Blogtastic

A while back my local blogger friend ask me if I wanted to attend BlogHer, which is a conference of women bloggers (and parties! lots of parties!) about an hour-long plane ride away. I did really want to go, but a preliminary cost breakdown revealed that I’d have to spend a minimum of $500 and a weekend away from Kyle and Stew, and at the time I wasn’t working. I couldn’t really justify it, because I don’t consider this blog my JOB, even though that would be nice. I liked (okay, loved) the idea of heading out of town with a partner in crime, staying at a fancy hotel, learning more about my new favorite hobby, and having cocktails with the rock stars of the blogging world.

I’ve actually been thinking that it would be fun to round up some kindred spirits and just do a big party here at my house, but I don’t know of many other bloggers in my area. If you’re reading and you are a Southern Cali blogger, let me know. Maybe we can start something up!

BlogHer is happening right now. In the last few weeks I have noticed quite an online hullabaloo about “what to wear?” If people showed up wearing what they wear WHEN they blog, well I suppose it would be an all-out fugfest, considering I’m currently wearing only my underwear and a t-shirt, and a lovely mustache of Sally Hansen’s Brush-on Hair Remover (stinky, but it works). I’m glad for that one reason that I did not go to this conference. There is no doubt in my mind that every day would be a wardrobe crisis. As it is, I am taking Kyle to a 2-year-old’s birthday party this afternoon, so all I have to worry about is wearing something comfortable that will get clean in the wash.

One of the good things about a conference full of bloggers is that they are blogging as it happens. Today there was a panel of speakers talking about how blogging changed their worlds. Not THE world, but THEIR worlds. That is an important distinction! I came upon this partial transcript from one of the women who runs Been There Clearinghouse, the blog where I found my HK family:

Cooper: I share a blog called been there with Emily McCann. It’s a mom blog we’ve had for two years. On the day Katrina hit, we were talking on the phone, realized the damage and screaming at the TV because nothing is happening. It didn’t feel right, we wanted to do something more. We went to different sites and started to see people donating housing. That act alone completely blew us away. We started talking about 9/11 and how well meaning donors sent things to New York and how it was just sitting around because there was no distribution system. So we put a post on our blog and asked people to make comments about things they could donate. Our hope was that we could get the word out to the organizations. This was two days after the levees broke and then a miracle happened, because of the people in this room. Jenn Satterwhite, Mindy Roberts and so many others – you came to our site and you posted to your own sites and in just two days – we went from being mommy bloggers to running a relief agency. In just two days. It was so freaking cool. So it just grew and grew and grew and what happened was these two moms in the Midwest came to our site and they were trying to load up a car with medical supplies and they publicized what they were doing on our site and within a couple of days they had enough stuff to fill a semi-truck. We got them down there, medical supplies, water, the whole nine yards. On Friday, the president got on TV and said the relief effort was inadequate. If only moms had been in charge.
People were offering used Audi’s – everything you can imagine. We hooked them up. It started to work. We heard about women pushing strollers to stand in line to get formula, walking three miles back. We were devastated. One woman wrote us to say she got a box with her name on it. And she sat on the floor and cried all day long because somebody cared about her.
And now it’s still growing. So the cool thing is that to this day, we are still getting tons of people and we are still helping them. We’re going to try to get you guys mobilized so we can grow some grass for the kids to play in New Orleans.

What I learned from this experience and this community – that women bloggers can change the world, truly.

During the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, I really felt like I wanted to connect with a specific family. Stewart and I did send money to the Red Cross, but I wanted to more for someone. Since I’m only one person I decided to reach out to one person. Through the website mentioned above, I was contacted by Sonia Lewis in Mississippi, who had three little boys. The Mommy Mafia sent all sorts of things to them last fall. Currently I am working with Miriam Wilson in Mobile, AL to help her and her three little girls. They are starting school in 2 weeks and need uniforms and school supplies and lord knows what else.

Several of you have offered help and some have already sent gift cards to the family. I want to let you know that I have temporarily lost contact with them. Miriam has suddenly stopped responding to my emails and when I called her I got a message that her phone line was disconnected. Yesterday I sent her a card by registered mail. I will let you know what happens with that. I do know that she is receiving the gifts – I sent her a big box of towels and underwear and socks (and a copy of “High School Musical” for decadence) and I got this note from her:

hi kim, this is a small thank you. i’ve learned over the past months that if we dont be thankful for small blessing how are we gonna appreciate the big blessing the lord has for us. but to me this is a big blessing because my girls really needed those so i’m very thankful.