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Just give me a couple of hours to wake up and I'm back. (Pacific Standard Time)

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Among the many things I am proud to be, a woman is most certainly one of them. A reality that was once so simple is now made entirely too complicated at the hands of a relative society that tries to redefine itself more than Madonna. For me, being a woman isn't a burden, nor is it a curse or some thorn stuck in my eternal side. I've never been interested in male-bashing or blaming my current status on my gender and its limitations. Our perceived reality is the basis for how we live life. Being a woman is both a blessing and a responsibility that I enjoy every single day of the year. As well I should, since I cannot be anything else.

It is with that attitude that I agreed to be a speaker at the first-annual Blogher Conference.

The following are my reflections on the conference. I apologize in advance for the lack of flowery words and kumbaya around the issue (yeah that's right; I made "kumbaya" a noun so deal), but I'm not on the touchy-feely, "wasn't it great to be around a bunch of bright and talented women?" kick today or any day I have to hear phrases like "Michelle Malkin's husband writes her books," and "Condoleezza Rice is the Sally Hemmings of the 21st century," and "Gosh I sure hate (insert any principled non-white woman of character)," uttered at a supposedly "supportive," all-female gathering.

Talented and bright they were. The least I can say is that Blogher didn't flounder in proving that indeed women are some of the sharpest and most provocative minds on the Internet. Whether or not I agree with the presented brand of sharpness and provocation is an entirely different issue. In fact, it is the case at hand.

I have a problem and maybe you can help me solve it. Is there a point at which 250+ tech-savvy, smart and independent women can come together and the main focus of conversation not be rooted in a feminist perspective? Granted, I knew prior to the conference that I would be in the vocal minority, but if there's one thing that was glaringly evident last weekend, it was the absence of extreme philosophical dissent. Period.

When a person can stand up in one of the sessions and boldly proclaim herself both married and "Polyamorous," to a room that then thunders in applause of approval, it's time to call Houston because we have a severely lop-sided problem.

Although the conference was nonpartisan, throughout the sessions and breakout groups, there were a number of interesting assumptions made, the worst of which were the following:

• Every woman in attendance was pro-choice.
  
• Every woman in attendance was a feminist.
  
• Every woman in attendance had the same working definition of feminism.

Continue reading "Politics, Blogs, and Double-minded Feminism (Oh My!)">>>

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To say BlogHer has been interesting is probably putting it mildly. My session included a panel discussion between myself and Rox Populi, both representing our respective "sides" (bleck) in politics. It's often hard to gage the success of panel discussions, but I think it went well. Although my comments on Ann Coulter during the session will probably get me disowned (it's never stopped me before), the session went fairly well (save the moment when a black woman in the audience asked if I was a KKK member...um, what?). There was a pod-cast and live-blogging of the session which I'll link later as well as discuss my overall perceptions of the conference, but first a couple of oddities.

• The picture you see is a photo of my feet. Someone was going around doing interviews and taking pictures of participants' feet. All I remember thinking was how glad I was I wore close-toed shoes being that it's been at least 3 weeks since I last had a pedicure. Bare feet photos on the Internet = not cool.

• There is a fairly good male population here--around 20%. I expected that. What I didn't expect was a male dressed up as a woman (commonly referred to by the progressive society as a "transsexual," a term I will not use because it consciously validates our society's dysfunction). People with testicles do not get to claim womanhood without a menstrual cycle, cramps, and at least having once had the semblance of the ability to push a watermelon through a Cheerio. And though I run the risk of sounding terribly shallow, I'm going to quote Jennifer Anniston aka "Rachel Green" from one of the 6-episodes of "Friends" I watched in my "backslidden days of predominately white prep schools,
  "No uterus, no opinion."

More later.

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I've spent the last three days in Silicon Valley working and perfecting my nerdom and eating free food at a very cool um, place where I work. Tomorrow, I'll be speaking in a session at BlogHer with some 260+ other chicknerds, and if it weren't for the massive swelling taking place on the right side of my face, I'd be very excited. If you're there, stop by and see me. I'll try to update Flickr with photos. Of the conference, not me.

Google's sponsoring wireless access everywhere so I'll be updating with fashion critiques news from the frontlines.

Peace out.

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In case it isn't painfully obvious: I'm burned out. Not badly, but I am nonetheless. Anytime Beyonce I-have-a-fake-French-name Knowles and her posse can give lap dances to married man on national television without me even saying so much as a word about it on my weblog, is a bad sign. I need a vacation.

I'm sure one might think this silly since I have no kids and no husband, but if there's one thing the last 4 years have taught me, it's never to underestimate the level of sacrifice and trials a person has experienced.

I've often been told I am the "oldest 23-year-old" many people have ever met. Maybe, but I still have to play. It turns out a new job, a new townhouse, and new responsibilities can wear on even little ole me. Time isn't the issue. Mental space is. So I am retreating for a few days to clear my head so I can be more useful to this little-known haven on the web.

And I know you're sitting there thinking, "well who cares, it's not like you've been posting consistently anyway..." And you'd be right, smart aleck. However, over the last month or so, a day hasn't passed when I haven't popped in on my own website, hoping to see if I've actually posted something. Yeah, I'm psychotic, I know. So in reality, I've not truly vacated from my blog. But that is what I need to do.

So I have decided to go "suffer for Jesus" in the Caribbean. I need a good reason to post pictures to my Flickr account. For the next 5 days, my location will be Ocho Rios, Jamaica. I'll see you bright and early on Monday, July 18th, hopefully refreshed, rejuvenated, wordier, and maybe a bit crispier.

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I think I forgot to mention it, but next month I've been invited to be one of two panelists for the "Political Blogging Grows Up" session at the BlogHer Conference in Santa Clara, CA. It should be fun. If it's not, I'll be sure to make it fun by engaging the audience in a sing-along or something totally immature to counter the session title "Political Blogging Grows Up."

If you're planning on being at the conference, come say hi. The conference is geared to female bloggers, but it's open to men as well. Apparently, some 15% of the conference registrants are men. I won't question motives...yet.

I always find blogger gatherings both amusing and awkward. When internet people converge, you can bet there will always be some weirdo that shows up with thongs and socks on, abnormally long fingernails and body odor. This personal usually fits the "stalker profile" and quickly identifies themself by making an off-color morbid joke that leaves people wondering whether they should laugh or just call the cops. There are some seriously strange people on the internet.

But for every wacko, there are about 10 fabulous people that you'd never meet otherwise. Among the "normal," I find there to be two types of people on the internet.

1. People who are on the internet because it allows them to avoid social situations and real, live, human contact.
   
2. People who are on the internet because it leads to more social situations and real, live human contact.

I am of the latter variety and find that I don't always "click" well with the first. You know when you're talking to someone and they run out of things to say so all of sudden the conversation hits a dead silence and you wish some crickets would enter the room because at least then there'd be some rhythm? I usually expect one or two of those type of conversations when I attend blogger meet-ups. Not that everyone isn't extremely nice and cordial, but in those awkward moments I realize: some people are best left conversing on the internet.

Still, I've met some great friends and colleagues through this whole blogging thing and I hope to meet more.

I think it was blogger Jason Kottke who once asked people about their personality types and immediately found that the internet was full of introverts. And for the most part, I agree. Unfortunately, I am not one of them. (Some of the best conversations can be had with introverts so please note: I'm not drawing any sort of connection here between introversion and lack of social aptitude. Wouldn't want anyone to think I was discriminating. Plus, I have a lot of introvert friends, OKAY!)

There are a whole host of folks (myself included) who are loud, rambunctious, outgoing, and find that we can filter some of that energy through the internet. I think we tend to scare the introverts in person. Many people have taken the Bloginality test which as far as I'm concerned is just the Myers-Briggs test in bloggerspeak. As I'm sure you can imagine I'm not fond of man-made personality tests. But if I must represent, I'll say ENTJ till I die baby!

Blogging conferences eh? Just what have I gotten myself into?

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Apologies are in order to those who've posted comments the last few days and had them rejected by my grumpy comment filter. It seems I inadvertently made it hyper-sensitive, restrictive, and legalistic. It doesn't like the word "Hi," or any words with "hi" in them, like, "while" or "hick," or "OMG Can you believe Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are engaged!?" Oh wait, that's just me who doesn't like those words. Anyway, you get the point. It's "hi" that's the trigger.

Next thing we know, my comment filter is going to start banning people from wearing make-up and high-heels, and force all female users to wear turtlenecks and skirts all the way to the ground.

The issue will be resolved shortly, but in the meantime, feel free to use "hi" all you want, just know that comments may be forced into moderation so I'll have to approve it. But I'm nice, I always approve quickly.

Again, apologies if your precious jewels of wisdom didn't make it through the last few days. I value reader feedback, so thanks to those who emailed me to let me know of the problem and if your comment didn't go through yesterday, dust yourself off and try again.

(Update 06/23): Rather unrelated, but while searching for pictures for this post, I found this picture of a dog whose owner dyed its hair green and dressed him as "Oscar the Grouch" for a pet costume party. Funny stuff.

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Fresh content! Bear with me.

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While this week's been hectic and left me little time for writing, today and tomorrow (at the very least), I am on jury duty which means...LOTS of time for blogging. I arrived this morning to find that much to my suprise, King County Superior Courthouse now has wireless access available to jurors. For an ADD wannabe like me, this is fabulous news. I won't lie and act like I didn't almost break out in the "running man" when I learned of this, but I'm a juror now so there's no happy dances allowed. I have to be serious.

So here I am in a room full of 300+ disgruntled individuals, no doubt unhappy about their selection as jurors. Meanwhile, I'm sitting here grinning from ear to ear because not only do I get to fulfill my civic duty, but I also get some much needed time to catch up on writing. Glass. Half. Full.

I can pretty much guarantee that the minute they find out I'm an opinion writer/columnist, they're kicking me out of this place. I don't even know if the word "impartial" is in my vocabulary. We shall see.

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One of the most common complaints I hear from bloggers new and old is, "I wish I had more hits." To them I say: welcome to the club, and be quiet about it already. Complaining about how you wish more people would visit your website is the antithesis of cool. Keep that stuff to yourself. Don't rant about it on your weblog. That is what nerds do. Are you a nerd? I didn't think so.

As discussed in the previous installment of "How to Blog Like a Rockstar," the three main coveted forms of affirmation are: comments, hits and links. Last time we found out that comments (or lack thereof) aren't what make or break a weblog. Today we're going to talk about the average blogger's over-obsession: hits (also known as the number of times/people to visit your site).

As a blogger, you don't want feel like you're writing for a party of one. And let's just be honest with ourselves here. We might front like you we don't care how many people read our blogs, but tell to the truth, deep down inside, we know it's important. It feeds the ego. Even the random lady in Bangor, Maine, catblogging and posting her favorite hot chocolate recipes wants to know people are reading.

On the more serious note, not only does having a lot of visitors make one's labor feel important, it can also lead to big opportunities, and for some folks, big money. To date, bloggers have received book deals, newspaper columns, speaking engagements, and even employment offers just from capitalizing on the marketability of the blogosphere. Hi-traffic websites can command more by way of advertisements. A prime advertising spot on the popular Daily Kos goes for $14,000 a month. Not bad for some nobody lawyer guy who's in love with the Democratic Party.

God Bless America.

Continue reading "How to Blog Like Rockstar: get over the need for cyber affirmation (Part 2)">>>

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