Global Issues

A great day for all women! Woo Hoo!

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michelle-obama-official-portraitMichelle Obama makes me happy! I can’t tell you how much I enjoy hearing and seeing her in the news. She’s strong, smart, self-assured, and refreshingly real. That pretty much says it all.

March is Women’s History Month and today was a exceptional day. Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton presented the 2009 awards for the International Women of Courage.

women-of-courage

Each of these amazing women has a courageous and inspiring story, but Hadizatou Mani‘s (pictured far right above) I found especially powerful.

iwoc_niger_137_1In 1996, when she was 12, she was sold for $500. “I was negotiated over like a goat,” said Mani. Her mother was a slave, so she was a slave, it was a simple as that. Can you imagine? This was just a little over ten years ago! Niger just criminalized slavery in 2003, but as we all know sometimes the law lags behind when it comes to law enforcement.

Ms. Mani was determined to somehow break the cycle so that her daughter would not have to experience the same world  she did. She knew she needed to be strong, smart, and self-assured in order to succeed. Continue reading A great day for all women! Woo Hoo! →

Creative Austinites, Sue's World, YouTube

Ferrets, cigarettes, and lasting friendships

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If it wasn’t for ferrets and cigarettes, who knows if I would have even met one of my best friends, Cheryl Finfrock. In the late 80’s we were introduced to each other by mutual friends. They knew that we were both looking for a roommate and finding it increasingly challenging because of our individual vices. I had a nasty cigarette habit, (haven’t smoked for 14 years thank you very much) and Cheryl had ferrets, (can’t remember exactly when she quit those).

We decided to be housemates and became close friends. I didn’t mind if a ferret poked it’s head out between the cushions of the couch occasionally, and she didn’t have a problem with my smoky bedroom. Cheryl was the first person to impress upon me that psychotherapy is fun! She is a true therapy enthusiast. She is all about self-reflection and questioning her own motives. Cheryl loves to analyze her own thoughts and feelings, as well as those around her if  they are game. I think her paintings are merely an extension of that process.

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Today my cool friend is an accomplished painter with a very impressive body of work. Last night was Cheryl’s art opening at Wally Workman Gallery, one of Austin’s most prestigious galleries. It was a real Austin scene. Here’s a little video snippet from the event. Continue reading Ferrets, cigarettes, and lasting friendships →

Networking, Sue's World

Social Networking: “The Costanza Method”

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The best and the worst aspect of social networking is one in the same.

There’s always a party going on online anytime, day or night, filled with interesting, creative, intelligent, funny people that want to have conversations, share their lives, offer business advice and connect.

Believe it or not, this was a recent revelation to me. I had one of those “A-ha!” Oprah moments, or whatever you want to call it. I must confess that the never ending Web 2.0 party is pretty addictive, but I try to remember it’s just an accessory to my 3D life. Just like going to a real party, two or three hours is more than plenty.

george costanza

Remember the Seinfeld episode (Season 9, Episode 16) where George Costanza devises a new social strategy after Jerry suggests he use some stand-up techniques? Continue reading Social Networking: “The Costanza Method” →

Linkedin, Sue's World

Austin’s 2009 Kick Ass Award Winners

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the-kick-ass-awardHow about this for a surprise birthday party idea? On your birthday, ask all your friends over and then give out awards to the ones you think really “kicked ass” in the last year! So it’s the guests that get surprised, not the birthday boy or girl. Well, that’s exactly what my friend Spike Gillespie started doing about a decade ago and now it’s an Austin tradition called the “Kick Ass Awards“.

Continue reading Austin’s 2009 Kick Ass Award Winners →

Twitter

Every Dot Connects gave me my twitter wings

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Go tweet young one!Most people know that networking, i.e. relationship building, is not so much about what you can get, but what you can give to someone else. What value can you add to their life, business, cause, goal, etc…? Every Dot Connects obviously knows networking, not only do they give various workshops in social media but they also share what they have learned in the process. Check out Sheila Scarborough‘s latest post here: Teaching the teachers: what we’ve learned from our social media workshops.

I attended the first Every Dot Connects workshop Continue reading Every Dot Connects gave me my twitter wings →

Viral Video

The First Viral Video?

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It’s common knowledge that the Numa Numa video was the first real viral video that found it’s way onto YouTube, and took on a life of it’s own. But I remember watching and sharing The 405 Movie back in  2001, and it seemed to have a pretty viral quality too. Continue reading The First Viral Video? →

Linkedin

I got a gold star from Jason Alba!

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Jason Alba's tweetLast year I started following Jason Alba on twitter. We tweeted back and forth a couple times and sometime later, I asked for him for a consultation. I always go for quality when I can afford it. I was about to give my first Linkedin consultation in a few days and thought it would be smart to get one myself before giving one. He is a networking master after all. Jason wrote the book “I’m on Linkedin, Now What?“, “I’m on Facebook, Now What?“, and is the founder of JibberJobber.com, a powerful online tool that lets you really manage your career.

Jason and I spoke on the phone a little over an hour and he gave me some excellent feedback. Continue reading I got a gold star from Jason Alba! →

YouTube

Digital Ethnography, What The – ?

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If you are a cultural anthropologist you’re probably quite familiar with the term ethnography, it’s a genre of writing that uses fieldwork to provide a descriptive study of human societies.

Michael Wesch is an Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University. He’s really a media ecologist, and perhaps the first cultural anthropologist to study and teach Digital Ethnography, He gave an excellent presentation to the  Library of Congress last summer called “An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube”. If you haven’t seen it yet, I hope you take the time to watch it in it’s entirety. Especially if you think YouTube is only for funny animal videos and silly home movies. Trust me, it’s so much more.

I promise, after watching the video below you’ll never look at YouTube the same way again.

Continue reading Digital Ethnography, What The – ? →

Applications

99¢ Therapy, iFart

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ifart-for-the-iphoneWe all know that laughter is therapeutic, reduces stress, strengthens your immune system, makes you live longer, increases your intelligence, etc. So I guess that makes the 99 cent iFart application an amazing value, therapeutically speaking of course.

Yesterday they came out with an update, version 1.1, which includes new features like Record-A-Fart and Fart-A-Friend! What an exciting age we live in.

I’m not a twelve year old boy, but I bought and I love iFart. I was talking on the phone with a friend about it, and I could just tell she was rolling her eyes when she said, “Uh, I don’t think I’ll be getting that.”

I just did a little sneak attack on my next door neighbor, a sweet old lady in her late eighties, and she seemed to get a kick out of it. That alone was worth the price.

Continue reading 99¢ Therapy, iFart →