susan mernit

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  1. The Renovation Relationship

    2/6/12 5:00am by susan mernit
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    cameronparkins (Flickr)

    I'm a real fixer, lining up and dating these guys like they were so many houses to paint and rewire, then turn over to new owners, making a tidy profit in social capital. I was going to make them better, you see, so when I left, they'd know it was okay, because they were in pretty good shape. But is there really a way I can fix this man enough that he won't be shattered when I leave -- or is that just one of the in-denial, rationalizing lies I tell myself?  Read more >

  2. Month of Awesome Women: Sandy Close

    3/5/11 1:00pm by susan mernit
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    Sandy Close

    In writing about my hero Sandy Close, it's hard to know where to start.  The end point is easy: Sandy is a over 65+ writer, editor, creator, social change leader and visionary whose work at New America Media and Pacific News Service gives me a map for what fearless, consistent work in the  community-focused media space can look like. Her work is so unique, and her impact so profound, that this year Sandy was the 2011 recipient of the George Polk Career Award, one of journalism's highest accolades.  Read more >

  3. (REVIEW) Sex After 50: For Pamela Madsen, It's Shameless

    2/7/11 1:00pm by susan mernit
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    Shameless by Pamela Madsen

    Is there good sex after 50? Hell yeah! And if anyone wants a front-row seat at a roller-coaster ride of sexual energy and discovery, the book to glom onto is Shameless, just out from Rodale Press and by Pamela Madsen. Shameless is the story of Madsen’s post-marriage, post-40s, sexual reawakening, a journey that started with some very awkward (and oily) massages and culminated in trips to Arizona and California to explore tantra, spanking and BDSM.  Read more >

  4. Does the Super Bowl Equal Youth Sex Trafficking? Some Folks in Texas Say Yes

    2/6/11 11:03am by susan mernit
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    Super Bowl Sex Traffic

    When most people think of Super Bowl Sunday, what comes to mind? If you think tailgate parties, watching the big game at home with a crowd, Super Bowl commercials and half time, cooking special foods, you're pretty typical-- but did you know that part of the hoopla surrounding the Super Bowl involves watching out for pimps who come into town who want to sell kids for sex?  Read more >

  5. Will Twitter's New Promoted Accounts Make Their Business Model Work?

    9/29/10 1:15pm by susan mernit
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    Twitter Logo

    Twitter CEO Dick Costolo caused a stir this week at the IAB Mixx Ad Industory conference in New York when he described "Promoted Accounts," a sponsored placement in the To Follow list that will put businesses at the top of a user's recommended follows list -- for a price.  Read more >

  6. Being schooled by (in)justice: Mehserle verdict shows injustice, bias in our society (Op-Ed)

    7/9/10 9:03am by susan mernit
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    The jury deliberated less than seven hours to reach the verdict in the trial of former BART officer Johannes Mehserle for murdering Oscar Grant: involuntary manslaughter. In other words, although the former officer was found guilty of pulling a gun on Grant and shooting him in the back as he lay face down, hand-cuffed, on a platform, the jury did not find that Mehserle had any intent to end Grant's life when he pulled his gun and shot him in the back as he lay handcuffed on the platform, face down, with another officer's knee pushing into in his back.  Read more >

  7. Modern Slavery in America (Part 3): Pimps Are the Worst Kind of Predators

    6/2/10 5:36am by susan mernit
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    Girl With Tag

    Wiley said, when the police scan online classifieds on Craigslist and the escort service site My Redbook, they sometimes find 50 to 100 individuals advertised from the Bay Area who look like teenagers -- even though they are described as adults. With cell phones, a john can call up a number on the advertisement and "have a girl delivered."  Read more >

  8. Modern Day Slavery in America (Part 2): There Is No Such Thing As a Child Prostitute

    5/27/10 8:43am by susan mernit
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    Girl with Tag

    Who is this "commodity" being traded on the street? Statistically she is a 13-year-old girl who has run away from an abusive parent, guardian or foster home. Too young to fend for herself as a runaway, she ends up under the control of a pimp who promises to take care of her. Then the trafficker turns on her and, either by emotional manipulation or physical threat, gets the girl to work the streets to bring in money.  Read more >

  9. Modern Day Slavery in America: Sex Trafficking in Oakland Is Big Business

    5/12/10 9:23am by susan mernit
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    Prostitute

    Oakland Local, a web site run by BlogHer Contributing Editor Susan Mernit, is running an original investigative series on youth sex trafficking in the Bay area. This story is reposted from that series at Oakland Local. It's nearly midnight on a Thursday and teen-age girls are on every corner of International Boulevard in the dozen blocks stretching south from 41st Street. Many are dressed up. But this is not prom night or a concert letting out.  Read more >

  10. The Governor’s Mistress: A Bermuda Love Triangle

    7/5/09 6:04am by susan mernit
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    It was an affair that started online, one of those flirtatious friendships between people who live far away and are very different that turned into a level of honest communication in can be hard to have in everyday life, in real time.  Read more >

susan mernit

Full Name
susan mernit
Member Since
January 2006
About Me: 

Susan Mernit is a consultant with a practice focused on hyperlocal news, community & civic engsagement and the future of news (see houseoflocal.org). She is also editor & publisher of Oakland Local, and a Circuit Rider for The Community Information Challenge of the John S and James L Knight Foundation.

She is a long time BlogHer contributing editor on Sex & Relationships , a former exec at Yahoo, AOL, Netscape and Advanced Internet, and a dedicated blogger who writes at her site and for The Huffington Post. She is actively involved in feminist, women in tech and local Oakland news and sustainability--talk to her if you want to learn more or get involved.

A frequent speaker and facilitator, she is also a consultant on product development, social media, business strategy and online operations. During 2008-09, she has been the evangelist for the 2008-09 Knight News Challenge, a program that distributes $5MM year for news and discourse-focused local innovative products and services. She is particularly interested in consulting with social ventures, foundations, and women-led companies.

Susan lives in Oakland, CA with her amazing partner, her big old dog and what she hopes will turn into a very cool garden. She has been to every annual BlogHer conference and hopes to continue that.

 

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