BlogHer - bloghers act - Comments

Beautiful, awesome.

Wilma Ham — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 19:39:32 -0600

Kathi, that is beautiful, awesome and it shows me the power of people when they direct with to love.

All the best to you,

Love Wilma

www.wilmasblog.com

United by Adversity

accidentalamazon — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 08:55:29 -0600

Just wanted to share a wonderful experience I was privileged to facilitate just before Christmas. I was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, and one of the websites that saved my sanity was http://www.breastcancer.org/. In particular, bc.org provides an online forum for those of us dealing with this disease, as well as a place that our family and friends can commiserate. From a tech standpoint, it is a beautifully run forum, which works smoothly despite its international and multitudinous visitors, and its dozens of threads.

The best thing about the forum, though, is the love, support and instant empathy that is shared immediately among all of the mostly women who are struggling through this disease and its rather "scorched-earth" treatment protocols. Back in December, one week before Christmas, one of our forum sisters, who was undergoing chemotherapy, told us that her husband had been laid off from his job. She and her husband had already been in the process of trying to renegotiate their mortgage and were now afraid they would definitely lose their home. They have two small children and were now unsure what kind of Christmas they were going to have.

We had all already been sharing many stories about how the housing and financial crisis had affected many of us, but this really hit us. Within 48 hours of hearing this latest story, I was able to connect with several other women on the forum and set up a few pages on my art site to serve as a site where we could make a donation to our sister in need. I bought a domain name for this, and was able to set up a donation thread through my Paypal business account to allow everyone to make online donations. Because our sister-in-need had a personal Paypal account, I was able to easily transfer all the funds we raised to her account via email. Within a few days, we were able to raise over $1400 dollars right before Christmas. This money allowed our friend and her family to pay their bills for a month, buy Christmas presents for the boys, and buy themselves some breathing room. Since then, they have found a legal aid lawyer who is helping to get them signed up for some programs that will help them with their mortgage and their financial woes until they can get back on their feet.

I was so touched by how immediately my forum sisters rose to the occasion, and I was never so glad that I had a website and a blog, as well as the tech skills to set this up so quickly. It gave all of us who contributed the great gift of providing an opportunity to demonstrate the true meaning of the holiday in a tangible way.

I had been blogging informally about breast cancer from my art site since my diagnosis, but my experience with the bc.org forum prompted me to start a formal blog this New Year's Day. The breastcancer.org forum has been a lifeline to so many of us. I think it must be one of the best and most wonderful examples of social networking on the web, and I'm proud to belong to it. I would never have wished breast cancer on any of us, but I am so grateful to have gotten to know this extraordinary group of women.

Kathi

http://www.accidentalamazon.com/

http://www.KKsPhotos.com/

right inspiration

woowoomama — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:32:00 -0600

thanks for putting this up. i am new to blogging and i have been trying to find the thing that drives my blog. besides just writing about my own experience. your dictate of blogging for good social change is just the kind of inspiration i have been looking for. now, i just have to figure out what my small step can be.

robin

http://mamamantra.blogspot.com/

I can't speak for everyone...

Her Bad Mother — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:26:34 -0600

... but my personal policy is that if I don't have something good to say, I don't say it. I think companies understand that when they submit something to you for review, you might not like it. If I don't like something, I just don't review it. That's all. I might still give it away, though - someone else might like it or find it useful ;)

So when I do review something and say I like it, it's the truth.

Changing The World, One Person At A Time, Starting With Me!

sandhillsis — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:57:56 -0600

I'm just starting in the blogging world, however, I want to give one thing away every month. One helpful thing that is...This month it was the book "The Shack" that has helped me more than about anything. The lady that got it, was so excited.

I think we can change the world, one person at a time, starting with ourselves. Well said!

www.reclaimsimplicity.com

Sit Deep and Come Often!

Sandhill Sis

Social Responsibility

cutiebootycakes — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 10:46:59 -0600

What a great way to make a contribution to society. One of my greatest rewards from blogging has been my ability to share information with my readers and to challenge them to "do something." On a monthly basis I will post about a topic regarding social responsibility. I participated in Bloggers Give for education, I've raised awareness about HIV/AIDS, I've written about poverty and I am working on a post about domestic violence.

As bloggers we have this platform that we can use to promote not only ourselves but causes that we believe in. Kudos to you! It is my hope that more bloggers jump on this bandwagon.

Cutie Booty Cakes

twitter: http://twitter.com/cutiebootycakes

Trying my best

MiscMum — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:30:56 -0600

I've long pledged part of my monies earned through my blog to local charities, and then at certain holiday seasons really try to campaign money to be channelled through to my Oxfam fundraiser. Considering to this date I've raised over $500 to Oxfam I'm really pleased..

Australia this week has suffered it's most tragic natural weather disaster in its history, and the Internet/social media has played a HUGE role in passing the word on about good deeds and projects people can stand behind. I see this as - I hope - a sign of what COULD be, what SHOULD be, when we consider how we help others in this age.

Great job...

Ask Becca — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:45:16 -0600

Just a question though. I am new to blogging and I see so many blogs reviewing things that they have been sent. Do you sign something that has to say how great it is? I feel like everyone always likes what they review which makes me wonder if it is a review at all? Just a curious newbie!

Thanks

Becca

Please visit me at http://www.askbecca.com

Beautiful.

Wilma Ham — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:09:12 -0600

This is blogging at its best, this makes my heart sing. This is such great use of this medium, thank you for this post.

Wilma Ham

www.wilmasblog.com

Kudos to BlogHer

Amy Gates — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:57:57 -0500

I admit I did a doubletake, but loved seeing that number jump up yesterday. Thank you, BlogHer. :)

Amy
Crunchy Domestic Goddess
BlogHers Act contributing editor

Since you are extending the project

Vered — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:55:50 -0500

I added the widget to my sidebar, but I have 2 questions, which I am going to ask here, since I'm not sure where else to ask them:

1. There was a smaller widget - I would prefer to use that in my blog - where can I find it?

2. Any chance of the widget becoming customizable color-wise, or is it one-size-fits-all type widget?

Thank you

Vered DeLeeuw
www.momgrind.com

Just made my monthly donation..

debra roby — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:20:25 -0500

I give myself an "allowance" for fun stuff: searching for used DVDs of movies I like, going out to lunch, getting my eyebrows waxed..

And once a month I figure out what I spent on fun and just give the rest to Global Giving through the buttons. This month, no time search those DVDs, so Global Giving got lucky!

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Deb's Daily Distractions

I reloaded and saw the jump and I was proud

Denise — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:50:57 -0500

Thank you Elisa - and BlogHer. Seeing that jump made my entire day.

I'm thinking my next donation will happen in the days before I move to Illinois. All of those jars of change that have been accumulating around the house in the six years I've lived here... they're going to the bank and from there to one of these projects.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

It's not just postpartum, it's the whole experience of birth

emjaybee — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 13:44:38 -0600

There's more to it than just the postpartum period. Birth has become so mechanized, depersonalized, and disempowering in American hospitals that many women feel robbed and even violated by the way they are treated. Women are increasingly pressured into inductions too early (38 weeks or even earlier!), which very often leads to a cascade of other interventions ending in a c/section. Our c/sec rate is over 30% in this country, and should be 10% per the WHO. C/sections are convenient for the hospital, easy to schedule and not dependent on the variations in women's labor times. But like any surgery, they introduce higher risks of infection and complications to women and infants, and (this is anecdotal per my c/sectioned acquintances) tend to depress breastfeeding success and increase the likelihood of PPD. Our infant and maternal mortality rates are higher than many European countries, and have not improved much in the last decade.

And if you think recovery from vaginal birth is hard, try doing it after major abdominal surgery. Organizations like ICAN (International Cesarean Action Network) exist because so many women feel they were coerced into or mistreated during c/sec births. There is quite a large movement to take back birth for women going on right now, but it's still largely underground. Some women are even birthing unattended when they cannot get a midwife or other provider to attend them at homebirth, where they feel safe, often because their previous hospital experiences were so horrific. Countries like France and the Netherlands put birth in the hands of trained midwives; we put it in the hands of surgeons, almost none of whom have ever seen or attended a birth without interventions, much less outside of a hospital. I really believe it's our unhealthy approach to birth as a disease that sets us up for so much trauma, fear and difficulty in recovering.

I so agree

graciousb — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 20:46:58 -0600

it is a sad state of affairs here with this. We are so isolated as mothers, and the one thing we need, as you stated so eloquently, is community, at this delicate time. In traditional times, and throughout history, new mothers were surrounded by other experienced mothers, and is still so in ''primitive'' countries, and in the developed world, ample time off and pay and so forth is there to support the mom. This isolation and loneliness certainly adds to the postpartum depression risk. I experienced a severe case with my first child. It is a miracle he turned out reasonably well as ill as I was.