We Can't Be Invisibile Because We Are Here

They say that older women are ignored in America.That the societies focus is on the new and the long legged ample person who might be eighteen years old dripping wet. I still get that look from younger people in fear of I might talk to them.

At length.

Please. If I decided to talk to you it is either because I want to or have no choice in the matter. I was in the store the other day. I wanted to buy a microphone. The young person took me to the computer microphone section.

This is valid. I understand. This is a generation of Skype and social gaming.

I had to explain I needed the non-computer stand alone 3.5 mm or USB microphone.

In the explanation process I could see behind her eyeballs telling me to go away, I was messing with her flow. Then it clicked for her, "Oh, wait, yes we do have the other microphones."

The store was sold out.

It wasn't always this way. There wasn't necessarily this hostility in cross generational exchanges. If we are serious about telling our stories then we need to know the other.




This is Jude Narita. Long time theater actress and passionate about her craft. This is a moment from the Screen Adjustments panel at the Beyond The Bad and the Ugly summit that in March 2013.

Not every is new and there are people that know the path.

There are new ways of doing thing and not every old person is wise. This is why we have to share what we know so that we are clear on who we are and what we believe.

That cannot happen in isolation.

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The Story Behind the Car In the Mall

I hate it when I see it. There is nothing I can do short of being the person trying to stop people from doing the wrong thing. I learned a long time ago, you cannot stop a person determined to do the wrong thing.


This is my short VloMo 2012 contribution to take a humorous way to explaining.

Basically, a company rents a shiny car from a local car dealer. Then they rent car space in your local mall. People fill out a detail contest sheet with a lot of personal information, much more than what is needed for a contest.

On the back, in teeny tiny type they will tell you that you must fill out the info completely or it will be rejected. Or if you are under 18 it will be rejected. Or if your income is too low you will be rejected.

In some states you cannot will $100,000. You might have a chance at $5,000. Or $199. Depends on where you live.

If you "qualify" then you get to the next level, a timeshare meeting. You have to attended. You will then be given the hard sell on purchasing a timeshare. If you survive then you might walk out with steak knives. Or a radio. Not sure what the mooks who survive get these days.

Oh, should you happen to win the $100,000 you do know that you have to pay taxes on it right?

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Is Videoblogging Passe for Women?

There are days when I feel like a loon. A loon is a strange looking bird that looks like parts of other birds. But it is a loon. Today I started a Vlomo 2012 video gallery located at http://vlomo2012.tumblr.com

I've been up since 4 a.m. That is part of the reason I feel like a loon. Yep. That's me. I feel out of sync but trying to connect. I think I'm failing. But I am not. I am just tired.

I'm still a loon. Now this does have something to do with my question. Being a loon I got to waddle to get in the water.

I loathe to define videoblogging. It gets folks antsy. I don't want to get into a semantic fight with anybody. So here are a few statement and you can pick out the one that appeals to you:

• A blog that contains a video post on a regular basis.
• A video series that is posted by an internet distribution company that allows other people to watch or post the video on their blog.
• A talking head video using videos instead of the keyboard to express their feelings.
• A person using video to express a person, place or thing and then uploads the video for others to see.

So before you get to the question of "is videoblogging passe for women" you first got to ask is it passe?

For some folks yes. And that is okay. These are the folks that have moved on to professional careers in video or media.

Or it could be that because of the time sink it can be (but does not have to be) there just isn't time after work, school, family, bathing and sleeping to cram one more thing in your day.




Or you have said what you needed to say and are done.(PS - Margaret ain't done, she's made two more videos since this one.)

But there is another group that is hesitant to try. I feel that I haven't done a good job of encouraging women to step it up and truly use video to be visible and express themselves.

I'm not giving up Create Video Notebook but I gotta find a better way to engage women and men to take advantage of this time before the gates are closed and we can't communicate with each other.

Why? Because we have foolish old men who do not understand biology. We have women being defined by men into functional boxes of utility; formally known as the kitchen and the bedroom.

That is never a good thing. Not even for men.

The menopause story has got to be told to the Boomer women. The older women needs to tell the young ones how they survived.

Should reality television be our touch post as how women behave?

Nay I say nay! (See, squawking like a loon.)

So maybe the term videoblogging will eventually go away but I hope that folks tell their stories visually once in a while.

It can be slides to narration to video.
It can be you talking in front of a camera with a memory of your favorite dress.
It can be you sipping a cup of coffee as you talk about last night.

You got a smartphone that records audio and video? That is all you need to get started.

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Gaby Moreno at Make Music Pasadena 2012

With the current xenophobia running rampant in this country wrapped in patriotism it is hard to make the case that we need to listen.

Think. Reason it out. It does not matter now.

Either we unite under one nation or we splinter in to a pseudo sovereign void. Not about the left or the right anymore. You can't white wash a nation. We can destroy ourselves but we can't go back.

I get tired of trying to talk to people who will not listen. And the ones that do listen are just fed up. How much more can you take in one day? You can't keep ingesting negativity.

I don't want to. Not today.



Which is why the spirits and or random DNA cells allow for music. This is just a short clip from a performer named Gaby Moreno. She was busting serious vocals at Make Music Pasadena 2012.

I was across the street at Samy's Camera getting a new memory card. I walk out the door and I hear this voice booming from half a block away.

I mosey on over to Memorial Park and there she was blending that Guatemalan voice around blues licks from some African from long ago. The ugliness, stupidity and mendacity of the world no longer mattered.

We who heard her were bound in a place of music. No ID card required. For more information about Gaby you can visit her Facebook page.

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Vlogging While Brown 2011 Panel Session Video

When the blahs hit and you think there isn't anything to conjure up I say dive into the external hard drive video shoe box and see what you got.

The Blogging While Brown Conference 2012 is happening in Philadelphia this year. I can't make the trip this year but I do have some video to share.

These are two brief clips from the Vlogging While Brown panel. The first clip talks about how to present yourself as an expert or a resource to your viewers.


The second clip talks about the need to have a thick skin when you present yourself to the viewing public.


The Vlogging While Brown Panel participants were Roshini Cope, Andrea Tasia and Lydia Cotten.

Just two quick points. There is all kinds of ways to do videoblogging. There is talking head, personal narrative, advocacy, travel, cooking,  pick a topic and somebody has done a video on it. 

You do want to put on your internal slickers to repel some the bile that could come your way.

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A Study of Los Angeles in Four Seconds

I was sitting here wanting not to be sitting here not being productive. I'm looking through old videos I hadn't taken the time to take a second look to review. One of my camcorders has a feature that takes a four second video snapshots.



So I am looking at all these files and getting more depressed. Not depressed enough to do the dishes but  I'm down kinda low.

I start pulling the videos down into my editing time line and there have certain colors and sounds. I notice this and start to play with what I am seeing.

This is good. Play is good. It is good to remember why you invest time and money into something that you actually enjoy.

This is a sense piece. Seeing Los Angeles in a certain color pallet I guess. Not something I intentionally tried to do. It feels right and I should do this again.

After the dishes.

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The Book Wall at The L.A. Times Festival of Books

A moment away from the sensual pleasure of life to one less tactile. It has been a while since I've posted a video. Lot's of crap going on behind the screen I can't get into.

I still record and take photos but seems like I never have time to work on posting any more. Trying to change that by making this effort.

This is a video impression of the book wall at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. All kinds of authors and name of books were scribbled, slagged and over powered those that needed to write in tiny print.

Lots of Hungry Games. Ayn Rand supporters. Bible thumpers with specific chapter and verse.  Have to say there were also a lot of Diary of a Wimpy Kid supporters as well.

Live like there is no tomorrow but stock up just in case.

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The Other Side of Being Among the 99%

It is about the flow of money. Much of that employment flow has been diverted to other states and countries.

If you, you being a wealthy, rich or doing all right person don't understand what people are talking about perhaps you have a better relationship with things.



So here are some things. These are called empty stores. Stores that had an owner and employees. They don't have them any more. When folks are unemployed their discretionary shopping money vaporises. That means they can't go shopping.

No shoppers means no customers. No customers means no business.No business tax. No business to business purchases. Nothing.

You may have all the shopping options you can handle. When a community has lost too many vendors or merchants in an area you have a dying city.Or a bunch of blocks with nothing but empty window.

I have nothing more to add.

It is just a visual observation. Also my Day 12 VloMo video.

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Jaming It In Anyway I Can for Day 13

Today is Sunday. A day of rest. Trying to catch up on my videos and it it almost but not quiet a lost cause. This is a video of me looking out at trouble from the Metro Pico Station. We are suppost to have our Santa Ana winds that cause warm air to lovinging caress the body.

Not these rain clouds.



What rest?

I have cleaned the bathroom, Uploaded 15 videos to the Vlomo Gallery, throwing out trash, trying to finish a blog post and start another and did I mention the kitchen is a wreck?

There is laundry. There is purging of things I haven't used or read in 15 years.

No. I am not complaining. I am stating facts. The fact is this is a good day. Well, except for damn near choking myself because I took too strong of a sniff of PineSol.

Ventilation should never be compromised. 

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When We Gather In Our Names

It is a moment and then it is gone. That is why we take photos when we get the chance. Trying to keep up with that road runner known as the Queen of Spain can be a full time job.

Taking the kids to school. Getting herself to treatments. Speaking at conventions about cyberbullying and Lupus. I can just about keep up with her on Twitter. She's got multiple streams going on Facebook.

At BlogWorld Los Angeles 2011 I caught up with Cecily Kellog, Anissa Mayhew and Erin Kotecki Vest. They were finishing their panel and had just got kicked out of the room. Believe me when I say the room wrangler had to work hard to get those dames to stop talking.


Photos and phone slinging commenced. A couple of other folks drift in and out.  I want to know how she knows the dude in the kilt?

That guy way everywhere. So this video is for them. And for me.

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Looking Into the Rafters - Day 3 of Vlomo 2011

I feel like I have walked almost every inch of the Los Angeles Convention Center. I haven't but that joint is huge.




Anyway this is a video that I recorded when I looked up into the rafters of the convention center. I have more but if you are curious about this Vlomo 2011 stuff check out the blog I'm curating at http://vlomo2011.tumblr.com

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Being Myself Is Hard Work

Somebody has to do it and I guess it is up to me. But the mail that gets stuffed in my mail box is disheartening.




One ad to lose weight. Another for Dish TV. Two ads for Pollo Loco. More ads for losing weight. As near as I can figure it I'm supposed to sit at home all day watching TV and not eating anything.

This is my Day 2 video for International Videobloging Posting Month aka Vlomo2011.

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My Spray Candy Experience

Hello friends and assorted relations. It has been a day. A full day. Not like yesterday because all I remember is coming home and crashing at 4:30 in the afternoon. Waking up at 2:30 a.m.the previous day might have contributed to the experience.

There is a bit of sleep desperation going on. I mean deprivation. It could be a good thing. Really. I'm taking the short cut to everything not requiring deep attention.

I apologize in advance. The reason I'm apologizing is that I watch a man doing the dishes in one of the Vlomo 2011 videos. I was about to make every water based sexual innuendo in that post and then it hit me.

Nooooo! You don't know that man. It is wrong. It isn't funny, it is tacky. This is record of participants, not your boy toy catalog.


Now mind you I was only saved by what little rational mind I have left. I can't blame that on lack of sleep but I can try.

Finding The Story

I was rushing to the store thinking I was going to buy clothing. I didn't buy clothing.

I bought food. And being a good shopper I look up at the top shelves and the bottom shelves. Eye level is for suckers. On the top shelf on a clearance rack was a bunch of spray candy.

I am here to testify, One spritz is all you need. Three or more and there will be trouble. It is a fruit juice concoction with Xylitol, Citric Acid and other stuff.

I am not hating on it. Nope. It will bring you back from the afternoon sleepies. For those of us that really can't drink Red Bull this might be the next best thing.

Unless you had a full night's sleep.

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Glen A. Palmer on Jumping In on the Noise

There are times when people want to jump in and change the direction of what you wrote or want it to conform to what they think you should have done.



It take a lot to be willing to listen not only to the other person but also listening to your internal compass. This is Glen A. Palmer from the blog, The Gentlemen's Standard.Glen 's blog mixes in male fashion, faith, I don't know any other way to say this, man issues, and other good stuff at his blog.

I do encourage you to visit his blog because you will not see him represented in mainstream television or the news media. This is a child of a single parent. Look to see what he has accomplished and continues to create before you slap a stereotype on him.

I may not agree with everything on his blog but I do appreciate that his voice expands the discussion of what African American men are thinking and talking about.

Glen spoke at part of the panel on Authentic Voice at Blogging While Brown 2011 in Los Angeles.

Update 9/16/2011: I made an error. The speaker's name is Glen, not Greg. I don't know who Greg is but he is not Glen. I swear I checked and even visited the blog to make sure I had the right blog address. I did, just not the correct name.  I have to fix the video but, yeah. I goofed.

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Brief Moment with Andy Behrman Author of Electro-Boy

After the past few days I could be very happy curled up with some Justice League of America cartoons and leave you fool adults to yourselves. I want to write about moving forward and doing positive things and yet I get sucked into Ahnold-land and Anglo-Franco confusion about the "Perp Walk."

Well, the only thing I can do is to share what I've seen these past few weeks. The first Mental Health Day in Pasadena has come and gone but I do have some video of a few of the participants that were nice enough to speak with me.



Andy Behrman is an author who has spent some time dealing with the high and lows of mental illness. He doesn't have access to the media like a certain actor but he does have a story to tell about living in a manic state.

Yes, California can make you crazy but I'm thinking that isn't what he means. This video was records at the first Mental Health Day in Pasadena 2011.

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Day Late and A Dollar Short - Videoblogging Week Day 2

Yep. I scrabbled something up. I have stuff but stuff takes time and I don't have it. I have to be okay with that concept. I can't have and don't want the 27 hour day. I'm sleep deprived as it is.

But I do want to put in my two cents about libraries and not just because I invested educational time and effort. We are still humans. We do need contact with other humans that doesn't require an electronic interface.



Don't get me wrong, I have truly benefited from technology. I have been able to prove many a gatekeeper that they were wrong, I can do it.

We still need the verbal in-person communications. We need to see other people that are different from ourselves. We...

Dang. I just heard in my head the voice of Captain Kirk. I don't know why; I'm a Spock girl.

Actually I do respect actor William Shatner because that man is a case study in survival. However life comes to him that is how he takes it. Typecast, breaks the casts, re-invents himself time and again. His career is like the symbol for infinity. I like Kirk but I respect the endurance and talent of William Shatner.

Where was I? Oh, heck. I forgot. I need my nappy time. Well, the video will explain all or not a lick. I gotta wake up early so dig y'all later.

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Andre Coleman - Intro to Citizen Journalism Session Part 1

Update April 5, 8:29PM - Folks I need to make it clear that I made a mistake in not separating my remarks from Mr. Colman's video. Unlike Dogbert's pappy, I do not take down posts once I've written and published them. There was a better way to write this post.

In hindsight, you should have seen what I ditched. Never tweet when angry and never post when your fingers are moving faster than your brain.

Original Post

I am a blogger. I am also a writer. I do a lot of stuff actually so I really don't like labels. But let's say for the moment that I am a blogger. I have to say I'm a little touchy about current blogger/journalist relations.

They suck.

I have had a few days to think about the citizen journalism session. The Pasadena Community Network has weekly meetings on Tuesday nights. The focus of the meetings is to develop journalism skills that can be applied to blogs, web sites, mimeograph reporting or how ever you want to do it.

There is also the Pasadenan which is also citizen driven content with an editor and staff moderating the content. That is cool. Works for me. I have no objection to anyone development better writing or reporting skills.



It is getting better but there is a long road to the junction of peace. This is reporter Andre Coleman speaking at the March 29, 2011 Citizen Journalism Speaker Series that was held at the main branch of the Pasadena Library. Mr. Coleman write for the Pasadena Weekly.

My Thoughts

First of all I support anything a person can do to make their writing better. Many bloggers take workshops, online classes and actively work on developing their skills. I am not a journalist but I do make use of some of the classes and webinars at Poynter's NewsU. Special shout out at the great tutorials at the Knight Digital Media Center.

Good writing and reporting transcend labels.

I do not hate reporters and good journalists. I was raised in a newspaper town with two major newspapers and six or seven alternative newspapers. It truly saddens me that we have lost a huge chunk of the respect and the importance we use to hold for newspapers in this country.

I have people around me that use that term blogger as a pejorative. (Not referring to Andre Coleman. I have other real world examples that like to point with pride the ink in their veins.)

Many of these people are ex-reporters, current reporters and soon to be ex-reporters that do not apply their training to find out what is happening with contemporary bloggers and technology.

You want to lump me in with the fat guy sitting naked at his keyboard? Go for it. That just shows ignorance. That is not a good thing for journalists to display but if that is what you want to do why should I stand in your way? But I am not the one that put the shiv in the back of newspapers.

Newspaper management did it to themselves.

Newspapers in the 1980s and 90s did not want to pay attention to people outside of their chosen proven money demographic. They did not court the next generation. They totally did not get the beginnings of early on-line communities or the Internet.

If you do not talk to me or connect with me in some way why should I buy your product or service?

Some of the current silly rabbits in newspaper management and related media companies think all they have to do is take a person previously known columnist and change the word to blogger and then people will come a running back.

Many in the industry blame bloggers for stealing content from their newspapers yet provide links to stories and want people to tweet the news story. However they don't want others to summarize or add additional context to a news story that omitted an important perspective.

News management wants bloggers to promote newspapers but you don't want us reading your content.

My admittedly limited understanding of the corporate news management perspective is that I should pay for content I do not read or cannot use, such as sports, that I should be grateful that said content exists and that I should not want or need to have any further communication with those that generate said content.

Oh, and don't tell anybody else where I found the content that does not interest me on account they might read it too.

Tell me again why I want to have a relationship with newspapers?

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Meeting Karen and a Reminder About eWaste Recycling

I'm starting up on my long Saturday walks again. For me a long walk is about two hours or so, more if I can combine it with other tasks. I was walking along and I saw the truck about eWaste recycling.



This is my brief conversation with Karen who hangs out at the Pasadena Presbyterian Church. The plan is to recycle the televisions and electronics and the cash received goes to help pay for the renovation of the Young Adults room at the church. For more info you can check out their Sacred Space blog.

Now if someone would work out a traveling eWaste pick up that would work for a lot of us that don't have transportation. That may be possible, depending on where you live.

If you are in the California area you can visit the E-Waste Recycling page at the CalRecycle page of the state of California.

It might be you finally clear out the garage and make a bit of cash. All things are possible.

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Being 52 - Reflections on VloMo 2010

It is Day 30 and this is just a quick reflection on how I experienced recording face to video.



This is day 30 of National Videoblogging Posting Month.

Yeah!

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Poetry In Plain Sight - Bruce Williams

I am not sure how older men see themselves. Well, I have glimmers. I think the image gets locked in at their best year and that is what they see from life forward.

I mention this because Bruce Williams has a great looking face. The white beard is working for him. He doesn't have the washboard abs that is being projected as the standard of male beauty and perfection. Bruce occupies a body well lived in that has stories and poems to share.



His poems are much like his beard, there is history in present and waiting if we would slow down and truly listen. If you would like more information Bruce has a book called The Mojave Road and Other Journeys that you can get at Tabotbach Press.

P.S. Have you tried to sleep with a washboard? I once again advocate going for comfort and not for speed. Pillow talk, not washboard abs talk y'know?

This is Day 27 of National Videoblogging Posting Month aka Vlomo10

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