Archive - Jul 30, 2007
When I was a Mommy Blogger
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 07/30/2007 - 21:27I won't forget when Peter Pan
Came to my house, took my hand
I said I was a boy, I'm glad he didn't check
I learned to fly, I learned to fight
I lived a whole life in one night
We saved each other's lives out on the pirate's deck
Yesterday, I received an email inviting me to The Motherhood. Their welcome message says,
If you believe in the power of mothers to make things happen, you're going to love this neighborhood. Come on in and make yourself at home!
Well, I do believe in the power of mothers to make things happen. I spend a lot of time visiting Mommy Blogs around the Internet and I tell all my political friends to step beyond their political blogs and reach out to the Mommy Blogs.
That said, I would like to remind people of my gender. The picture of my white bearded face should make it clear that I am not a Mommy Blogger by most popular definitions. However, Dar Williams
And I tell the man I'm with
About the other life I lived
And I say now you're top gun
I have lost and you have won
And he says, "Oh no, no, can't you seeWhen I was a girl, my mom and I we always talked
And I picked flowers everywhere that I walked
And I could always cry, now even when I'm alone I seldom do
And I have lost some kindness
But I was a girl too
And you were just like me, and I was just like you"
So, to all the Mommy Bloggers out there, either by birth or by conviction, stop by The Motherhood and see if we can save each others lives out on the pirate deck and perhaps even help all of us find some of the kindness that has been lost.
Robocalls already!?!
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 07/30/2007 - 20:08The phone rang. Fiona rushed to it saying, “I’ve got it”. She picked up the phone. We asked who it was and she handed the phone to me.
“I said hi,” Fiona said. “I said, who is it. And it said stuff about the mom and the children. It was so weird. It’s like an advertisement. I think it was an advertisement.”
That is how Fiona described the phone call we just received. She handed the phone to me and I heard a woman’s voice saying something to the effect of “Press 1 on your telephone to hear what I will do as your President.”
“What possible good could doing Robocalls to Connecticut do?” Kim asked. “It’s July!”
Is anyone else receiving robocalls from Hillary?
(Cross posted at MyLeftNutmeg.)
The Falcon Ridge Spirit
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 07/30/2007 - 12:26How does one blog Falcon Ridge? I’ve been going to Falcon Ridge since 1994 and hadn’t really thought about that. Even in 2004 when I rushed off from Falcon Ridge to blog the Democratic National Convention, I didn’t think a lot about blogging Falcon Ridge. It is an event that takes place outside, in the mud, without a lot of computers around.
Yet as I wandered around Falcon Ridge, I saw the “Press Trailer” and I wondered, what sort of press releases were available. Did they have internet connectivity so people could file stories? I decided not to check it out and instead to enjoy the event and maybe send in a few pictures from my cellphone, or Twitter a few different thoughts.
On the one hand, Falcon Ridge is a music festival. I imagine that you could blog it by writing up reports of different performers and the songs they song. I’ll do a little bit of that. However, that doesn’t capture the spirit of Falcon Ridge.
There is the dance tent and the family tent. Some people attend Falcon Ridge and rarely leave the dance tent or family tent. I’ll touch on these as well.
Then, there is the midway. There are many food vendors there, and a good food writer could probably write a few blog posts about the food at Falcon Ridge. I’ll touch on that as well. Then, there is the other shopping. You can buy bumperstickers, tie died dresses, toys, musical instruments and much more. You can get a massage, get your face painted, or have a henna design draw on you. I’ll write less about the shopping aspect.
Yet all of this doesn’t come close to capturing what Falcon Ridge is really all about. On the midway, we ran into Dan Navarro. Fiona went up and told him that “Teacher, Teacher” was one of her favorite songs, and he sang a brief phrase from it for her.
No, to write about Falcon Ridge, you need to capture the sense of magic, community, empathy, and friendship that pervades the experience. Hopefully, I’ll be able to capture some of this as well.
