A year and a half ago I joined the online world. Sure, I had a facebook and a myspace but lets face it…that is like having a phone number these days. I launched a blog and soon after joined Twitter. It wasn’t long until I had explored numerous outlets, created profiles, and dug in to the details.

Looking back I cannot imagine living without these things. I cannot imagine the people I wouldn’t know about, the ideas I wouldn’t have been exposed to, the experiences I would have missed. I would not be where I am today without the internet.

However, how many college students are not even taking use of digital media? A lot. I have spent the last semester giving ideas, suggestions, and research on how to integrate digital media into the current communications curriculum.

I will be bold and say that this school is already ahead of many universities. How many college students leave college with no idea what Twitter is? No idea that digital media is a phenomenon. No clue how to use this space.

This is particularly annoying to me knowing how essential these tools are within the world of Public Relations. No professor could imagine handing over a communications degree to a student who had never taken a media course. However, every year they are handing over degrees to students that have never taken a digital media course.

I am aware that most professors know nothing of the digital realm. I have read the textbook and I am aware that each year the “new edition” is yet again another year behind. Digital Media changes faster than text books  can be updated. In order to teach digital media you must embrace digital media.

So how do we fix this problem?

Stop trying to solve a new problem with old solutions. Open your mind. Find innovative ways. Give the training you have promised your students.

But tonight I am giving you a philosophy lesson. Any of you that stop by to read this.

Many of you will skip this lesson and walk right past it. Honestly, I don’t blame you. I sat in class soaking this up today. It left my mind stirring the rest of the afternoon. If I can do that for you…If I can get your mind stirring…I have done my job.

Today, I am dealing with three time periods. Pre-Modern, Modern, and Post-Modern.

In the Pre-Modern time period humanity found all of their meaning in God and God alone. The reason for living, for breathing, for being was God. At this particular time in the world Catholics held much power both politically and socially. Religion was a party of everything.

In the Modern time period science entered the scene. Soon humanity was distracted by the method of proving what was true and what wasn’t. Running experimenting and trying new things to make sense of the world. Humanity found truth and comfort in science.

We are living in the post-modern world. To define the world you live in is like defining humanity. tough. It is hard to imagine that our thought processes could change. That our actions and beliefs are shaped by our culture.

However, today I want you to focus on the way in which we find beliefs. We are now not only questioning religion but science as well. I am sure you are all well aware of the autism debate between the medical community and Jenny McCarthy’s studies. We question our doctors and their methods. We re-think before giving our children vaccinations. We are un-trusting of everything that humans before us trusted.

In fact, the first lesson I learned in college was to question everything. If you question everything what is exactly is left to believe? What can you trust? Where exactly do we find truth?

I am not sure I can answer this. My mind has been working through it all day. It took some turns and twists into other thoughts but I will leave those to be discussed another day.

*I am aware this is written much like a research paper..but sometimes that is the best way for me to lay out my ideas.

Life Lesson: What a book is titles “What’s It All About?”

It was not created for a quick evening read.

So I share with you the wisdom that I have gained:

“Nevertheless, whether it is wealth or some other future achievement we seek, it is tempting to think that satisfaction in life depends on things that are yet to come. Just as soon as the kids have left home, the mortgage has been paid off, I’ve climbed the promotion ladder and won’t have to work quite so hard. Then life will be good.” -Julian Baggini

Four years ago tonight I was sitting home just like many nights before. I was irritated that you were not here already as today was my due date. Babies are supposed to come on their due date. Little did I know you had your own plans and four years tomorrow morning I would go into labor.

I find it a little ironic that you were a day late. That is how your little personality is, still today. You take your time. You keep me on my toes. I get irritated and then you give in.

I cannot believe we have been together for four years. Alot of mothers would talk about how they prepared for you and waited for you. I will admit..I was just scared. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Later I found out..I got myself into a wonderful adventurous journey that would shape the woman I have become.

In the four years we have been together I have grown up right beside you. You have taught me just as much as I could ever teach you. I am so lucky to be able to see the world through your eyes. The simplicity you are filled with reminds me to slow down. and I hope you never lose that.

Tomorrow we will party with your cat in the hat cake that you have been staring at all night. We will play ski ball and you will probably beat me. We will open presents and do all of the things that four year old boys like to do. And I will do my best not to slow you down. Because secretly I want you to be my cuddly little boy forever. But you are growing. and I love you. Forever and always.

Xoxo

Mom

Seventeen year old girls don’t know what to say when their best friend is pregnant.

I wasn’t sure what I needed to hear.

I was thrown into adulthood before I knew what adulthood was. I became a mother before I had mastered being a child.

I waded in motherhood until I understood how to handle it. I went through the motions until I could make sense of the motions I was making. I struggled. I clung on to my youth and ran into my future. And after many years I found an odd sort of balance.

I was one of the lucky ones.

Some young girls get lost in their feelings. Lost in the statistic that they have become. Society presses in on them. They try to be something they aren’t quite ready to be. They get lost. They give up. They throw away their dreams and along with that..their hope.

This weekend I met Rebecca Woolf. Who I have always admired. I read her book. Devoured it all in one day. She is the writer everyone aspires to me. Turning feelings into words and making sense of things that don’t always make sense.

We all know at least one of “them.” One of the girls that get thrown into adulthood a little sooner than they had planned. Girls that are afraid of losing themselves to motherhood. The girls who appear a little lost. Who wrestle with the feelings that are twirling inside of them.

Give them this book. Watch them devour it. Let them know that there are not alone.

During the nine months that I was pregnant I went through alot of changes. Not just physically but mentally. I began to feel nervous. I started thinking more about the things that came out of mouth. The ways that I worded my thoughts. The way that I presented myself.

Conferences are hard for me.

I love going and meeting everyone. I love meeting brands. I am kind of known for my “natural” ability to network. It isn’t natural. Sometimes I feel like my heart is going to pound out of my chest. But I do it.

Because it is who I am.

It is who I was.

It is who I have always been.

In the moment I just go with it. I move fast. I go with the moment. I have no fear. I say what is on my mind. I just go with my gut…in a sense.

It is following the conference when things get hard. I start re-playing conversations in my head. I start re-thinking the way people responded to me. I start getting worried. The thoughts fill my heads and they move pretty fast. I get really nervous.

It takes me a few days to come down from this.

This weekend I met some fantastic women. Some trail blazers. Some amazing writers. Some powerful women. Some smart women. Some brilliant women.

I am soaking it all in. Bringing my heart rate down. Trying to decompress.

Ok…maybe that was a bit dramatic.

I remember the first time I saw a Electrolux commercial featuring Kelly Ripa. She twirled her way through the kitchen baking cookies and cakes looking immaculate. (as always). In that moment I really wanted to be Kelly Ripa.

Yesterday I heard about a fantastic cause that Elecrolux and Kelly Ripa are helping and I wanted to be her more than ever. Electrolux has teamed up with Kelly Ripa and Buddy Valastro  (Cake Boss!) to raise money for The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.

So how can you help?

I am glad you asked!

Head over to Kelly-Confidential and cast your vote for your faveorite cake from Kelly’s Cake Off. For every vote that they receive Electroluxe will donate $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund as part of its $500,000 commitment to help fight Ovarian Cancer.

Want to help out even more?

Wow, you ARE a rockstar!

You can find them on Twitter and take part in the #CakeOff!

Me and The Stiletto Mom, One of the man women who inspire me daily

Me and my girls partying like rockstars…
Megan, Arianne, and Nancy

My New Best Friend and I.

Getting my sing on at Karaoke .

Blissdom was exactly what it is supposed to be: Blissful.

There were so many great moments. Good talks. Great dancing. and that overall good warm you are loved feeling.

Blissdom 2010

The hardest part of being a single mother is the silence. The silence that fills the room when they are gone. It is awkward at first. Sometimes I am not sure what to do with myself. Where to sit. What to think about. I am out of place.

I wonder if he wonders what I do when he is gone.

Part of me hopes he does. Most of me hopes he doesn’t.

Regardless of how quiet it gets. How lonely the house seems. How hard it is to let go for those few days a week. You have to do it.

He has to see that his daddy can do amazing things too. He needs to feel love from all angles. So, I cope. I play loud music. I dance. I soak up the silence.

I work hard to feel the light.

It was magnificent.

I wish I could tell you all of the wonderful things that I felt. The moments I had. The stories I could tell.

Maybe one day I will.

But, right now things are sinking in still.

I hung out with inspiring women. I listened a lot, I talked even more. I was touched.

I made a point of letting the women I look up to know it.

Because many of these women are much like me. They are at home everyday in front of their computers trying to connect with the world. Wiping little noses and picking up toys all day. They may not get told how great their work is. How everything they are doing matters. Alot.

I take pride in doing that.

A little voice tends to creep up when I least expect it. Making me judge myself a little too closely. Question my thoughts a little too deeply. Making me feel a little to small.

I need to shake that voice. Then I will write.

I hope everyone got something out of Blissdom. I hope it made them feel warm and loved.

That is it’s purpose.