Starting It Right

2008 was a very good year for me. And I want 2009 to be a very good year for you.

As I read and watched my year in review, I realized much of it was because I became involved in the BlogHer community many moons ago.

So to kick off 2009, I’m giving away 1 (one) full registration to the BlogHer ’09 conference in Chicago.*

I don’t want to give this away to someone who is already going, has the means to go, or knows they could afford to go if they wanted. I want this registration to be given to someone who would love to go, but really could use the extra help getting there.

To enter, write a post (if you have a blog) and link to this post. Leave me a comment here and let me know you blogged it. If you don’t have a blog, leave a comment on this post.

Tell me:

Why you want to attend BlogHer and how you plan on supporting other women you know and love in 2009.

I reserve the right to choose anyone I want for whatever reason I want. I will give the registration away on January 5th, 2009. That means you have the entire holiday and all weekend to write your post.

Happy New Year

*disclaimer: I am paying for this myself and this is in no way affiliated with my employment with BlogHer

Because 2008 was just…too much

I keep writing and deleting.

I sum up 2008 and then I realize I’ve forgotten something and I start over.

Because I just can’t seem to put into words what 2008 was for me…I’ll will let the videos speak for themselves:

I started the year with Super Tuesday and sitting down with Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

The spring brought me the interview of a lifetime.

And then it was on to both conventions. First the DNC in Denver:

And then the RNC in St. Paul

I was lucky enough to make appearances on CNN and speak with about a gazillion other media outlets.

I also sat on some great panels with some AMAZING women

Yes, 2008 has been a hell of a year. Here’s to 2009 and much more to come.

Again With The Morons

Apparently we’re going to do this again.

Yes, we’ve done this before. Several times. Over here too. Oh and here.

Let’s review:

feeding is not obscene. My kid wiggling his/her head and ‘showing the nipple or areola’ (as Facebook is saying) is not obscene.

My child eating is not porn.

#suckit Facebook

If I have to suffer through barely legal thong-showing asscrack flashers, you can handle my daughter eating breakfast.

Hala Nursing

Merry

From my family to yours

The next order of business

That Damn Cat is Evil

Prime example of BAD TECH:

There is a FurReal Friends white cat sitting outside in the car right now.

It’s not allowed in.

It’s not only creeping me out, but it won’t stop meowing and purring.

On Christmas morning my darling daughter will have a fake kitty to play with, that mimics a real life kitty…without the litter box, and I couldn’t be more creeped out by it.

Sure we’ve had the RoboPanda and the TriBot…but…this kitty…it’s just…I don’t know…TOO life like?

I waved my hand in front of it’s face, while it was still in the box, and it blinked and acknowledged me.

I can’t get Chucky out of my head.

kitty

Declaring Myself the Emily Post of Social Media

Alright, I’ve had it.

The next person who posts a ‘Top xxxxx on Twitter’ or “Top Social Media blah blah blah” is getting kicked.

Hard.

We’ve gotten to the point of anointing Prom Kings and Queens and much like high school, I’m over it.

Let me explain, and I will use Twitter as the example because it’s the easiest and one of the most widely used social media platforms:

Twitter is much like a cocktail party. A very big cocktail party. With all sorts of people in the same room, talking to each other, talking to their martini glasses, talking to no one in particular. Everyone came to the party without an invite,  and for a different reason.

Some people show up to network. It’s good for business.

Some people show up to make sure you know all about their new product.

Some people show up to just hang out and chat.

Some people show up simply for the free booze.

Some people show up because their partner or spouse dragged them along.

It’s a social setting. We chat about kids and work and what we’re doing at any given moment. In one corner of the party I’m talking to business associates and we’re making deals, at the end of the room I’ve run into my cousin and we’re catching up on family matters. Right in the middle of the party and over by the bar I find a bunch of my girlfriends and we’re going to cackle and crack jokes and watch a hockey game.

Now imaging waking up the next morning from that cocktail party to find your social skills rated and your name on or off a list. Your social actions judged, critiqued, and analyzed by others. Your friendships and how you maintain them left for public comment.

It would never happen.

Why? It’s rude and totally poor etiquette.

I know of no other medium where a public assessment of your cocktail party networking successes, failures, and friendships were listed and ranked.

In fact, I’ve been to many a party and there was no score-sheet after on who worked the room better than anyone else. Relationships were not analyzed and then discussed by s0-called “experts.”

Sure, we might whisper about it over the water cooler the next day, but we’re certainly not going to rank you for all the world to see next to your colleagues, family, or friends.

At what point did gossiping about who’s the coolest Prom King and Queen become a “marketing tool” and considered anything other than RUDE?

Why are we talking about the people who are talking? Where is the value in that? Why are we measuring who can work a room better, when everyone in that room does NOT have the same motives?

I realize social media isn’t always mainstream, but our basic culture has not changed. People like to party and foster relationships for whatever reason strikes them that day. I find no value in playing arm-chair quarterback after the party is over and airing the social ineptitude or grace of my circle of friends.

It is not socially acceptable to rank your relationships. Nor is it socially acceptable to rank the relationships of others.

Find me the industry analysts that quantify what that golf-game between several CEO’s did and I’ll give you your “lists.” Find me the publication that ranks the top _fill-in-the-blank_ professional and how well they “do lunch” and I’ll concede the talkers talking about all the talking have value.

Right now, I see no value. Only opportunists.

Rude ones, at that.

Family Time

My parents arrive on Monday.

My husbands is on vacation for two weeks.

“Quality Family Time” looks a little something like this at our house:

IMG00722.jpg

Mixed Reviews for Obama Education Pick

crossposted at blogher.com

Arne Duncan, the Chicago Public Schools chief, is President-elect Barack Obama’s pick for Secretary of Education and it’s raising more than a few eyebrows.

I’ll be honest, I had no idea who the guy was until his name came up as the architect behind Chicago’s LGBT High School proposal. An interesting concept that garnered much discussion here at BlogHer.

Apparently Duncan is also known for championing Charter schools.

Now I’m really listening, this time as the parent of a charter school student.

Dr. Susan Neuman writes at the Huffington Post, “Duncan has a track-record of educational reform successes and he’ll use whatever it takes–innovative charters, teacher reforms, early childhood programs–to ensure higher achievement. Way back when I was Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education, and at the initial stages of implementing No Child Left Behind, Duncan was trying to make sense of the law to the benefit of kids in Chicago. He pushed every button he could but, as we now as we know so clearly, the administration wouldn’t budge from its ideological perch.”

But Madison at BlackVoices disagrees,

“Now I don’t know if this is Chicago machine politics at work here, but I’ve gotta question Obama choosing a bureaucrat who actually oversaw the closings of about 18 public schools in poor neighborhoods, all in the name of supposedly providing children with a better education, as well as fire 300 teachers. In fact, here at BlackVoices, we blogged about this very subject, and you Chicago readers responded fervently. Maybe it’s me, but I never thought of closing a school as a benefit for children. …”

A mixed bag of reaction for sure.

Over at MotherTalkers the comments show uncertainty and praise for the pick,

CascadingWaters isn’t happy, “As a teacher, and moreover, as a parent who’s pulled my daughter out of MA public schools because of their overreliance and overemphasis on MCAS (our standardized test), I feel completely let down by this. He had Linda Darling-Hammond, one of the best thinkers in the country, advising him. I can only imagine he ignored her. Added to the other Clinton-era choices, this one confirms for me that we’re getting pretty far away from ‘change we can believe in.’ I ain’t believing.”

While parentalunit1 is pleased,

“1. this choice comes with a clear record of impressive success. and someone who clearly shares obama’s style of consensus. you can’t be successful without working within the NCLB infrastructure. but i am not so sure Duncan is a real supporter of NCLB. 2. Duncan is willing to try anything to see if it works. cash for grades as an example. i like obama’s positioning here as with other issues…ideology does not reign supreme. they are both open to ideas to see if they ‘work’.”

On the one hand I applaud Duncan for attempting to think out-of-the-box on issues and on the other I remain unconvinced of “successes” in the Chicago public school system under his tenure.

One thing is for sure, Duncan will have a hell of a job ahead of him as he attempts to overhaul our public education system.

Erin Kotecki Vest also blogs at Queen of Spain blog