WoolfCamp Blog

George & Gabriel

2009-04-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

Many thanks for Gabriel's glee, George's music -- and Grace's boundless hospitality.

WoolfCamp: Where Friendships are Made

2009-04-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

The Dancing Room

2009-04-05T16:09:00.000-07:00

Gabriel & Ezra repurposed Grace's bedroom as the Dancing Room. It also proved to be an excellent space for impromptu games of Duck, Duck, Goose.

Sarah & George are still sleeping

2009-04-05T08:20:00.001-07:00

Woolfcamp Sunday morning view

2009-04-05T08:19:00.001-07:00

shhhh.......

2009-04-05T06:53:00.001-07:00

we're all sleeping!

Impromptu concert by George

2009-04-04T22:47:00.001-07:00

Leah and Sarah

2009-04-04T21:27:00.001-07:00

Kids!

2009-04-04T21:20:00.000-07:00

How many kids were there - 6 or so? I can't remember! The kids ran around outside a lot, in the terraced yard and through the house, eating strawberries and bread and cheese and pixie sticks and tiny cupcakes. There was playdough and a box of books. The kid in the spiderman suit sat in my lap a lot; I let him dig around in my backpack; he found my gorillapod and made it into a space octopus, with wings.

Hood Up

2009-04-04T19:54:00.001-07:00

Hood Up
Originally uploaded by elkit

Why I'm not at WoolfCamp with all those fabulous women. :-[

You need to buy this rum

2009-04-04T19:30:00.001-07:00

Miss Jen M

2009-04-04T17:13:00.000-07:00

Community bloggers session

2009-04-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

@leahpeah looks on as @sarahdopp waxes css

2009-04-04T16:41:00.001-07:00

@sarahdopp talks about community blogs

2009-04-04T16:38:00.000-07:00

@vdog by the lovely @techmama

2009-04-04T16:36:00.001-07:00

The lovely and talented @techmama

2009-04-04T16:26:00.000-07:00

2009-04-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

here we go!

2009-03-26T01:47:00.000-07:00

testing, testing, check in campers! anybody need communication as wolfcamp2009 fast approaches?

anybody out there?

2009-02-17T17:44:00.001-08:00

yeah, we're doin' it again! sign up for april 2009!

Last-minute bleg post

2008-05-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

My cousin, Sydney, is 11 years old. She is a terrific speller, she's on the honor roll at her school, she's a biology trivia whiz, and she suffers from Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. JIA is a debilitating autoimmune disease that confuses children's immune systems into attacking their own healthy tissue, causing inflammation, fever, and severe pain. Sydney was diagnosed with JIA as a toddler; over the years she has spent months in the hospital, lost (and, happily, regained) her ability to walk, and endured the discomfort of high-contrast CT scans and painful bone marrow biopsies. Some effects of her disease and its treatments have included decreased lung function and scarring of her lung tissue, as well as calcium depletion and major bone loss. Her current medication has to be administered by injection every day; it has to be refrigerated, which limits camping/travel opportunities for her family, and makes her face and tummy appear puffy and bloated.

For evaluations and treatment Sydney's parents drive her 120 miles each way between San Francisco and Yuba City, CA because there is no pediatric rheumatology specialist in their area. Lack of accessible care is one of the the most daunting issues facing individuals affected by rheumatic diseases nationwide. However, thanks in part to logging all those miles in the car, Sydney's condition has become more stable over the past couple of years, and she has been able to participate exuberantly in her favorite activities, including reading, swimming and horseback riding. Sydney adores animals and, accordingly, has recently modified her request through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Formerly Sydney's wish was to meet Miley Cyrus, but the wait would have been awfully long and, as I suspect Miley's near due for a pregnancy announcement or a stint at Cirque Lodge, it's good news that Sydney's new wish is to meet/hold/interact with a real, live monkey. We hope that she will be able to have her wish granted within the next year or two!

This weekend members of my family will be participating in the 2008 Sacramento Arthritis Walk (& Dog Walk) to raise funds for the Arthritis Foundation. As stated on the Sacto walk website, "The Arthritis Walk is the Arthritis Foundation's annual nationwide event that raises awareness and funds to fight arthritis, the nation's leading cause of disability [who knew? I didn't, before now]. It is a tremendous opportunity to help improve the lives of the 46 million men, women and children with doctor-diagnosed arthritis."

Sydney will be walking and so far she has raised three times her modest target of $100 for the Foundation, but her team is still shy of their $2000 goal. If you feel so inclined, I invite you to visit Sydney's Team Cure sponsorship page (Sydney is pictured in her blue honoree's cap).

For your further information here is an eye-opening list of findings reported to Congress by the Pediatric Rheumatology Workforce in February 2007 (source):

Only pediatric rheumatologists have been trained as specialists to treat the complex, severe, and sometimes life-threatening rheumatic diseases of childhood.

Pediatric rheumatic diseases affect nearly 300,000 children in the United States.

The most common juvenile rheumatic disease, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, is unique to children and can affect children as young as infants.

As a group these conditions are among the most common chronic illnesses of childhood and involve considerable disease burden and disability.

Pediatric rheumatic diseases require frequent and ongoing medical care: physician visits, laboratory work, infusion therapy, and physical and occupational therapy. Long travel distances between patient and caregiver can impede continuity of care and access to important ancillary healthcare services.

Fewer than 200 certified pediatric rheumatologists currently practice in the United States, making it one of the smallest pediatric subspecialties.

Thirteen States, including heavily populated States such as Arizona, South Carolina, and Alabama, lack a pediatric rheumatology provider within their borders.

On average, children in the United States travel 57 miles to reach the nearest pediatric rheumatologist. In contrast, children need to travel less than 25 miles to reach pediatric specialists in cardiology, endocrinology, and many other fields.

Pediatric rheumatologists unanimously perceive that there is a national shortage of pediatric rheumatology providers; two-thirds also perceive a local shortage in their practice area.

Pediatric rheumatologists attribute the current shortage to low salaries, inadequate reimbursement, and poor working conditions. At the assistant professor level, pediatric rheumatologists' annual salaries average $115,022. In contrast, average salaries for pediatric cardiology, neonatal medicine, and pediatric critical care medicine at this academic rank are more than $144,000.

The limited supply of pediatric rheumatologists often results in long wait times for appointments, delayed diagnosis or treatment, and possibly leads to misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment.

One third of institutions housing pediatric residency programs would like to hire a pediatric rheumatologist but are unable to do so for financial or other reasons.

The majority of pediatric rheumatologists work in a small number of academic medical centers where they are also responsible for performing basic and/or clinical research and educating medical students, residents, and fellows. Thus, other professional activities limit the time they have available to provide patient care.

As many as one-third of pediatric rheumatology patients are insured through Medicaid, which reimburses physicians at levels below those of private insurers and Medicare. Low reimbursement rates limit clinical revenue for pediatric rheumatology practices and threaten their financial viability.

In some States, demand models estimate that there are over 3,000 children with rheumatic diseases per pediatric rheumatologist, a number that far exceeds the average practice capacity of 443 children.

Using State level population data, models developed for this report estimate that at least 337 pediatric rheumatologists are needed to meet patient care needs. Given the current number of pediatric rheumatologists, there needs to be a 75 percent increase in the number of pediatric rheumatologists.

The majority of recently trained pediatric rheumatologists practice in a county that has another pediatric rheumatologist in practice. If maldistribution of supply continues, increases in supply may not ameliorate regional, statewide, or local shortages unless there are incentives to locate in areas that currently lack providers.

While there were 23 advertised pediatric rheumatology positions in September 2004, only 10 pediatric rheumatology fellows completed training in the 2003-2004 academic year, suggesting that current training levels are not sufficient to fill vacant positions.

One-third of medical schools and 40 percent of pediatric residency programs have no pediatric rheumatologist available to provide patient care or educate physicians in training.

Many medical students and general pediatrics residents receive little training in the diagnosis and management of children with rheumatic disease, which may lead to unwillingness to care for these children and perpetuate low levels of interest in this field.

While specific effects of the current shortage of pediatric rheumatologists on research activities are unknown, the pressures of meeting patient demand in the face of a provider shortage leaves limited time for research activities and may impede the advancement of medical science in this field and delay the development of treatments.

Warm thanks for your consideration,

Em

Can I Sit With You?

2007-09-24T10:47:00.000-07:00

Hi Fellow Woolfcampeurs,

My friend Jennyalice and I just launched a collaborative writing/fundraising blog project called Can I Sit With You? We'd love to have some Woolfcamp participation.

We're asking writers to donate short essays about the suckiness of trying to figure out how to fit in at school. We'll start posting the stories October 1st. If we can get about twenty really good ones by the end of October, we're going to compile them into a lulu.com book, which we'll be selling starting mid-November. The goal is to raise money for my son's underfunded Special Needs PTA.

Check out our launch essay for specifics. And thanks!

-Squid/Shannon

a general howlout to the den!

2007-05-09T14:49:00.000-07:00

we have a cub! and what a beaut! congratualtions to laura, vim and all their own.

Martin Sims Speaks Out. Who? Martin Sims, that's who.

2007-04-20T10:32:00.000-07:00

I can't settle. I feel jumpy and uncomfortable. Why? Because this is a response I got to my posting on gun control. And guess what...this is what it's like on the Hill. Such reasoned, sane people yammering on with such reasoned, sane words. Bullshit, 'Martin Sims'. You're full of dangerous bullshit.


Martin Sims said...: We could be talking about the need to get tougher on domestic violence, or about how to better identify mental illnesses that could result in the injury or death of innocent people. We could be talking about a general alarm system that could be implemented campus-wide to immediately alert the staff and student body in such emergencies so that the people being directly affected would know to either hunker down and bar themselves in or evacuate the campus. We could be talking about making such large and public institutions prepare a link to any video/audio monitoring equipement so that police can immediately see or hear who, what, where and as a result be better able to respond to intruders exhibiting deadly intent.

Blaming guns will not prevent this type of crime from happening again. Just as blaming the car would not prevent a drunk driver from getting behind the wheel again. We need to have a honest look at practical measures that will allow for rapid alert and effective response on all school campuses in our country.

My reponse to Martin Sims:

Martin Sims. I'd like to be able to respond directly to you, but I can't. Because clicking on martin sims takes me nowhere, furthering my belief that your words have been spoonfed to you by the NRA. They are so 'reasoned' and so 'balanced' in tone, but the message...it's still nuts. You people don't get it, do you? Whoever thought the day would come when you couldn't smoke just about anywhere? It didn't happen overnight. It took decades. Just like it will take decades before it's impossible to stroll into your local Walmart and pick up a Glock handgun. Just like it will take decades before every state in this union is on the same page in understanding there is a direct correlation between HANDGUN sales and wholesale murder. Martin, as reasonable as your words sound, the message is so flawed and so very, very wrong. The NRA has the blood of a lot of innocent Americans on its hands and why this country doesn't strip them and all their lobbyists of their tinpot power is beyond me.

2007-04-17T21:35:00.002-07:00

My dear friends,
Do any of you know whether there is a blog/site/network to connect grieving VA Tech students/family/faculty/neighbors with a global community and, more specifically, with mental health professionals willing to volunteer counseling through email, forums and live chat/IM?

If this is not happening already, do you believe there's a need? Social networking-savvy BlogHer-inas, what resources in our existing community can we tap to get the ball rolling?

Please respond in comments.

With much love,
Emily

Happy Anniversary!

2007-02-12T14:21:00.001-08:00

WoolfCamp - 48.jpg
Originally uploaded by chrisheuer.

Hello fellow WoolfCampers,

Haven't been here in a while ... just wanted to wish everybody a Happy Anniversary. Almost a year since I met you all, and even though there are a few I have not seen since then, you all hold a special place in my heart. (A chamber of your own, so to speak.)
Kiss kiss,

Elke

NaBloPoMo

2006-10-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

I've taken the giant step of signing up for NaBloPoMo. My personal challenge will not only be to write every day (I used to do this!), but keep the blog on topic of fiber art.

I'm trying to encourage other artsy/craftsy folk to do it too, and we're brainstorming topics to help us out.

I'd love to see other WoolfCampers commit to this, too.

2006-10-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

Who's doing NaBloPoMo?

I'm thinking of signing on (Yes, me. Shut up.) and would love to see other WoolfCampettes on the list. Moral support, yadda yadda...

Anybody already committed? (Mary T? Elke?) I guess I could find out myself, but woe- unalphabetized Participant List! Damn your eyes! **

Pleez wrayt bak.
Love,
em

** Edited to add: Hey, now it's alphabetastical after all! No sweat!

Live Blogging

2006-08-10T07:18:00.000-07:00

This is the lovely Beth Kanter blogging up a storm at Woolfcamp. I've published this photo with a story on My Menopause Blog.

The agenda, as it was written

2006-08-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

Woolfcamp, August 2006

BlogHer Addenda

2006-08-01T16:54:00.000-07:00

Woolf camp was fabulous!

Just wanted to add that while I do think "it is profoundly important" that the weight loss sponsors be replaced next year, I do understand the economic complications. At the _very_ least, I would like to see body postive workshops etc next year to make the point of view balanced. As we discussed, women need all the good support they can get to fight off the constant barrage of body hatred from media and advertising.

I am soo glad..

2006-07-31T13:40:00.000-07:00

I am so glad that there is proper reporting of the post-BlogHer debrief that occurred at Liz's. Yes, I did not attend. After the fact, I will admit that I can only take a limited amount of multiple-people activity. Thursday night through Saturday was about my limit. I needed the quiet of the drive home, a short walk with one dog and a return to my own normalcy to begin digesting the past weekend.

Not that I didn't consider attending; however, I've learned that knowing my limitations is an important. Even if it means not having all the fun, all the time.

I was lucky enough to talk with Sue while she was waiting for ride; I must publicly say she is one of my heroes (heck, every woman at Woolfcamp is a hero... but she was one before then!). And she put the cherry on top by exclaiming that I look almost a decade younger than my calendar age (thank you Loreal). Flattery will get you somewhere!

In this case, I'm passing her Breasts of Canada calendar on to my friend, Susan Grey, who raises money for Breast Cancer Research (Susan made the Raging Light panels as her first experience; now she runs the Blankies for Grownup project). Susan will love the work. (yes, I'll get her to take to be one of the "ambreastadors").

Grace is probably now thinking... with Deb it's all about making the connections...

Anyway, if there is another day-long Woolfcamp before the clock's change, I promise to try and attend. In the meantime, I shall of all the bloggity, woolfcamper goodness.

more of the Blogher debrief

2006-07-30T22:33:00.000-07:00

BlogHer Debrief

July 30, 2006

Pam: All good conventions are meant to. . . [missed this maybe b/c it was Pam taking notes]

Laurie: The identity panel and the naked panel were both really great. Extremely intelligent. Not used to the BH style where you intro the panel and immediately go to questions. Impressed with how that worked and the moderation. Audience articulate. Impressed!

The tech panels – sat there for 40 minutes saying ‘ I know that, I know that – OH, REALLY!!!’ It’s like all of a sudden I learned a whole bunch after hearing stuff I already knew.

: Audience building was also good. The monetizing one, the woman who ran it did a really nice job – Jennifer Slegger.

Kim: Interesting – release your inner geek session. Wanted to see what heavy-duty techies would talk about. Women in tech – how do they feel in a heavily male-dominated field? Some of the younger women felt that tech was unusually male-dominated. Kim thinks they are pretty young. Another woman stood up and said she felt at home with the tech BlogHer women, but when she walked out into the greater BlogHer community she was uncomfortable.

Others: Yes, felt that too. Felt a distance from other types of bloggers. Enormous amount of respect for different types of identities but there was a dynamic of misunderstanding around the conference.

Heteronormative vibe at BlogHer – the background assumption that everyone is heterosexual. Different from discrimination.

Liz: The anxiety about dress. Coding femininity by patriarchical standards.

- - :Lots of women dressed corporate. Business bloggers in abundance.

- - : The femminess is not as significant a part of heteronormative vibe as other things.

- - : The corporate feel – was the entrance fee of $250 too much? Some say no – these people are used to conferences with much higher fees. But for what you get, was it worth it? Discussion. The student rate was appreciated. But people who arrived later were turned away, such as Sue from Toronto.

Conference organizers felt that those who arrived without a registration ought to self-organize. No space created for that. Someone could do this next time.

Tech sessions sold out first. Was that a surprise for BlogHer?

It’s a big community of women who are not tech savvy but want to be. A wave of people who are bloggers but are not tech-savvy at all.

- - :Older women do blog, not just Thoroughly Modern Millie. There is a whole community of aged bloggers. (Links?)

Jackie – Didn’t get much until the sex panel. Storytelling and humor breakout session had no moderator and seemed superficial. The art panel was good.

Alan – As I Please – didn’t go to BlogHer at all. Chortled vicariously at the Weight Watchers and girlie skinny water being offered. Interesting message.

Liz – who’s gonna advertise at a conference for women? Some tech sponsorship but also needed the $ of sponsors who like to market to women - kind of the same people who would put an ad in a "women's magazine"

Nina – the Be Jane girls and their stand-up routine were horrifying!!

Tree – started her blog this morning! – had a fucking fantastic time. Fantastic women, vibrant and alive. Could be herself – large and outrageous! Sessions were secondary. Tech session wasn’t as important to her.

Debbie – in business with Laurie – Had a good time. Felt had to fight to be as outrageous as she wants to be. Loved women she met, loved sessions. Noticed the heteronormativity. The intrusion of the corporate world dress put her on edge a little bit.

Laurie – Body Impolitic – had a good time. Corporate stuff doesn’t make her nervous. Cultural dissonance occasionally made her uncomfortable, as with the heteronormativity. A lot of stuff we’re talking about are based on unconscious assumptions. What message did the “woman sponsors” send at BlogHer?

Liz – There was consideration. Likely they expected there would be a lot of discussion about it afterwards. We can express our opinions and reactions and the blogher organizers will listen... Also anyone can step up.

Laurie – BlogHer should include sponsors should send a body-positive message. Unfortunately, nobody pays you to tell people they look good!

All in all, the conference organizers did a phenomenal job. The fact that we all ate at two meals a day together is outstanding.

Sfgeek / blogher – article!

Podcast session was taught by Susan Kitchens. She says she would like to have been given another half an hour for her session.

Beth – Beth’s Blog – Cambodia for Kids – Liked BlogHer for meeting incredible people, great conversations. Afternoon workshops could have gone into more depth if were longer. Enjoyed edublogging sessions. Got a lot of inspiration. Was here last year. This year, felt less of a strong emotional connection. Final keynote address, she felt a connection then. No good final message of where we are going from here, what we ought to take from the room.

Sue – The Breast of Canada calendar – a polyblogger - flew in from Toronto! This is her first tech conference. Lots of shrieking. Wasn’t able to get into one day, but made the best of it. Got a lot out of the conference that she was able to attend.

Sarah – was happy to go a conference of women techies! Only attended the second day. Liked the identity session. Liked to see celeb bloggers like Heather Armstrong and danah boyd. Impressed with how easy it was to strike up a conversation with anybody. Strength and confidence.

Liz – Great time at BlogHer! Didn’t have the same emotional impact becaue it was so big; hard to turn big into small groups. Mentally took notes as if she could help org it next time. Would like to see Moderator training, more un-conference style track – more things at once that would let the groups be smaller and more like conversations – probably more productive that way.

[Tree – breakout rooms cost more money. More smaller rooms means more expensive conference.
– sitting by the pool would not cost more.]

Mixed feelings about advertising.

Huge spectrum of issues about dress. Mommybloggers saying OMG what do I wear? Discussion beforehand. A lot of people were freaking and worrying about being judged in a roomful of women. What if it’s competitive? Tech women – not used to being in a room of women! Maybe dressing too “femmy” would be bad but if not that, then what? Heard from many sides of it. Liz tried to listen, take it seriously and diffuse hostility and fear around this.

Tried not to hate on the hate she felt about the flouncing-around thing that she was doing.

Lynn – Unnatural History blog – LJ of personal stuff – Did not go to BlogHer. Did go to a romance writer’s conference in St. Louis in 1993. She bought an entire new wardrobe for that, and she’s still wearing them! The clothes thing is very big.

Kimberly – Musicandcats.com – Found herself having to explain her blog to people, though she didn’t feel she had to. Felt people were taking a step back from her due to the name alone. Interesting piece of the weekend.

BlogHer felt like high shool in a way because of groups of women very tightly identified with their own group. Not trying to mingle. Tried to hang with their friends alone. Also saw women trying to mingle, learn, meet new people. There were a terrifically wide range of minds and ideas. Some were open to the experience, some were not. Enjoyed being there. Struggled with her inner introvert.

Liz - Lots of "like high school" comments all thru the conference, what's that about? what does it mean? Maybe many women have not hung out with other women since then, without boyfriends as mediators. So, tension, not knowing how to do it.

Pam – Beancounters – Had no trouble with the clothes issue. She already knew some of the people she hoped to meet at BlogHer, and knew what to wear to fit in with them. All different kinds of women would be there – anything worn would somehow fit in.

Liked the fact of a conference – conferences are not just about learning nuts-and-bolts stuff, it’s about meeting each other, looking at each other, talking about where we are now, and (hopefully) where we are heading.

Liked the community action session. Hoping to leverage some of their ideas for a non-emergency community blog.

Elke – Went to BlogHer to see some of her Woolfcamp friends again. Enjoyed how many types of women there were! Pointy shoes, skinny women, fat women, old women, etc. Enjoyed the diversity of it all. Didn’t give much thought to the sponsors, but she expected not to “like” everything, so wasn’t disappointed. Her brain got full!! [laughter]

Janine – Destinations Journeys of a Restless Mind – Club Mom – Also felt the emotional impact was not as great this year. Women who write are her rock stars! This year she got brave and introduced herself to woman writers she wanted to meet last year. Tried to network. Was very focused on what to wear.

The first day was not that interesting. The sex panel was fun. The closing panel was great. The good part was being around all these women and wanting to be a part of the community – pushing herself out into the world. Also happy to be at Woolfcamp!

Susan Kitchens – 20/20 Hindsight – Family Oral History – worked last year for BlogHer by doing audio podcasts. Also has a sense of change from last year’s sense of intimacy that came about from how small the conference was. There was not sense of closure from this conference. Wishes she could have stood up and said ‘Give it up for Lisa and Elisa and Jory!’

Loved the community assistance session. The unintentional relief workers’ stories were inspiring. Being a citizen journalist, and having blogged a disaster near her town, she felt that being prepared to blog a disaster is part of her own disaster-preparedness plan. Went to her city council to let them know she was there to blog during disaster "when CNN won't care about Monrovia - and no one will be covering us." Empowering. A satisfying session.

Fun meeting people. Discovered how fun it is to pimp the blog – pass out postcards and get a conversation started about her own blog. Also wonderful to be at Woolfcamp with its more intimate setting.

The written word, around a kitchen table

2006-07-30T22:27:00.000-07:00

I came to Woolfcamp on a whim; I'd gotten an invitation from Liz at BlogHer. After all the preparation for the beginner podcast session (reader, I didst work my butt off getting ready!) it was wonderful to relax afterwards and attend BlogHer with little responsibility.

And even better to sleep in and have a leisurely brunch with Beth Kanter and then saunter a bit up the 101 to The Living Room of Liz for who-knows-what-all. I walked in to wooden floors and a big sumptuous chocolate-colored L-shaped couch. People sat on the couch, in chairs, on the floors. Laptops open, powerstrips on the floor cords radiating out toward these people sitting around the room.

A Blogher debrief was in process. And then lunch, and a choice to do writing exercises. Cool. I am so down with that. I wrote in my notebook. Pen in hand. My one rule of writing --especially for writing exercises-- is to keep the pen moving on the page. There is no wrong way to do it. Though I can type fast, I make more mistakes on the keyboard than I do with pen in hand. So I write. Pen in hand. On paper. Where I sense if the room (a kitchen) is humid and there's a little catch of my hand as it (doesn't) glide over the paper.

Writing, even when scattered, is an act of centering. I had some writing experiments on me, and we each chose one. "Are we going to post this?" "No, it's just for you."

Great words and thoughts and stories came out of our two exercises. Two half-circles of wood grained tabletop, computers and notebooks on one side, chocolate and strawberries on the other. Chairs and a warm steaminess. Colorful open shelves. Interesting food (rasberries!), a whistling teakettle, and posters and flyers taped to the bright blue wall. This is a well-lived-in kitchen. A hub of the home. And I admire Liz for opening things up so widely and with such open welcome to a large group of people.

I wrote on the topic of where do you want to go? What do you want to do. I won't write all of it here, but I will write the conclusion: I want to be more in the moment, and I want to bring the things I experience on this trip back home to my day-to-day life. I want to have people over, put on the kettle and trust that someone else will take it off when it whistles, and brew the coffee or tea. This is a gift that Liz has given me (to say nothing of a place to stay for the night). But where I want to go is home and bring back some of what I got from this trip. To my home. To my life.

. . . . .

On a separate note, Liz mentioned at the end of the day that it is a different experience to put on an event than it is to simple show up and participate. Amen and amen. I did the work to prepare for my sessions. I've put on a conference. And I've hosted a large group at my house for a meal. I know the differentness for the host. (it's one reason I'd go up to Lisa, Jory, and Elisa during the conference and cheer them on: One day down! ... Only half a day to go!) And I so appreciate how it was different for Liz... all the more because I needed this down day, a day in which I just simply showed up (late, even), and merely participated.

Janes, yelling!

2006-07-30T22:23:00.000-07:00

For our closing exercise in courage, Sue Richards had us all stand up and hold out our arms perpendicular to our bodies. "Make sure you don't hit each other. Make a fist." She was talking to us in the language of somewhat cheesy "trust" exercises, or like a hippie yoga instructor or nursery school teacher, and I for one wasn't sure what to expect, though I figured it would end up being surprisingly cool and kick-ass.

Then she said, "Now watch carefully what I do, and then afterwards we'll all try it." And then she beat her chest as hard as she could & yelled like Tarzan at the top of her lungs. "Now you! Yell like Tarzan and Jane!"

Oh the screaming! And then laughing our heads off. Sue promises that if we do it every day morning and night it'll change our lives.

It was perfect closure for Woolfcamp - much like the howling we did at Grace's house last time!

So Sad, So Very Sad

2006-07-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

I am so sad to have lost out on today's fest at Badger's burrow. I showed up twice but was exclusively on kid pick up/drop off duty and so did not have time to gnaw on anything--not one single tasty scrap of bloggity or writerly goodness.

Having missed today makes me feel sick. But since I no longer live in Southern California and so no longer vomit voluntarily, I'll have to work through my emotions by doing the laundry and cleaning the living room as violently as possible.

Missed you all. Would have particularly liked to talk to Laurie and Debbie. Sigh.

body image

2006-07-30T16:53:00.000-07:00

"The Problem with beauty is that it isn't about you."
-laurie toby edison

hey, liz!

2006-07-30T15:46:00.000-07:00

the 'sphere wants to know where you got the red panties, but they are too awed to approach your fabulosity. i, of course, am not. awed, but not too much to approach: where'd ya gettem, c'mon, tell!

Livebloggiegoodness

2006-07-30T15:37:00.000-07:00

Greetings from badgerland! I want to join in on this awesome liveblogging. Big shout-outs to people who were at last woolfcamp and missed this one. Lucy's Spleen! Yellow Jellybean! Evolving Carnival Road Trip! Mom Writes! Stitch in Time! Squid! Oh, I could keep going... It's not the same without you guys. But there are great new folks here, including Newbie Tree and Canadian Sue, and I'm enjoying this thoroughly.

We had a great session on multiblogularity. We talked about these issues:

Keeping your multiple blogs apart vs. together
Knowing where to say things when you have multiblogs
Letting people edit your stuff
Dealing with editorial guidelines
Regretting/wrestling with openness
Regretting/wrestling with anonymity
Why am I NOT blogging personally?
Introverted vs extraverted
Being recognized in public
Red gloves and other blog cool personality traits
Respecting others' privacy
Using categories

It seems like everyone has a unique relationship to (multiple) identities, and it's very important to think carefully about how you want to present yourself through blogging.

We're moving on to technology. Del.icio.us and Furl. A lightening round of tech resources. It's wonderful to be able to join brains with such amazing and resourceful women.

"I'm a delicious partner!" -- Grace

to write, but not to blog

2006-07-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

Back from the writing workshop with Jo and Susan. It's been so long since I've written something that wasn't intended for the blog. How beatiful it is to pick and topic and then just go. How supported I felt reading my words to them. I was moved to tears. I felt exposed, but also accepted. We were a small breakout group in the kitchen. It was hot. I nibbled dark chocolate and typed. I wanted to tell the truth, I wanted them to know me. I love women.

I have arrived at The WC and I am a Space Case.

2006-07-30T14:20:00.000-07:00

Most Esteemed WoolfCamp Sisters and Brothers, greetings from Badgerbag's floor. I'm not groveling at the pink Croc'd feet of Badger Her Fine Self. This is a mistake because Badger is our Deity for Most Things. And now I'm rambling and that's because the BlogHer experience has left me with a cranium full of Jello.

Lime jello.

With fruit cocktail. Cool Whip on top.

Rambling.

Okay! My gift to WoolfCamp Afterglow is the presence of Meghan and Chris, excellent presents of presence indeed. M & C missed their planes. Their misfortune is our great fortune. I will be taking them home tonight and I will keep them forever!

Rambling. Again.

So, to focus, I'm in the "12:45 multiblogular/polyblogger/identities AND writing exercise, woot!" And it's over. And it was well moderated by Sarah. But, I'm not live blogging this. I am taking this opportunity to say greetings from Badgerbag's floor.

Sheesh.

xoxox

to do for next woolfcamp

2006-07-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

- name tags

- handouts with basic info & welcome. group blog and wiki urls.

- signup on the front door for everyone's emails (so that someone can put everyone on the group blog invite as new people come in, without interrupting the flow)

-

Quotes about BlogHer

2006-07-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

"It was like being backstage at a rock concert and meeting all your favorite rock stars - because writers are my rock stars."

- Janine

"I just had a fucking fantastic time. And I felt like I didn't have to be small. I go through the world so much of the time feeling like I have to be small. And I could be just as outrageous as I want to be."

- Tree

My Woolfyummy Lunch

2006-07-30T13:50:00.000-07:00

Like ants

2006-07-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

At Whole Foods to buy our individual lunches. Liz introduced me to Barak, whose blogs I have read and admired.

I gave Barak one of my blog cards, which led to a discussion about blog-pimping. Liz noted that at BlogHer, it was not uncommon to come up to someone and have them ask, not 'what's your name?' but 'what's your blog?' Liz would pull a blog card out of her pocket or the top of her sock. The other person would do the same. They would swap and study, and only then! would the animated talking begin.

"There was a hiveness to it. A formality. Conversation was pre-determined," she remarked. "It was like ants."

2006-07-30T12:57:00.000-07:00

Lynn: blog called unnatural history. I also have a livejournal, which carries many of same pieces but also have more personal stuff that I don't right out there under my full actual full name. And I have a neglected perv blog. I did not go to blogher. I did go to 1993 romance writers of America in St. Louis when St. Louis was in the flood and I am still wearing some of the clothes that I bought/had made for that.

Kimberly: music and cats.com
I could see people's eyes glaze over when I identified my blog, like they were thinking crazy cat lady. I found myself not wanting to explain myself, an interesting piece for me. I found BlogHer quite interesting. Felt a bit like high school. I enjoyed it at times and at times my inner introvert came out.

Pam. I blog at beancounters. I liked Blogher, no problem with clothes except which of my great t-shirts. I think it is because I had the inner/eye on style because I already knew so many people going. I knew if I would dress to impress them, I should dress the way I always dress. I went a little more casually than at work. I knew there would be a broad range of style choices, I wouldn't fit anywhere and it would still all be good. Well, I'd fit in between. I would have preferred more effective moderation/facilitation. Here's who we are. . .

Elka: elkie in wonderland, blog on the blogher blog. I wanted to go last year but it was sold out. The main reason for me to go was the networking. I enjoyed the broad range of difference. Unlikely to see such a broad range at a male conference, which would be more homogenous. For the sessions, I second what Liz and others said: some too broad and deteriorated, moderator training would be a great idea. Liked seeing friends, met lots of new people. I wanted to meet a lot more but I was overwhelmed. I am here because this is smaller event.

Jeanine Armstrong: now getting paid to blog for clubmom! Emotional impact last year was less. Last year so exciting. Women who write are my rock stars. It was so thrilling. I was anxious about what to wear and I went shopping for new clothes: I am becoming different and I am changing my outer persona. I brought cards: this was new. So many things changing for me. It is about being around the different women, connecting, talking, absorbing, people so cool/smart/funny and wanting to be a part of that. And pushing myself out into the world. I am really really happy to be at woolf camp.

Susan Kitchens: 20/20 hindsight is my blog for years. My new site is family oral history using digital tools. familyoralhistory.us. I want to turn the new one into a business. Last year, I got in under the wire after it was sold out by doing audio recording. There was no sense of closure. If I hadn't been so tired yesterday, I would have grabbed the mic and ask for some praise for the main organizers but I was so tired. . . . give it up for them.

more intros

2006-07-30T12:44:00.000-07:00

Sara Dopp: women, tech, writers, my tribe. Public biz blog and private blog. Sara met Liz at reading where Liz read vile porn story. I could only get ticket for day 2. Saw celebrities. Dana Boyd! ! I saw her but was afraid to talk to her! It was really easy to strike up a conversation with just about everybody. I want to start a firm where I consistently organize and hire subconstractors: web design.

Liz Henry: I had great time but I had same feeling that it didn't have the emotional impact on me as last year. It was just because it was so big, hard to make space where big can become small groups. I was mentally taking note: what next time? More moderator training and practice, more group facilitating, unconferencey thing. . . I'd like a less structured thing. I'd have more tracks and you would just have to make hard choices but the conversations could be more productive if the groups were slightly smaller by design. Hostility: a lot of hostility about the pointy-toed shoe women, for example. Fear of women who understand rules of coded femininity according to patriarchy. Some apparel/jewelry choices are about display, not dominator culture.

The part-time introvert

2006-07-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

Sue admitted to being a "part-time introvert." I describe my introversion as my "inner introvert," and mine came out at BlogHer, too.

more intros

2006-07-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

Beth Kanter: great people, great conversations, video blogging was great and not long enough. Education blogging session was great. I felt less of an emotional connection this time, trying to figure out why. Was it too big? Is it the branding stuff? I felt big emotional connect during the final keynote. There wasn't a closure like last year.

Sue, I flew in from Toronto. I spent a lot of money to get here. I have nothing to base this on, I consider myself a complete computer idiot. I also happen to be an introvert which flared up this week. Coming to new thing, new to tech. . . I got emails from women worrying about what to wear. My blog: multi-blogger. Poly-blogger. My menopause was all over the bathrooms. I blog about my city. I publish Breast of Canada calendar. I didn't get into the first day. A long way to come for a one day conference. I had great one-on-one converations that lasted an hour or two, and I function better in such settings. Very pleasant to be around smart, very funny women. Lots of shrieking: high volume. I've never been to conf of just women except breast cancer and women don't shriek at breastcancer conferences.

2006-07-30T12:35:00.001-07:00

Sara Dopp is interviewed in the SFGate article on BlogHer.

Blogher story in SF Chronicle

2006-07-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

Here's the link:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/30/BAGJEK86FD1.DTL&hw=blogher&sn=001&sc=1000

change change change

2006-07-30T12:29:00.000-07:00

We are not carved in stone.......

We are fluid........

We are in process.

Beth Kanter and Susan Kitchens arrived

2006-07-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

everyone got up and we lost focus for a time. . . fun but unfocussed.

names?

2006-07-30T12:10:00.000-07:00

Jackie, jospanglemonkey, I didn't get much out of blogher until the sex panel. Tech was boring. And I didn't like birds of a feather: storytelling and humor. I tried to pull it more theoretical and it just didn't go over. I felt a lot of the panels were superficial but the sex panel was really good and the art panel was good, too.

Allen: asIplease. I didn't go to blogher. I was chortling vicariously to the Weight Watchers and chalk flavored water. What do these people think BlogHer is about?

The worst was the Be Jane girls: tight t-shirts. Women can improve their own homes. Horrifying.

LiveSpaces was worst than the home improvement. They spoke like zombies: wouldn't you like to expand your community? Duh, that's why we were in blogher.

Debbie: I blog at bodyandpolitic with Laurie, also have live journal, also on feminist fs blog and elsewhere. Half of me is with Tree and half of me is with Allen's vicarious experience. I am used to being outrageous as I want to be in the world and in much of my life I can be as outrageous as I want to be. I loved a lot of the women that I MET, LOVED LOTS OF SESSIONS, something about heteronormativity. . . that steadily made me a bit nervous. Great time, bit nervous, all the time.

Laurie: bodyandpolitic, blogs with Deb. I had a really good time and I also. . . the corporate stuff doesn't make me nervous but the cultural dissonance occasionally made me uncomfortable, as did the heteronormativity. I suspect that a lot of this stuff are based on unconscious assumptions. Did organizers think about the vendors and the sexist stuff . . . there was some consideration and some worry. . . they didn't do it unthinkingly. Likely, they must have expected a bunch of discussion with it afterwards. I think it is profoundly important that they don't do it again.

Hopefully, with big success (the numbers) this year, they will get more marketers interested.

Nobody pays you money to tell women they look great. Body positive sponsors with money don't happen.

second wave bloghers

2006-07-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

There are people uncomfortable with technology. In final keynote, they referred to them as "regular people".

Thoroughly Modern Millie: way cool woman who asked great question in final session.

more on blogher: money/price

2006-07-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

They did have a fifty dollar student rate. $250 is high? a mix of opinions

creating space for self-organizing: some say it makes it much better. This author disagrees: we all have to begin trusting the deep, unifying force in the cosmos, which is the power of self-organization. The question is not what could we have done to create better space but what is one less thing we could have done to seed the conditions for self-organizing.

jammin'

2006-07-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

Everyone is raving about Kimberly's gingered apricot jam.

woolfcamp brainstorm

2006-07-30T11:57:00.001-07:00

We brainstormed over the morning while settling in and chatting and coffeeing. Since 11:30 or so we've been doing the Blogher debrief.

Here's how we brainstormed

- made a list
- said which ones we all wanted to go to. Some things, everyone wanted. Some things were obviously breakout sessions. We scheduled them 2 at a time.

11:30 Blogher debrief, Birds of a Feather, meta discussion (ALL)

12:30 lunch

12:45 multiblogular/polyblogger/identities AND writing exercise, woot!

1:45 Del.icio.us / Nifty Techie Taggy Tools (ALL or most)

2:45 Body Image AND Goals/priorities/courage
("What would you be determined to do and finish before you die (as opposed to what you want to do before you die. This sparked by Liz asking Laurie how Tee Corinne is doing. )

Closing exercise by Sue - on courage

more blogher debrief

2006-07-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

An interesting conversation w/techies about women in tech, and how women feel about being in a heavily male-dominated field. . . some of the younger women seemed to feel that technology was unuusually male-dominated but my reaction was that 'they were young'. many women work in male-dominated fields. One of the young women stood up and said she felt at home in Blogher in the tech Blogher people but she couldn't relate to the wider Blogher people.

I felt same way of feminist v. nonfeminist vibe, the straight vibe.

mommybloggers v. nonmommybloggers. . . . mommyblogger was a stronger community so they werer a louder presence. I felt overwhelmed by mommybloggers because I'm not one, it felt like most of people there were mommybloggers.

mommybloggers dominated, took it over, it is a radical act, but there was still a kind of weird thinking. . .

it bothered me how heteronormative it was. . . that is the vibe I found difficult.

Heteronormative: the background assumption that everyone is hetero

Heteronormative creates an underlying discomfort, about outfits and fashion and pressure and all these girly girls with their pointy schoes. It wasn't about femminess. . . it is about people who feel they don't understand how to code their femininity into patriarchal standards correc tly. . . that makes other people feel resentful, uncomfortable. Coded femininity according to patriarchal standards. Also about class. Some of it was corporate. Business bloggers.

In the transformational panel, half the people who spoke were lawyers.

Rules in academia are different in the corporate worlds. I don't think feminess is as significant to the heteronormative as some of the other things.

BlogHer debrief

2006-07-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

Liz has stepped out of the BlogHer debrief because people are lost and calling to find their way here.

We have collectively agreed to blog this section for Liz's benefit (and yours, dear reader).

So, who has things to say about BlogHer.

Who had a good time?

Like all conventions, it's not the nuts and bolts, it is the physical getting together. It's 'here's who we are" and "here's what we look like, here's what we sound like". . .getting together is the point.

High points
Identity panel and the naked panels were both great, extremely intelligent, and I'm not used to the BlogHer style, which is intro the panel and then immediately go to questions. I was impressed with how well the moderating worked, going right to questions. Audience questions were complex and articulate. I was really impressed with both of those panels.

For the tech panels, there ws a lot of stuff I already knew and then after about forty minutes, the presentation might get to a good nugget. Tagging was great tech session. Audience building was also great tech session, w/Lisa Bauer. Monetizing woman did a really nice job.

2006-07-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”

That’s the line everyone remembers from “A Room of One's Own,” but it is very far from the whole story. Virginia Woolf also said:

“For masterpieces are not single and solitary births; they are the outcome of many years of thinking in common, of thinking by the body of the people, so that the experience of the mass is behind the single voice.”

And that is what Woolfcamp is about. Bringing people together to think, talk, share: creating community by linking people who blog.

My first visit to Woolfcamp was a rescue mission; when my friend Debbie’s car wouldn’t start, Alan and I drove to Santa Cruz to get her. (It was a wonderful drive through the dark, over hilly roads.) Woolfcamp was over, but I had a chance to talk to some people, and I knew I wanted to participate more.

My second visit coincides with my purchase of a new truck. (New to me, at any rate.) One of the advantages of community is that people with complementary needs can connect. Liz,who is hosting today’s Woolfcamp, needed to sell her 1993 Mazda B2200. I needed an inexpensive vehicle, preferably a truck. We can meet each other’s needs. Moreover, while I was here looking at the truck, I glanced through Helene Cixous’s “Coming to Writing” and Other Essays, which I hadn’t read since grad school. I instantly realized this was what I needed now:

Women must write her self: must write about women and bring women to writing, from which they have been driven away as violently as from their own bodies for the same reasons by the same law, with the same fatal goal. Women must put herself into the text as into the world and into history by her own movement.

I’m all in favor of both privacy and financial independence. having my own space, an autonomous life, and as much financial independence as I can achieve by working for it, as opposed to inherited wealth. But for me, that life must be sustained and supported by participation in community.

Thanks for creating this community and letting me join.

fear of missing something

2006-07-30T11:25:00.000-07:00

We are brainstorming, planning our day. Some of the sessions are going to be happening at the same time. I want to do both of them. Debbie declared that I have a fear of missing something. That's true. It all seems essential. How can I not want to be a part of it?

Ah, the food is calling.

eh!

2006-07-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

Apparently I say eh alot...and abooooot.

So yah know....I'm Canuck.

Sue

Natural rhythm and virtue

2006-07-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

Laurie from Body Impolitic is a working artist. She says she is lucky she has been able to be self-employed all her life. She also happens to have a circadian rhythm that is different from most. She wakes up around 1 in the afternoon, works and interacts and creates. Her bedtime is around 3 a.m. or later.

She wonders why people who get up at the crack of dawn tend to look down on late-sleepers. Is there really a virtue implicit in getting up so early? One could look at the body of her work as an artist and as a human being, and say she has been quite productive. Sure she starts later in the day than most, but by the same token, she works well into the night when everybody else has given up and gone to bed. Why is her natural rhythm inferior to the day-worker's?

Maybe the crack of dawn virtue is a holdover from our agrarian days. But we're not farmers anymore. It's worth thinking more about.

dynamics of requests

2006-07-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

Laurie Edison just asked "Would anyone else like some cheese and crackers?" - Pam looked up, said "Yes!" while starting to get up.

"No... I was offering to bring you some."

"Oh!"

Debbie: Moms aren't used to other people bringing them stuff.

*laughter*

Me: In fact, to moms, "Would you like some cake" is a coded request that means "Get up and get me some cake while you're up."

hi, guys!

2006-07-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

i'm so glad you're going to be liveblogging today! how was blogher? it sure was a strange skewed view we got on the outside yesterday, although the chatroom was a hoot when somebody was there to connect us to the session, which happened with naked blogging and another one. there's even rss feed that recorded all our chats, so you can read us reading what you were listening to--got that?

oh, and koan picked up on your skype account, liz, and may call in from scotland today to say hi, if she's awake.

so here i am staring at the screen for a second day. more fun out there than here! how was grace's closing--we didn't get to "hear" that.

info on World Cafe

2006-07-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

Tree is talking about The World Cafe, started up by Juanita Brown, who started out as a farmworkers' advocate... and the GiGis ... with Nancy White. A fabulous group of women. Wow!

"We'd have these deep personal moment and then we'd have these high-octane moments of work, with no schedule and then someone would say "It's time for a walk" and we'd all go for a walk. We got a month's worth of work done in three days."

feminine vortex

2006-07-30T09:45:00.001-07:00

Tree and Beancounter didn't know each others' names during the whole drive up to my house from BlogHer. Tree tried to trick Pam into giving her a business card while they were driving - for the name. Subtle!!! Now Tree is calling Beancounter (Pam) "Jennifer" on purpose.

So far I have learned all about Tree's state of constant epiphany since her near-death by multiple pulmonary embolism. I know "all about" pulmonary embolisms from that one scene in "The Story of Henry Sugar" by Roald Dahl and they have plagued my paranoid hypochondriac fantasies since 1977.

Must go help Tree get on-blog.

Ahh, the lovely lovely chill factor after the massive BlogHer swarm!!! Tree says she's overwhelmed by BlogHer and the GiGi "think tank" meeting...

all you need is love.2

2006-07-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

I met with the GiGis (nickname for small thinktank called Geek Girls: we have the ambitious agenda to feminize the internet) for the three days immediately preceding BlogHer. While at the GiGis, I shared my theory that there are only two ways to interact with reality (whatever that means): love or fear. I further theorized that we need to return to the love power of the sixties, that we need to be creating cultures of love and surely surely the internet is one of the paths to a culture of love.

Then at Blogher, Nancy White re-invoked my 'all you need is love theory'.

At the beginning of the last day of Blogher, Nancy got us all started singing "all you need is love". This made me very happy.

I have lost my mind recently after almost dying on May 5th. I am through fucking around and all I care about is being blissed out. I am humbled that my little bliss quest resulted in having hundreds of BlogHers try to sing the great Beatles song "all you need is love"

Love is all we need. How corny is that.

Greetings from Redwood City!

2006-07-30T09:43:00.000-07:00

Badger just added me to the WoolfCamp group blog. How groovy that I am the first poster of the day!

Unless Tree beats me to it - she's typing over there at the other side of the couch. Tree drove with me from BlogHer in San Jose this morning. As both of us are slightly anal about arriving anywhere ON TIME BY GOD, Tree and I left at 8 so we could be here by 9 allowing for getting lost along the way. Isn't that rigid of us? Don't we both need to mellow? Hopefully Woolfcamp will mellow us today.

It did take me until reaching Badger's house to even learn Tree's name. Before that she was "the woman who needs a ride". That's sort of mellow of me, ain't it?

Badger's house is lovely, cool, and chock full of books. Every room has a bookshelf, and each bookshelf is arranged by subject. Tree, Badger and I (Bean) are sprawled on the big couch, getting set up on the wiki, waiting for whomsoever showeth up, and ready to take what comes.

xx oo

I can't wait ...

2006-06-25T23:44:00.000-07:00

Mary has thought snippets from BloggerCon and says exactly what I am thinking: Can't wait for BlogHer!

Only five more weeks!!! I am looking forward to see many of you.

Staying Close To Home

2006-05-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my lab Katy blew out her knee while we were swimming in the park. The good news: we made it to the park office and they called a van to drive us to our car. If you have a choice and chance in the future, please support East Bay Regional Parks. They dropped everything to help Katy, Jake and me out.

Here's a post I made last year about this great place for dog's to swim.

Last time (yeah, she blew out her other knee in the same park) there wasn't a soul, and we had walk 1.5 miles to the car. Thirty minutes out to spot where she got hurt; 2 hours back.

She is home in a confined pen staying still and taking pain pills. She only stands up when she needs outside. Tuesday we head to the vetinary surgeons where they will xray her, hold her overnight and operate Wednesday morning. She'll be home on Thursday and my fun will begin. A "harness" that I hold and help her walk, pain meds, and a couple more trips to Concord for check ups with the vets.

Glad we didn't make any summer vacation plans.. our vacation money is going into her knee. OTOH, 6 weeks spent mostly at home nursing a dog... my garden will be well-cared for, my house will be clean, and I might even get some fiber work done.

Can someone add my other blog?

2006-05-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

I've decided to try separating my personal stuff from my fiber arts stuff on the blogs. So now my dog walks, rants, sunset photos, etc. will be on at Deb's Daily Distractions.

E, could you invite me to add this new blog to the woolfcampers?

WoolfCamper Em has left us geographically, but not spiritually.

2006-05-09T22:36:00.000-07:00

Em leaves Santa Cruz to go back home.
Originally uploaded by GraceD.

Fellow Woolfers, I say to all of you - ah-woooooo! And I say it with love.

It's been a gnarly couple of months. Moll's health has been sketchy, the hubs has been out of town 3 weeks out of the month, and I've been in a funk because of It All.

To top It All off, Em left the beaches of Santa Cruz to return to the mountains of the Wasatch Range. Salt Lake City, people. She left us for the Mormons! The polygamists! That big old choir!

I know you're not falling for this. The scoop is that our Em returned to her home turf and her homies. She's looking into a job with the Sundance Festival. Let's cross our fingers that this will happen for our Em as we want her to be happy and, to be honest, we want to meet Robert Redford.

Em is just a click away on her magnificent blog, Lucy's Spleen. Her lovely personage can be seen on her flickr photostream, which also includes pics of her fanboy, Malcolm.

We love you, Em! See you at BlogHer!

so flickr has this bloggers group

2006-04-14T18:14:00.000-07:00

and apparently it was in the top 10 until just recently. jeneane sessum is pushing to get membership back up so we can be in the 10 again, so check it out here.

looks kinda cool.

Happy Early Easter (appropriate, considering I'm Guilty of Easter Candy Abuse)

2006-04-13T18:02:00.000-07:00

BrainJams New Orleans!

2006-03-31T10:28:00.000-08:00

OK, so I just posted about the event details yesterday morning and things are already flying pretty fast. It seems the time is right for the good people of New Orleans to look beyond the trajedy of the past year and into the brighter tomorrow of what can be.

In that I don't have a lot of money to donate and I can't afford to get down there to do the physical stuff that needs to get done, this is the best thing I can contribute to help the great city of New Orleans. It is a great feeling to know that a little good intention and a lot of writing can actually make a difference. It seems a lot of other people what to help with this as well, so I think this might be one of the biggest "unconferences" of the year - mashing up technologists and small business folks in a BrainJams can hopefully contribute towards making things right.

If you can take a moment to blog about the event, or perhaps reach out to some of the folks you know down there, that would be amazing! If you can perhaps help in any other way, please let me know. In addition to the things I mentioned on the blog, I am going to really need help with the "people wrangling" aspects of coordinating volunteers. That is perhaps my weakest skillset and I don't want this great opportunity to fail because of one of my weaknesses. This is particularly true of coordinating the Peer to Peer Learning volunteers. Fortunately, the new BrainJams site runs on Drupal, so we have most of the tools we need to do this properly.

The best part is, if you can make it down there to share what you know with the good folks of NOLA, you also get to party with us at JazzFest! If you can't, I will just have to drink a Hurricane for you as I Jam away with all of my fellow Parrotheads...

Speaking of bloggers . . .

2006-03-30T11:06:00.000-08:00

My daughter is a champ at it. Right now she's in the middle of a series of performances with the NY Philharmonic, and just glowing about it. Read at http://www.supermaren.com/ (her blog) or http://www.marenmontalbano.com/, which is her newly self-designed website. Daddy is so proud. Check them out, maybe you'll become fans, too.

Still Thinking about Iz's Position on Gay Marriage and then this dropped into my mailbox

2006-03-27T20:03:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, March 1, 2006 , in Annapolis,MD at a hearing on the proposed Constitutional Amendment to prohibit gay marriage, Jamie Raskin, professor of law at AU (AmericanUniversity), was requested to testify.

At the end of his testimony, Republican Senator Nancy Jacobs said: "Mr. Raskin, my Bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman. What do you have to say about that?"

Raskin replied: "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."

The room erupted into applause.

2006-03-26T10:42:00.000-08:00

e commented on my post about the Pivotal Moments writing exercise, wondering, "why do you feel it must be a Happy Thing, em?" My answer grew long enough to cut from the comment I started and paste it into this new post:

I didn't feel my Pivotal Moment MUST be a Happy Thing, e, but reading over my growing list of semi-tragic episodes and- even though I grew and developed in really positive ways as a result of all the Sad/Bad Things I noted- the list wasn't an accurate representation of all that has spurred change in my life, what I would consider Pivotal Moments.

I've been thinking about it more overnight, and decided that the reason my list consisted of the Hard Shit is that those events are the stand-out types in my life, because the norm overall is that my life has been filled with a lot of joy and with joyful experiences (lucky me). I have changed, gradually, through the joyful times, but they didn't stand out to me initially as Pivotal Moments, being overshadowed by the memory of rapid and sometimes unwelcome er, pivoting initiated by trauma. Thinking of it in these terms, I can cite many many "happy" Pivotal Moments; times where I had vim and inertia and the opportunity to choose where to direct them. So.

(Also it is a very Mormon thing to accentuate the positive and flat-out DENY the negative, so there's probably a bit of that cultural influence emerging, as well.)

Anyone else want to chime in? Is there a persistent tone to the Pivotal Moments in your lives? Would you define them as positive/negative, or another category? Are they patternless? Or do they elude this type of definition altogether? I'd love to hear other responses, especially from you e, if you will...

-EM

all things web 2.0

2006-03-26T05:30:00.000-08:00

via BlogHer: a list of links to "all" currently available web tools, for our perusal. if you want to do anything on your blog, including things you never thought of before, it's probably here.

while you were all doing things important and glamorous...

2006-03-25T18:06:00.000-08:00

i finally got the toilet seat fixed!

stickies

2006-03-25T17:24:00.000-08:00

I wonder what all those kids will remember of moments like these?

They were all bopping around with sticky papers, making fart jokes, snickering, taking photos... Maybe having fun... maybe wondering why we were all glued to our computers.

It was nice to see them, but it did get too chaotic for us to think or talk. So we ended up with more of a laid-back full-of-children party in the afternoon.

I felt a little bad for not paying attention to them. Today I didn't have it in me to juggle Grownup Interaction and also deal with kids!

Iz and Alex tagged me with "G.I.P. Funny" and also "I.C.U.P.", which cracked me up...

ignoble moment

2006-03-25T16:20:00.000-08:00

Earlier today... someone said, "I don't know whose drink this is... maybe Mary's.. but I'm drinking it anyway even if it has cooties."

Me: "If it's Mary's it probably does have cooties... Bwahahaa!"

2006-03-25T15:46:00.000-08:00

trying to participate in the Pivotal Moments writing excercise. it feels so huge i don't know where to begin. i came up with a list of some of the major events that have changed my life, all these months-long kinds of crises and spiritual ordeals that are both too personal to publish here and so big i couldnt choose just one to write on. then i read jo's post and changed my whole perspective. like, aha! i can write about just a single componant of a whole giant overarching theme. how novel!

thinking of the excercise in this new way i feel like i could come up with a Happy Thing. whereas the events on my list were all these traumatizing difficult times. what are some positive Pivotal Events for me? i know what i'll be thinking about for the rest of the weekend...

Emily

More Clarification and Explanation of the Fruitfulness of this Exercise

2006-03-25T15:19:00.000-08:00

It's interesting how resistant people are to this exercise... "My life cannot be summed up in one moment." and etc. I didn't explain... this is more the admission that your life is a series of moments, and they can be seen as emblematic of a larger theme, when you look back at them. It's the nature of memory that the same thing can mean something different at different times. It's sort of fascinating, if you're a navelgazer, to discover that some event you remember is quite revised when you revisit it after five years, or ten, or twenty, when everything is different and your life has changed. When I was in college and looked back at violin lessons as a child, I felt a sort of claustrophobia and guilt and shame toward my mother, who had big expectations that I would "be better than anyone else, at least at one thing," and she had decided that one thing was playing the violin.

Now when I look back at the memory of violin lessons I think about the gift my mother gave me of her time and energy, and also feel myself infused with shame over not doing the same sort of thing for my kids. And then out of that shame spiral I find myself saying no, I don't need to be All Things to my children. I am enough. I have to live my life, and they are cared for as well as I can do it.

So anyway. That's what I meant, sort of a view of parts of your life with perspective and interpretation.

pivotal disconnects

2006-03-25T15:17:00.000-08:00

Em just asked if all mine were crises and I'm not sure. I was just wondering that. A lot of times, yes. Other times no,... or moments that are both horrible and positive. Moments when it becomes clear that meaning is constructed. Where communication seems impossible, but it happens anyway... like Jo launching herself across the hallway in that kiss... Moments where I've broken up a relationship and realize there's a fundamental disconnect between my reality and my partner's, or when I've started a new relationship and a new mutual reality seems to form.

But those moments don't have a "real" meaning and can always be rewritten to mean something else in another context. I get trapped in multiplicity. I get to where I feel that giving too much structure or only one meaning would be fundamentally dishonest. So any memoir I write will have to have layers of revelation and re-evaluation when new things become true without making the old truths false. (This is why I like reading Gene Wolfe's novels, and also I think Timmi Duchamp is doing this very well...)

Perhaps staring up at the stars over Enchanted Rock, lying on top of the rock drifting in and out of sleep with the stars in obvious rotation. Or going through the cave there, completely in the dark, by feel. That comes to mind, but I reject it.

Does the pivotal moment have to be an epiphany? I don't think so, but it's what we seem to turn to first. Moments of evaluation.

Instead, I consider action rather than introspection. I like the idea of fights or Happenings as holders of meaning.

blah blah blah!!!!!!

Resenting my memories

2006-03-25T15:12:00.000-08:00

Crossposted from over here:

Jo Spanglemonkey suggests a memoir blogging exercise: write about a pivotal moment in your life. If you were writing a memoir, this would be the moment everything leads up to. The One Thing that happens.

My mind goes blank for a few seconds - how can I possibly come up with One Thing that is important in my life? And then one memory emerges, unbidden, old and crusty yet still as vivid as all those years ago, and I am appalled. Why this one? Is that really what my life is about? Am I defined by heartbreak? I do not like this at all. I resemble this remark ...

Kissing Manny

2006-03-25T15:06:00.000-08:00

There was a moment; I was standing in line for the bathroom at the punk commune. Everything was very loud. Everyone was drunk or drugged or whatever, dancing, talking loudly. Smoke filled the room and it was probably one in the morning. This was a place we'd been every night for the last 3 months of summer. Manny was standing across from me in the hall, and we were staring at each other.
I was seized with courage. "Would you mind terribly," I said, "if I possibly kissed you? I mean you don't have to if you don't want to, but I want to, and well, would it be okay?"
"Yeah, okay," he said.
So I kissed him. I launched myself across the hallway and jammed my tongue into his mouth.
I don't think I've been that brave since then, frankly. It was an impulsive moment and one that defined our relationship, in many ways. I'm not sure how to describe how defining a moment it was. It crossed boundaries for me. Despite the appearance of the setting, in which you might imagine rough people whose confidence and bluster drove them to extremes. You might imagine people who flout convention to be hard, brittle, brutal. But my experience of the punk commune was of people who hid behind their costumes. If they wore black and safety pins and had outrageous hair, if they offended their parents any way they possibly could, it was out of a protective impulse, and inside they were small and unsure and frightened. Many of those kids were abused as children, or kicked around in various ways, and used their appearance for a smokescreen.

pivotal moment

2006-03-25T14:57:00.000-08:00

when i was 16 my family disintegrated. i hadn't thought about that. i was a teenager and it was 1968, everything was going to hell and it was Up To Us to Stop The War, don't you know, so i hadn't had any time yet to realize the nature of family structures, that they were structures and not impermeable objects. the summer between sophomore and junior year my mother decided california was going to fall into the sea and put our house in Daly City on the market. when i begged and pleaded she said don't worry, it won't sell.

it sold in three weeks. by that fall we were in a motel in Sedona, Arizona--long before there *was* a Sedona, Arizona as you would know it; there was nothing there but a grocery store and the motel in the wide space in the road where we'd stopped-- watching Richard Nixon get elected. my lifeline was writing hundred-page letters to my friends back home, all of whom were scheduled to fall into the sea at some point. i guess they did, because i have no idea where any of them are now. not much idea where i am, either. not too long after that i hit this road.

last month grace drove me back to that house. we were in a screaming hurry to get me to my plane and her back to her family, and it had been 30 years or so and then i couldn't find the neighborhood, the neighborhood was somebody else's neighborhood, and gracie was true to her name putting up with my ineptitude, and then finally she found it herself and we drove up the street i have been walking down in dreams every night of my life for the past several decades. walking down and down the hill and never reaching the bottom. the houses were there, my house looked the same. the people next door were probably there but they'd be about 100 now and I hadn't been in touch for a couple of years, so I couldn't just pop in and say hi, i'm leaving now. so i didn't. i stood in the street and looked at the house, we weren't there ten minutes. time warped, but i don't know just how, exactly. i was rip van winkle. i was the ancient mariner. i was odysseus and penelope in one, i was home. grace took me home. "you'd do it for me," she said.

yes. yes, i would.

WoolfCamp writing exercise

2006-03-25T14:47:00.000-08:00

(big, complex ideas flying everywhere, but I'm having a Bad Menopausal Day, and I'm having a tough time figuring things, any thing out...so I think I'll just go with WRITING ABOUT MY MOM.)

(gah!)

My mother married too young, had too many children, suffered too many heartbreaks and disappointments that any day now, all of that cumulative pain would splinter her into a thousand little jagged pieces. That is, if she actually paid attention to her heart, if she twisted herself in a weird yoga pose and pressed her ear to her chest. Then she'd hear sirens, thunder and nuclear explosions. The decibel levels of all that racket? Would break her into those thousand little jagged pieces.

I nearly wrote that she doesn't have a heart, but I know she has a big fat aching one. One day I saw it leak right out of her chest at her mother's funeral, she threw herself on top of grandma's casket and cried scary, awful tears. My uncles gently pulled her off the casket, then mom walked in quick mincing steps to the bathroom. She came back dry eyed and composed.

My grandma who was good to us, but brutal to my mother, her youngest daughter. My mother who is good to my daughter, but brutal to me, her second oldest daughter.

I have no part in this chain, I know yoga.

Writing exercises (one and two and one and two)

2006-03-25T14:46:00.000-08:00

We're trying to figure out what kind of writing exercise we can all do together. I talked about the "pivotal moment" I'd read about in the memoir-writing book. It's an event or moment that centers the memoir, instead of just wandering around in the account of your life saying this happened and then this -- instead it has a focus and direction.

Everyone sort of looked blank. "That's too big," said Badger. "That's like a two-hour exercise."

"You could narrow it," I said. "A certain time in your life. Or a relationship with a certain person."

Personally I'd like to write about mothers, but of course that is also Big and Difficult.

Badger suggested an exercise wherein we all describe the same thing twice, in different moods. Again with the "what?" response from many people. "What would that look like?"

"How about "write about something yellow,'" I said, but then noticed that everyone had started to type and they weren't paying attention to me any more. "What are you guys doing?" I asked.

"Writing a pivotal moment!" They said in exasperation. Okay! I will do so as well.

memoir assignment from Jo

2006-03-25T14:43:00.000-08:00

Jo is talking about memoir and pivotal moments, and structuring a memoir, maybe a snippet of one from a particular time in our lives, around that moment. I'm having trouble coming up with a Moment, and then also feel like if I did it would take me hours to write such a thing. But I could sketch out possibilities and thoughts about it...

- I like the idea of a pivotal moment being a bit imaginary, or making it be a completely fantastic unreal event. Push that moment over the top. For me it might be something like "And then I grew an extra head" or the moment when I noticed (but no one else did) that all the trees on Earth had disappeared. Okay, not those, but something odd which could carry a lot of meaning.

- The attraction of making that moment the very beginning of a book, like putting the murder first in a murder mystery

- i wrote something like this once in a memoir called "The Thing!". It was about a road trip I took with my ex-husband before we were married and before I moved in with him. We were in a weird limbo... and set out from Santa Fe to Tuscon down the lower highway, whatever that is, and then up and around back the other more northern highway. A thousand miles away in the wrong direction we started seeing billboards for The Thing! and the pivotal moment would obviously be when we finally got to the cheesy roadside attraction and saw it. I wrote big chunks of this, and saw the structure of it very clearly, maybe because the pivotal moment or climactic moment was so obvious. So I saw how every tiny thing, every trivial moment and conversation on that trip, could come together and mean MORE because of that ending or that moment of seeing The Thing.

- it strikes me suddenly this is what I love about long-running episodic tv shows like Blake's 7 and Space Island One. The final moment of the final episode makes everything mean more, more intensely. It ups the ante. It makes me go back and re-evaluate the meaning of all the stuff that came before.

I like books where the pivotal moments are actual conversations.

Am I evading the question?

I wrote another thing about a road trip with M. when we moved to California in 91. Which ended in a truly low moment for me where I had to pee and she wouldn't stop the car for me to go to the bathroom, and the cats in the cat carrier kept escaping out of a hole they'd torn in it, and we were on some freeway in oakland in the middle of the night. I was crying and in terrible pain and I think I was having some kind of huge problem, like I had a kidney infection or PID or both, we never figured it out despite a bunch of emergency room visits. I have written that scene in the car about ten different ways to mean different things about how I saw my life and what it meant to be a bit out of control of my life and body.

so i'm thinking...

2006-03-25T13:29:00.000-08:00

here i am 3000 miles away from you all, and i'm talking over a computer to jo and commenting on your posts and looking at everybody's pics on flicr, which is all pre-setup for just that, and this wouldn't have been the case before WoolfcampI. well, commenting, but not the rest of it. we're getting there, gang, all the way into the 21st century, even me!

i'm checking in, gracie!

2006-03-25T13:24:00.000-08:00

here i am, over on the other side of the continent :( but tim the fixit man is fixiting the toilet seat, so that's a plus. no cheese here, though.

on the porch

2006-03-25T13:14:00.000-08:00

jackie talking to e. over skype on the porch
Originally uploaded by Liz Henry.

Jo and e. talking over skype on the porch. Fun!

Checking in...JUST BECAUSE...

2006-03-25T13:06:00.000-08:00

Greetings to the world beyond our happy WoolfCamplet bubble. We're well into the festivities and the Cowgirl Creamery cheese is quickly disappearing, but, because I'm the crabby cronemudgeon in the room, I insisted that we all Check In.

EVERYBODY CHECK IN!

And, whaddaya know, we're checking in.

As our beloved Jo has had way too much experience lately 'checking in', I'm letting this go free- form, so now we're talking about why we blog. The inevitable question at all of these bloggity gatherings. And then we segued into Mormons, these days the most fascinating of all subjects.

I'm a horrible liveblogger, can't think and write at the same time, just like Gerald Ford couldn't chew gum at the same time. Please depend on others for live blogging. I'm posting this pup to check in.

And I'm going to have to insist that you all out there do the same.

How are you feeling?
What's going on?
Do you need anything? How 'bout some of Squid's excellent cheese?

Checking in.

2006-03-25T13:02:00.000-08:00

Blogging as "keeping in touch with other people." Also forming community and having company.

People appreciating each other in a public meeting format. Grace is moderating. How we love her!

Why did you start a blog in the first place? Asks Mary. An interesting question.

Ep: letters to the editor were too terse. She wants to be more verbose with the same subjects. But not to build community.

Mary: What is "community blogging?" In a meeting where people want to keep in touch. Or a town blog, like a Deadwood-wide blog.

Elke: Why compelled to write in public? She has no idea.

Mary: Blogging is in its infancy. But read them for years before starting her own. FAscinated by the minutia of someone else's life.

Badger: Kept journals for years and years. Since she was a kid, five or six. Three or four going at one time. Book of dreams, current, poetry journal. Web pages she updated often.

Mary: wrote diaries as if someone else would read them. Even when the diary had a lock.

Em: Memoirs as "posterity." A cedar chest being opened by grandchildren. The Mormons. It's into every aspect of your life. Culty.

Mary: A planned monthly meetup to write together, maybe a central coffeeshop? Elke: Yes! Yes!
Mary is going to Las Vegas. She is an "online poker widow." But will spend the weekend with her husband alone. What a concept!

Emily: Looking for a job. Anyone have one for her? Blog more and blog better. Keep up with other people's blogs.

Badger: Fun and happy. Overstimulated lately. Physically injured from overwork and no stamina. Distracted by blogs, putting so much energy in, wants to figure out how to make it more job-like and possibly more money involved somehow. Teach blogging classes? Local rec center. Community college class. Face book and MySpace. Wants to talk about the theory of it more. It's much more complicated than a class about "talking on the phone."

Everyone murmurs in agreement.

Grace: Lisa Canter says that the first phase of blogging is over. Now we will talk about "content." Whaaa?

Badger: Means that it will be a new class of professionals, more like journalism. How the writing changes on the BlogHer site because they know advertisers are looking. Does not want it to turn into stupid magazine articles.

e says: Jeneane Sessum is talking about RSS feeds, the mechanical nature of same. she doesn't want to be "fed", she wants to visit people. (the linked post and one several below it.) she wants personal voices.

Memoir Writing. Why!

2006-03-25T12:53:00.000-08:00

Memoir writing: is it the same as personal blogging? What about writing a diary?

What use is writing in the process of personal development and "growth?"

Do you need a witness? For what?

Can we all write about a "crucial point" in our lives? Can we write about those points in each other's lives?

thoughts on the tagging exercise

2006-03-25T12:26:00.000-08:00

Looks like Em is writing up the notes I took on how we tagged each other!

I'm happy that everyone let me use them for my experiment. I talked for a few minutes about tagging, and then passed out post-it notes and sharpie markers. I asked everyone to write down at least three tags, and more if they liked. The tags were for each other - and it's okay to tag one person three times or three people one time, or whatever. No limits. So: an initial writing down tags phase. (Everyone self conscious! What to write! Who to tag!)

Then, all at once, we walked around and stuck the tags to each other. A giggling flurry of sticky paper!

We went around and read them off ourselves. I took notes. Now, we were all very nice to each other and so there was a happy effect of validation and seeing-how-we-see-each-other. But the effect I was after was to see what tags were common, what meta-information emerged. We tended to tag with adjectives or nouns. There were some verbs and short phrases. We tagged our ideas of each other as people and also we tagged the blogs (since some of us know each other mostly through blogs, this made sense.) It was interesting to see who got lots of tags and who got few. I didn't ask people to ID their tags: but this would have been good info as well, to write your name on all the tags you give to other people. Who produced a lot of tags? Who produced only three? Whose tags do you admire or think are clever? That's also info that emerges. I also wanted people to experience the moment of self-consciousness at the moment they are deciding to tag and how to do it. Everyone will see what you think is important.

Then, round two. Now we all know who is tagged with what. We might want to add stuff to a person that we feel is missing, or copy some of the good tags on other people, or tag up ourselves some more. I'm not sure the information changed all that much, but everyone's awareness of what they were doing and that it was visible changed.

I have to think about this exercise some more and how to fiddle with it!

technorati tags: tagging, teaching, demonstration, experiment, blogging, woolfcamp, woolfcamplet