I'm a weird reader in that sometimes I read just the comments on things like advice columns; the actual advice is that not relevant to me but watching people duke it out over social norms is my reality TV fix. One of the best jobs I've had was at the now-something-else 50Plus.com watching retirees chat and … Continue reading Byte sized #8: Healthy online communities edition
Author: Jenn
Batkid Begins: #SFBatkid’s recipe for success…besides magic
I saw Batkid Begins, the feel-good documentary about the feel-good #SFBatkid event-gone-wild last night and it kind of blew me away. If you don't know the story of #SFBatkid, the trailer is the best way to bring yourself up to speed, but in summary: the Make-A-Wish Foundation had a 5 year old with a wish to be … Continue reading Batkid Begins: #SFBatkid’s recipe for success…besides magic
Getting to okay: The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground
In March 2004, I went into labour after a very healthy, textbook pregnancy. 89 hours after her birth, my daughter Emily passed away due to damage to her body because of a lack of oxygen during delivery. That experience cast a oversized shadow. We live in an era of antibiotics and ultrasound. Carseats save lives. The kids, … Continue reading Getting to okay: The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground
Byte sized #7: Being a better person is good for you
Here at casa Gruden, I've been mired in confronting our family's stuff; my mother-in-law is moving in with us at the end of August (yay!) and so we are clearing out some rooms, in a house we've occupied for 10 years. It's an amazing gift of time to be able to do it drawer-by-drawer, but … Continue reading Byte sized #7: Being a better person is good for you
Byte sized #6: World leaders!
President of the United States weighs in on peas in guacamole. Internet outrage at its finest! I predict a slew of recipes-with-unusual-things-in-them. Also, yum, guacamole. Op-ed or blog post? I'm still a bit bemused at the variations on this one, sample from The Atlantic: "On Monday evening, President Obama took to the Huffington Post to … Continue reading Byte sized #6: World leaders!
Monkey mind and the zen web editor
I'm not a Buddhist, but I try to engage Buddhist principles in my life for the same reason a lot of diets work: It shakes up my viewpoint enough that I have to work hard to decide which choices to make. Then I can see which junk is taking up shelf space. This post over … Continue reading Monkey mind and the zen web editor
Byte sized #5: The Traffic Factories and more
If you're fascinated by how journalists/sites/brands get content online and measure its success, Caitlin Petre's report The Traffic Factories: Metrics at Chartbeat, Gawker Media, and The New York Times at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism is totally worth a read. A tip of the hat to Jim Romenesko's blog for that one, lo these months … Continue reading Byte sized #5: The Traffic Factories and more
Moby Dick in Manhattan
Back just before my husband and I bought our first house, I was ramping up for a career writing fiction. But then I read a story in the New Yorker about this really talented writer who was living in poverty despite critical praise for his books, because they weren't really selling. In my mid-20s, the whole thing … Continue reading Moby Dick in Manhattan
Byte sized #4: The golden oldies edition (Friday fun)
Faux dek for this piece: As fresh as a Far Side cartoon. Lots of running around today. There's a long post brewing but meantime, a few old favourites. I will actually use this batch to highlight that on the web, content can live forever...which is awesome for finding old links. Sometimes it makes it hard … Continue reading Byte sized #4: The golden oldies edition (Friday fun)
Byte sized #3: Adventurous women
A theme developed for this post, so let's have at it: stories about adventurous women. The Toughest Woman on Two Wheels by Grayson Schaffer for Outside answers a question I'm sure we've all had, which is, once you've survived growing up in a cult and written a bestseller about it, what next? Ride around the world, … Continue reading Byte sized #3: Adventurous women
Jennifer Gruden 