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Show & Tell: BlogHer08 clips

I must first apologize that for a S&T, this is woefully lacking in the Show part. I left it to everyone else to take photos.* In fact, I lifted the ones in this post from Mel.

(at dinner are Mel, Michell, Pamela, Luna, Millie, and me)

But below I’ll post some links to the more visual bloggers, and also the two live-blog posts of our panel that I’m aware of. Here are notes from the conference.

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Twit
: I do not do it. I do not Twitter. But apparently everyone else does.

During the speaker orientation, “Twittering” must have been mentioned at least two dozen times. I will not be doing this. It sounds extraneous.

Just hours after I wrote that, I signed up on Twitter. Follow me if you must.

Extroverting: Very hard for an introvert like me to do exercises like “speed dating.” I hate it when the person I’m talking to is glancing around the room for someone more advantageous for her to speak with. And, I admit, I am prone to doing the same. Everyone talks but no one listens. I get jittery under my skin during exercises like this.

Social networking and other gobbledygook. Several hundred people crammed into a breakout room for a session on DIY audience building. I was again urged to get on Twitter and to Kirtsy, to Digg It and to StumbleUpon. And other bloggedy things that flew right past me.

That’s because Mel was bothering me, and because I was busy joining Twitter.

Surreal: Abbycadabby (Sesame Street) is here, pimping photos with her. I think I saw her and the Michelin Man — also pimping photos of his marshmallowy, rubber-selling self — canoodling in the corner.

I did not join in the photofest.

Grrrrl power: these sponsors are REALLY good to us. I’ve gotten my laptop tuned up, a massage, a face makeover, a whole bag o’ swag, and lots of other wooing by companies slobbering for the power of the woman blogger. As a group, we are mighty. Hear us roar.

Dooce and Redneck Mommy: I met Heather Armstrong! Well, by “met” I mean I was in the same room with her. And by “room” I mean a ballroom big enough for 1500 people. And by “I” I mean me and 1100 other awestruck bloggers. She is very charming and witty, as you’d expect, and very centered. That’s the part I really admire. She seems to have a firm sense of herself and her boundaries.

My cousin is a big fan of Redneck Mommy (I dare you to read a post of hers and not laugh out loud), so now I can lord my brush with RNM over her.

F2F: The BEST part of BlogHer was adding the 3rd dimension to my familiarity with the following people.

Pamela is statuesque, composed, contemplative and well-spoken. She is also brilliant, able to not just think on her feet, but analyze on her feet. She is truly committed to making the world a little easier for the IF ladies who come after us, to demarginalize the infertile experience. Being with her feels like being in a pool of graciousness.

Melissa. Even more fabulous than you’d expect. Made EVEN MORE fabulous by the fact that she is completely oblivious to her fabulousness. I find it hilarious that this very petite Jew was charged with herding we three Amazon-Catholic**-types. I’m sure she could kick all our butts if necessary.

And she has an awesome husband.*

Luna. I loved basking in her gentle energy. Luna oozes kindness, knows her way around San Francisco, and also has an awesome husband. Good peoples. I completely “get” why I am drawn to her blog — I am drawn to her.

Frenchie: I flatter myself to call Frenchie my twin. She is also tall, with dark hair, and she has an amazing adoption story (she was matched the same day she turned in her profile!). I about sprayed my gin & tonic on Luna when Frenchie muttered under her breath about the Swedish-goddess cocktail waitress in the barely there black dress, “Stop being so pretty!”

Millie: It was exciting to meet one of the winners of Lori’s Trivia Contest, and a fellow Land of the Lost watcher. We had much fun traipsing around San Francisco and not finding vegetarian food for Mel.

Michell: Battynurse (so called because she was once a phlebotomist) regaled us with tales of her experiences as a traveling nurse. So great that she took the time to come in and meet, and to put a face with the lime-haloed cat.

Amber came to the session to support us. She squeezed a quick trip into her full schedule and had to leave shortly thereafter, so I just got a taste of her wonderfulness. Gotta get me more.

Cheryl: my friend from the years I lived in Japan, and my wine-tasting buddy from the Spring. It meant so much to me that she came to our session to support me. Whenever I got nervous, I looked at Cheryl as my touchstone.

Roger: my husband attended the session! Not easy, I suppose, to join a room full of ladies likely to talk about their ovaries, uterii, and fallopian tubes. I hope it didn’t irk him much when I publicly mentioned my vajayjay. His presence made the panel session perfect.

Our session: our mission to build a bridge with Mommybloggers was met with less enthusiasm (in terms of numbers) than we’d hoped. It didn’t help that our panel was on at the same time as From Blog to Book and Can You Take Back Naked Blogging, or that we were put in a cavernous room.

But our session reaffirmed how helpful and healing our community is when one is faced with infertility and looking for a path through.

(after the session: Pamela, me, Monica, Mel)

More pertinent links:
Mel’s BlogHer08 posts
Uppercase Woman’s Live Blog
Metropolitan Mama’s Live Blog
Pamela Jeanne’s BloHer08 post
Luna’s BlogHer08 post
Frenchie’s near-BlogHer08 post

For more on the BlogHer08 conference, click on the widget on my sidebar. Also, expect podcasts to be available soon here.

Such an incredible weekend. Same time, next year?

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* However, Josh videotaped the session with my camera, and has graciously offered to get it uploaded in the near future.

** Catholic, Lutheran — who cares when you’re trying to make a point?


30 Responses

  1. thanks, lori. you are pretty awesome yourself! I had such a good time with you and so glad we got to hang out. and yes, frenchie is hilarious! next time, mojitos…

  2. thanks, lori. you are pretty awesome yourself! I had such a good time with you and so glad we got to hang out. and yes, frenchie is hilarious! next time, mojitos…

  3. Can you please bottle your calming and warm presence and make it available to us whenever we need it? I don’t think I would have survived without you. Seriously. Just having someone to say, “can you believe this or that?” when it seemed an over-the-top momzilla moment was, well, I couldn’t have survived without you.

  4. It sounds like a lot of fun. And from reading various descriptions, I almost feel as if I had been there.

  5. Can you please bottle your calming and warm presence and make it available to us whenever we need it? I don’t think I would have survived without you. Seriously. Just having someone to say, “can you believe this or that?” when it seemed an over-the-top momzilla moment was, well, I couldn’t have survived without you.

  6. It sounds like a lot of fun. And from reading various descriptions, I almost feel as if I had been there.

  7. WOW – your face and smile really fit with the loving personality that comes through on your blogs. I am so grateful to now be able to put a face with your writing. 🙂XOXOXO

  8. Was I supposed to e-mail you photos?? I know I was supposed to send them to someone, I thought it was Pamela Jean and I sent to her but maybe it was you?? I’m totally scatterbrained half the time. It was so great meeting you though.

  9. I was so happy I could stumble into the session for a few mins. Meeting you was awesome. Wish I could have stayed to have a drink with you, Luna, and Frenchie. We’ll just have to build our love affair from afar.

  10. WOW – your face and smile really fit with the loving personality that comes through on your blogs. I am so grateful to now be able to put a face with your writing. 🙂XOXOXO

  11. Was I supposed to e-mail you photos?? I know I was supposed to send them to someone, I thought it was Pamela Jean and I sent to her but maybe it was you?? I’m totally scatterbrained half the time. It was so great meeting you though.

  12. I was so happy I could stumble into the session for a few mins. Meeting you was awesome. Wish I could have stayed to have a drink with you, Luna, and Frenchie. We’ll just have to build our love affair from afar.

  13. I have to say Lori, that is the first time in my history as a blogger my name was ever used in the same sentence as Dooce.It’s never gonna happen again so let me suck in this moment. Wink, wink.I hope you had a blast at the conference and walked away with joy in your heart.I know I did. Especially after reading this post!

  14. Personally, I think Twitter is annoying. Please, just take the time to write a blog entry! I know I have ADD tendencies, but Twittering is just a tease.I know the town I live in is it’s own republic, but who the heck is Heather Armstrong?Anyhoo, sounds like the blog version of the Dream Team got together at this conference. Way cool!

  15. Luna and Pamela — just ONE more G&T??Loribeth — hopefully we’ll have the video ready to post soon.Niobe, Antigone and Furrow — good! I’m glad everyone is fleshing out their experiences.Pamela — likewise, my friend.Amber — most definitely.Michell — you did not promise me anything. But if you send me photos, I’ll post here also.LIW — well, thank you! Very kind words. XOXO

  16. I have to say Lori, that is the first time in my history as a blogger my name was ever used in the same sentence as Dooce.It’s never gonna happen again so let me suck in this moment. Wink, wink.I hope you had a blast at the conference and walked away with joy in your heart.I know I did. Especially after reading this post!

  17. Personally, I think Twitter is annoying. Please, just take the time to write a blog entry! I know I have ADD tendencies, but Twittering is just a tease.I know the town I live in is it’s own republic, but who the heck is Heather Armstrong?Anyhoo, sounds like the blog version of the Dream Team got together at this conference. Way cool!

  18. Luna and Pamela — just ONE more G&T??Loribeth — hopefully we’ll have the video ready to post soon.Niobe, Antigone and Furrow — good! I’m glad everyone is fleshing out their experiences.Pamela — likewise, my friend.Amber — most definitely.Michell — you did not promise me anything. But if you send me photos, I’ll post here also.LIW — well, thank you! Very kind words. XOXO

  19. thanks for the great update Lori. Sounds like the IF community was incredibly represented by you ladies.

  20. thanks for the great update Lori. Sounds like the IF community was incredibly represented by you ladies.

  21. Your panel was one of the best ones of the conference for me, both because it is nice to feel the warmth of a room full of supportive people, and because it showed me that sessions like what I had imagined blogher would be did exist.

  22. Your panel was one of the best ones of the conference for me, both because it is nice to feel the warmth of a room full of supportive people, and because it showed me that sessions like what I had imagined blogher would be did exist.

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