BlogHer - online community - Comments

Awesome!

caronmosey — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:37:06 -0500

Thanks for posting. I didn't know this group even existed!

Caron Mosey, Michigan Quilter & Author

Thank You Denise

janicesullivan — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:33:01 -0500

I really appreciated this post! We are all very busy and to have you give us a check off list of what is needed to get our group out to you all is perfect! Thanks for taking the time to help us!

Janice Sullivan

Sullivan J Photography

http://janicesullivan.wordpress.com

http://www.sullivanjphotography.com

http://www.blogher.com/groups/photo-bloghers

Thanks For The Tips Denise!

Megan Smith — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:58:07 -0500

I've put a couple of your tips into practice but I'll be trying out some of your others. Our TV Rants and Raves Group is growing slowly, but we've already had some chats about "American Idol" and some of our favorite cancelled TV shows.

I'm also looking forward to checking out the ladies you've listed.

Thanks!

By the way, all you TV junkies, come join us and tell us the shows you like and why. :-)

Megan
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/Online Video

Megan's Minute

I feel I was very lucky

sassymonkey — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:26:09 -0500

When I got my first computer in university and was figuring out this whole internet thing I landed someplace where I connected with Food Julia, Thatwoman (who truly is the Message Board Goddess), and Denise.

Lucky as in I can't imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't fallen into that space at that time. It's just utterly unfathomable. Food Julia gave me a message board to lead. TW taught me how to do with it. Denise kicked me in the butt a lot and got me into blogging (and was the first person I remember talking about BlogHer).

I do believe my life would be a whole heck of a lot different if it wasn't for those three women.

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

We all face challenges when

Roger_W — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:56:34 -0600

We all face challenges when it comes to stretching our dollars to cover our daily expenses for the things we need and what we want. For more people this is one of the hardest thing that they may encounter, it is to face a financial problem. We're living in a troubled economy that is pushed to use third party resources such as a payday loan just to survive. This doesn't have to be the case however. I recently read an interesting article on the payday loan blog at personalmoneystore.com explaining how to save on your biggest monthly household expense, your food bill! The article covered a few interesting topics such as buying food in bulk, shopping off a planned list and then only once a month, comparison shopping, and weekly advertisements. Shopping this way takes a little foresight and financial planning but is a great way to save money. Some of the other things that were spoken of were planning meals around cheaper staples such as beans, rice, and pasta which can be prepared in a variety of ways that make great tasting yet inexpensive dishes. You can read the two part article yourself entitled "Grocery Shopping for Big Savings" on the payday loan money blog at personalmoneystore.com.

Exactly my point!

CRosberg — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 06:59:16 -0500

If you, an actual honest to goodness fan didn't know that she was in town...clearly they're not even that good at getting the word out in the old fashioned way, let alone using social media and networking...if I had any time I'd just do it for them, since they're such a great community to begin with.

Michelle Tea was in Andersonville?

Denise — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:40:51 -0500

OMG. Sorry but I stopped reading your post as soon as you said that. I'm so grouchy that I did not know this and did not go to the event.

I love Michelle Tea.

OK that is all - I'm scrolling back up to finish the post.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

9/11 Remembrance

Nardeeisms — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:52:13 -0500

Let there be peace on earth,
and let it begin with me" -Jill Jackson and Sy Miller

I remember it well. It was a Tuesday. I had gone to work that morning. For me, it was just an ordinary day. After I arrived, I grabbed a cup of coffee, went to my office, closed the door and then settled in to my normal fifteen minute early morning routine: checking my email and phone messages. It wasn't very long before the girl who had been working for me, burst in to my office...with the news of what was happening at the World Trade Center.

Our work group had somehow wrangled up a television from one of the conference rooms and set it up in one of the empty offices. A crowd gathered as we watched disaster escalate right before our very eyes. We stared in disbelief as the second tower came crashing to the ground. Our Technical Systems Manager softly said to us: "Tower two is gone." We had all been standing and watching together...still I asked her, "What do you mean by 'tower two is gone'?" Soon there were additional fires and plane crashes in other locations. Needless to say, the rest of the day was a blur...as each of us called our families and friends to touch base and to make personal decisions as to what we should do.

My in-laws were here, visiting from another country, the same country of my husband's birth. They had also been watching the television coverage in stony silence. Arriving in June, they were to be leaving before the end of the year. The America that they had imagined and the America that my husband had dreamed of many years ago, were one and the same in their minds. Coming from a third world country, they were happy to be here in the 'land of opportunity', where everyone had cars, were rich and money flowed through the streets, as we all scooped it up in buckets. It did not take long for them to realize the real truth of the matter. When they first got here, we gave them a reality check; and during the semi-safe light of day, drove them around to see impoverished neighborhoods, where crime and desperation flourished. Clearly, their minds were blocked. They saw; but somehow, they still did not believe. Today, on September 11, 2001, they discovered that this was not the America they had in mind.

"Let there be peace on Earth,
the peace that was meant to be"

Long before they had arrived, we had made plans for them to visit New York City along with my parents and my sister. It was a bus trip sponsored by friends of ours. While my mother-in-law was just fascinated by being present in the USA, it had always been my father-in-law's dream trip; as he had always wanted to visit New York City. We thought that it would be a great opportunity for him to see the place of his dreams. The trip was scheduled for a few weeks later. They went, but with a deeper appreciation of all things American. They came back, realizing that they could say that they were here in the USA, in the year when history of the greatest proportions was being made. A few weeks later, we took our annual two-week vacation to the beach. We had a nice time, but the fun was tainted by the fresh and raw realities of weeks past. They left to go home that November, finally realizing that this was not the America they had had in mind. This was not the America we had in mind.

As I took my son to school this morning, and dropped him off, I realized even more so, the possibility of just how drastically things could change...in an instant...in a millisecond...And quite possibly, even before he gets back home this afternoon. This is the reality. Lets face it: Life is fragile.

"Let there be Peace on Earth,
and let it begin with me"

This is the America we need to keep in mind. This is the world we need to keep in mind.

I'm A Native New Yorker

Megan Smith — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:56:59 -0500

I'm a native New Yorker and I'll never, ever forget the memories of that day.

My day job involves my watching television and news programs, often on several screens at a time, so I saw it all happen from the very beginning from several different shots and angles. It was beyond horrific.

It was as if someone was invading my home and systematically killing my family as I watched.

The only time I've been that scared was when, as a child, I suffered through the many violent fights of my parents. Many of those nights I was certain I would not survive to see another day.

So there I was many years later on 9/11 2001 seeing those attacks unfold and wondering if I would survive to see another day.

I don't ever want to live long enough to witness anything like it again.

Megan Smith
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around The Clock

Thanks Michelle. For the

miteegirl — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:43:03 -0500

Thanks Michelle.

For the first few years, I didn't want to commemorate 9/11 or think back and remember. I avoided the TV and the internet on each anniversary. I still have not been to see Ground Zero, though I have been back to the city. Part of me wants to go on remembering what was there before. But sometimes, sometimes, late at night, when the house is asleep, I open up my files and bookmarks from that day and just read.

With time and distance, though, it has become somewhat cathartic to talk about what happened that day. A loosening up of something frozen and hard and sad.

I have always been and always will be in awe that, although so many lives were lost that day, there could have been so many more lives lost considering the scale of the event. And there weren't.

Thank you for your offer of prayer. If you could, please also remember those family members who do not have remains to grieve over yet. And pray that the government will right the wrongs created by the Fresh Kills Landfill tragedy. No one deseves a landfill as their final resting place.

My heart

Southerngirl — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:22:54 -0500

My goodness you took me back to the panic and horror I felt that day. My heart aches for you today. A lot of my family live in NY as well and we know a lot who did not make it. I just remember the panic and the OH MY GOD NOOOOO! Cries from my mom. My dad who was the funniest happiest person you could ever meet just cried and smoked and called. My parents only had 3 children naturally but they raised many more. My dad was worried about his boys, my cousins who worked in and around the towers. Then my mom's friend whose daughter worked at the Petagon. I remember the busy signals and sometimes just dead air. Honey I need to go and pray and I will include you and all those like you in it.

Michelle

I blog at http://www.mommycan.blogspot.com/

I was a member of a forum

kperfetto — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:15:23 -0500

I was a member of a forum that had a number of New Yorkers, and what I remember most are the "check in" threads. I think it was a way for those of us without friends or family in New York or DC to connect.

Available Light & Five Dollar Radio

It was our anniversary. I

lilmommythatcould — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:49:31 -0500

It was our anniversary. I waited up for my husband, who worked nights. He came home, I got ready for work. I turned on the news right before I left and the first thing I saw was images of the first plane crashing. As we watched the news we saw the second plane crash. When I arrived at work I had to tell the two girls there what had happened- As I am typing this I am in tears...seven years later.

~Susan

http://lilmomthatcould.com/

I was leaving the house to

miteegirl — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:40:49 -0500

I was leaving the house to see a client when they called to cancel our meeting. "Turn on the TV," she said.

I hung up and turned on the TV. There were these confusing images of the Twin Towers, anxious reporters. I immediately tried to reach my family in New York. All lines were busy. I went for my computer, but nothing much was online yet. Then the second plane hit.

Immediately, I knew something was terribly wrong. One of my cousins had been evacuated from the Twin Towers in 1993 and refused to go back. I was frantically dialing anyone I could think of in New York. I could not get through. Then, a plane hit the Pentagon. I thought of an ex-boyfriend who works for Naval Intelligence. It was hard to breathe or punch the right numbers on the phone.

I called my other cousin who still worked in one of the WTC buildings. My uncle answered the phone. He had just retired from decades of owning a company that manages the huge cranes at the Port Authority of NY and NJ. The Port Authority offices were in the WTC. His son-in-law worked at the Towers. I tried to broach the subject carefully, asking him where Peter was and telling him to turn on the TV. My strong uncle, patriarch of the family, became panicked. He kept whispering, "I made him late for work. We were playing with his baby, and I made him late for work." We were both watching the television as the first tower fell.

Crying, we hung up with each other and tried to call others. I have 3 cousins in NYPD, 1 in the Port Authority PD, 2 uncles retired from NYPD, a cousin who is a doctor in the city. We have dozens of friends and relatives who work in the Towers or for the NYFD and NYPD. I couldn't get through to anyone.

I opened up my laptop and began to type. I followed what was happening on blogs, on forums. I listened to the NYFD and NYPD online radios, straining to hear a name I knew. I tried to call my husband in Wisconsin and couldn't get through. I tried to track down colleagues from my old company. One was missing here, one was missing there. I finally reached my mother through email, "Where is Billy? Kevin? Danny?" I wanted to type in all caps. My house, my neighborhood in Chicago was eerily quiet but inside, I was screaming.

I finally reached my sister in Somerset, PA. We traded information about what we knew. Suddenly, she screamed and began to cry. "Mark (her husband in the State Police) just came in and grabbed his rifle. A plane crashed here. A plane crashed here." And then the line went dead.

I started to hyperventilate. What the hell was happening? The only information I could get was coming from blogs, email, forums, news sites. My fingers flew over the keyboard, desperately searching for information. Nobody was reporting a plane down in Pennsylvania! OMG. What if planes were crashing everywhere, crashing faster than the news could even know. My shaking hands kept dialing and dialing, the busy signals buzzing and buzzing. The TV droned on in the background. The voices on the police radio jumbled and confusing.

The news confirmed what I already knew about Flight 93.

The second Tower fell.

My husband finally reached me. I begged him to come home. I thought of the Sears Tower, just a mile or two away, and I cringe. The Hancock Building. Where are the planes? How many are there? Rumors were flying.

I reached my mother via email and then on the phone. Billy is missing. We think that Danny and Kevin were working at the base of the Towers, but now, no one can reach them. Laura's husband in the Port Authority had traded his night shift for the Port Authority PD with a friend, and now is whole unit is missing. Peter was late for work and never made it to the Towers before the attacks. Sister Margaret Edward and Cathy are reporting that few people are making it to the hospitals yet. Mark has responded to the crash in Somerset. We cried and consoled each other, I read her what I can find from the internet on my laptop, then hung up and I started working the internet again. I saw photos I wish now I had never seen (they were quickly pulled from the internet within the first few days). I heard things on the police radio I wish I hadn't heard. When I first heard the call go out for more body bags, I just folded in upon myself with grief.

My memory of those first few days is a blur. There wasn't much sleep. I was glued to my computer trying to find people. Although one of my cousins was injured when the second Tower fell, they all lived. Many of their friends (our family friends) died. A business colleague, a young newlywed, was trapped in the North Tower and never made it out. Many of the employees of the company of a close family friend (Cantor Fitz) died. For those of us who couldn't be in NYC during those first days, the internet kept us connected. I was sitting at my computer at 4 am nights later when the first flight was sent back up from O'Hare and I remember wanting to dive under my desk shaking in fear when I heard the whine of the plane's engine overhead.

I have kept the photos, the website bookmarks, the emails for years. Everything is still here, in my memory and on my hard drive.

I felt that way, too

alvenable — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:26:16 -0500

Getting e-mails asking about little old me was crazy. Some of the folks e-mailing were from a mailing list I was on and some had never met me, they just knew me via e-mail. It's crazy, but it definitely touched my heart. I try my best to return the favor as often as possible.

Dimple and a Smirk (dot) com