Blog Action Day
While we represent less than 5% of the world’s population, the United States is in the unique position of both being a world leader in greenhouse gas emissions and a world leader in clean energy technology. We are among the best and the worst.
This December the world’s leaders will come together in Copenhagen to discuss climate change and a global response. President Obama was voted into office with a mandate to make a change, including a change to our approach to caring for the environment. Let’s remind him of his promise to take a stand for the planet that we will pass down to our children and grandchildren.
Sign the petition to tell President Obama that we want him to to carry this mandate for change to the world leaders and take action to significantly reduce greenhouse gasses.
Plants vs. Zombies
OK, I’ll admit I started reading Jorge Garcia’s blog because I’m a fan of LOST, and I just want to hug Hurley. But I love the blog too. It’s just a blogger.com blog. No fancy layout or assistant writing his posts for him. He writes about anything and everything, from having trouble getting his tomatoes to grow, to losing a shoe on a press junket and finding it later in a bag where he had stuffed everything in a quick-someone’s-coming-over-hide-the-mess move, to destroying my brain by introducing me to zombie games.
Made Me Think
Can You Save Money Renting Text Books?
I have not tried renting text books yet, but with the amount of money we spend on textbooks every quarter, it’s definitely worth looking into other options. It’s too late for this semester, but I’ll be investigating these sites further in anticipation of next semester.
The Healthy Americans Act
If the conservatives would discuss this bipartisan proposal I found on Republican Bob Bennett’s site, rather than sticking to their current tactics of trying to distort and prevent communication, we might have a real national conversation about health care. I wonder why conservatives are keeping this proposal under wraps.
Warm Fuzzy
Ode to Shel Silverstein
Thoughts on returning to school, with one of my favorite Silverstein poems.
I keep meaning to play along with MamaKat and her weekly writing workshops, but I never seem to be able to make it happen. Then this prompt came along, and I decided it was time to put in print all those excuses floating around in my head.
3.) What have you been busy doing that’s keeping you from updating your blog? How hard is it for you to get back into the swing of blogging when you take time off? (inspired by Sera)
The first, and most obvious, excuse is my 2 month old daughter. I knew long before she was born that she would consume my time and energy, but what you know in theory does not always match the magnitude of what happens in reality. I just don’t have the time. I really don’t know how women parent their children, manage their home, and then find the wherewithal to hold down a job too. I’m lucky to get a blog post in a couple times a week. (yes, I know that stay at home moms work – I am a stay at home mom, and I’m having trouble keeping up with the work load. Trust me, I know that stay at home moms work.)
Another big thing that’s holding me back from posting is that I don’t know what this blog is about anymore. I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog, why it exists, and what I’m trying to do with it. Since Gem came along, I write most every post with her in mind. In fact, even the posts that are not directed at her or about her, are usually written for her in some way. I’m beginning to think of this blog as one big ongoing letter to my child that I just happen to be sharing with the general public. I have this idea that if anything happened to me, she would have this blog – something in my own words that tells her who I am, what I believe, what I care about, what I value… I’m not planning on having anything happen to me, but there’s something comforting about knowing that I have something to leave behind for her, just in case. But this blog is more than that as well. It’s also a public platform, it’s an opportunity to interact online with others like me, it’s writing practice, it’s a soapbox… Which takes me back to being a little confused about what this blog is really about.
Then there is the big issue of confidence, or the lack thereof. I write posts all the time and then delete them before before publishing. There are so many reasons for this. I worry that my writing skills are not up to par. I worry that people will get tired of so many pictures of my daughter. I worry that I have nothing to worthwhile to say. I worry about the reactions of my family members who are so offended by my studies and beliefs regarding politics and organized religion. That old Seuss quote about “Be who you are and say what you mean because those who matter don’t mind, and those who mind don’t matter” doesn’t help any when those who mind are your family. But then I think of my daughter again – what would I want her to do? Do I want her to sensor herself to please those who do not value her perspective or insight? Absolutely not. So why do I do it myself? What kind of example am I providing? AND What happens if someday her beliefs are different than mine? Will I be offended by her writings? On a theoretical level, I believe that would not be a problem. I really hope that I can live up to that in reality. Of course I’d like her values and beliefs to match mine – I value what I value for a reason. On the other hand, I would rather she had well researched values and beliefs of her own rather than just parroting what her parents (and teachers and preachers) taught.
Then after all that cogitating, I’m just too exhausted to write.
My friend Michelle of Bleeding Espresso has made it to the finalist round for the 2009 Bloggies in the Best European Blog category.
Michelle Fabio, an American writer and attorney leaves the Anthracite Coal Region of Pennsylvania for her family’s ancestral village in Calabria, Italy, falls in love, gets two dogs, writes to her heart’s content and begins bleeding espresso. No, really.
Bleeding Espresso is one of my favorite blogs with wonderful recipes, beautiful photography and great articles that give us a taste of Italy, a taste of America, and anything else that sets her heart on fire. Stop by her blog and then stop by the bloggies and give her a vote.
Joanna Young at Confident Writing is sponsoring a group writing project ending Christmas Eve called Simply the Best. The goal is for each blogger to scour their posts over the past year and identify the one post that they believe is their best writing of the year. Then, write a post that links to that best post and completes the sentence “This post is simply the best because…” in 30 words or less.
This is not as easy as it sounds.
For this challenge I have selected my post “My Mother’s Gift,” which was my Mother’s Day post this year. Have you read it yet?
This post is simply the best because I was able to be candid about my family, its an unusual and interesting story, and I was able to touch just the right emotional notes.
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