely joined ex-agency talent that shares leads, news, and really cool gossip I wouldn't even tell you about here. We're self organizing, and it ought to scare the pants off of them.Doc, I'm pretty sure some women in the communication biz who are clued have said some smart things over the past five years too. Maybe not. Of course, in reflecting about Edelman's having Gotten Religion, you would mention you three and jerry and steve and dave and peter and richard and scoble and rick and rob and mathew and michael--toss in JESUS and the rest of the 12 apostles if you want to. Glad to see Esther there too. Some other women were preaching this stuff INSIDE big PR agencies -- and writing it online -- before some of these guys had even read the Good Word of Cluetrain. I'm just saying.
By the way, it's not the Me2 revolution. It's the me-to-you, or M2Y, revolution. Of course, I've been known to sell my domain names for the right price. Great minds.
And though some may wonder why I would say yes to becoming the contributing editor for the PR and Communications beat at the soon-to-launch BlogHer Surfing Guide, I'm telling you, it's not because I have nothing better to do. It's because it needs to be done, and I'm a good choice to do it.
watch out.
...
Niek's Rib
Niek finally has an answer for the nasty pains in the side he's been experiencing--location illustrated by a lovely model! The pain is chronic, but fortunately not life-threatening. Diagnosis: costochondritis. Say that three times fast.
Actually, as coincidence would have it, I was diagnosed with costochondritis about 10 years ago, brought on by several bouts of acute bronchitis in a short period of time, during which I basically coughed myself into a painful inflamed rib-space situation, which my asthma doc diagnosed as this very same malady. They gave me a short run of steroids, followed by ibuprofen (800). Luckily mine was short lived, although it does come back, usually after being sick with any kind of cough.
Sorry to hear you've got it so bad, Niek, but also glad it's not a, well, less solvable illness. Bottom line: keep the inflamation down to help the pain subside. It's going to be tough keyboarding and shutterclogging for a while I would think.
Looks like you're rarely short in the TLC department. ;-) Get well soon!
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