Mixed Epiphanies: @Yogizilla @marcandangel @ginidietrich @tom_peters @marcus_baker #blogsoup

blog soup 02.06.2012

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Mixed Epiphanies for a Monday

by Stan Faryna

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Cheers Theme Song

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1. The Winter Blues: Lean On Me by Yomar Lopez

Yomar writes an inspirational reminder to keep on keeping on.

My comment:

I love you, man. You are shining bright!

What I didn’t say:

Billy Delaney recently left me a comment on my blog’s about Stan Faryna page.

He writes:

One day we will sit and talk among the little places, in the streets of the old towns, by some coffee shop. Stan I’d like to get to know you more…

There’s a place in my heart just like that. Among the little places. By the streets of the old towns. A place just like where Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin had their first coffee in the movie, Henry and June. Where pensioners play chess and remember past adventures over a liter of beer or a highball of whiskey. And someone’s grandma knits a woolen sweater in a rocking chair.

There’s a table there reserved for our friends and family who come and go at their convenience. On the table are several bowls and plates: fruits, nuts, and cheeses. You can help yourself. There’s a dozen uncorked bottles: rose brandy, Kneazi Vitghenstein (50+ years cognac from Moldova), Johnnie Walker Blue Label, Port (perhaps, a 1970 Nacional), fine wines, and so forth. If it’s not on the table, they have it in a special cabinet behind the bar. If you like mineral water, there’s fizzy and flat.

Of course, there’s no wi-fi. We got super wi-fi.

In an adjoining room, there’s a 100 inch wide screen LED TV with 5.1 surround, armchairs, couches, and side tables. Did I mention the stack of VCRs, DVD players, Blue Ray players, and game boxes? Yomar Lopez is playing a 3-D Zombie shooter.

“Dude, come have a drink with us!” I shout at him from the other room.

“As soon as I level up!” Yomar shouts back.

Betsy Cross laughs (but no one knows why) and then returns to her work of adding information to someone’s ancestor profile on Forever (R).

Amber-Lee Dibble stomps her boots on the hardwood floor to get off the snow. She throws down a grizzly head and hide. The weight of it also tips over the empty table upon which she threw it upon.

“Are any of you sack of potatoes going to help a chick with the firewood?” she asks but knows in her heart, there will be no answer.

Papa always told her that city boys couldn’t man up if they tried.

JM Bell wants to look up from his arm chair and his Wordsworth. Instead, he just shakes his head in awe – his eyes on the subtext. “Amber-Lee could kick my ass,” he thinks to himself.

Bill Dorman, who is standing at this moment, sips his sweet tea, and wonders if anyone knows he wears Superman branded briefs. The invisible blogger nods at Bell and then says outloud, “I was thinking the very same thing!”

Billy Delaney nods. It is as it should be. He savors the moment with his pint of hard cider.

An ancient leprechaun with a club foot and a bespoke suit disturbs Billy’s musings by tugging on Billy’s pant cuff. The hobbled faery is sure that JM Bell has designs on his pot of South African Krugerrands.

The royalties from Bell’s New York Times Bestsellers will not satisfy the man for long. Nor does Bell like that the leprechaun dilly dallies with the arch angels on occasion.

Kids come running through, each one is bearing up a transformer in flight. A dozen or more Transformers give chase to a Decepticon on the prowl.

“Gini says she can’t make it, again,” blurts Aaron Biebert, looking up from Twitter for a second to register the reactions.

“Tell Gini Dietrich… to forget Cannes and get her, Mr. D, Bonnie, and Saul on the next flight out. Right now! France is just a time bomb with all those nuclear power plants in meltdown!” says Christian Hollingsworth as he tries to solve the Rubik’s Cube in under a minute.

Jack (aka Abigail) looks up from his laptop and grumbles something about Downtown Los Angeles still being 20 feet under water and that being a shame. He’s listening to Frank Sinatra sing, My Way, with ear buds piped from his iPhone.

“Where is everyone else?” texts Carolyn Nicander Mohr from the kitchen where she’s counting her secret cache of 50 Yuan Chinese Silver Pandas. “Shouldn’t everyone be here by now?!”

“In their own time, they will arrive. To the beat of their drum. Hearts align in their own season and time,” Dr. Jack King muses aloud.

P.S.

Writes Mark of the blog, Marc and Angel Hack Life:

Family isn’t always blood. They’re the people in your life who appreciate having you in theirs – the ones who encourage you to improve in healthy and exciting ways, and who not only embrace who you are now, but also embrace and embody who you want to be.

These people – your real family – are the ones who truly matter.

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Subscribe to Yomar Lopez’s blog, Yogizilla’s Blankity Blank-Blank

Need more Yomar Lopez? Check out the following:

A Look At The Gaming Industry, Player Motivation, And Social Media Dynamics (Opportunity!)

Running a Gaming Clan: Leadership Lessons from a Newb

Gaming Clan Series: Why Clans Die And The Motivation Behind Clan Hopping
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Ben Kweller, Better With You
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2. 20 Things to Start Doing in Your Relationships By Marc and Angel

Five points that Marc and Angel make:

Forgive people and move forward.

Do little things every day for others.

Always be loyal.

Stay in better touch with people who matter to you.

Give what you want to receive.

My comment:

This is one of those interesting blog posts that has wide appeal. The problem is, of course, 20 things is a lot of things. It’s a lot to remember. Also, without some exercises to live out a better way to relate, you just can’t get anywhere in your relationships.

Love, like, and fan this blog post all you want, but loving, liking, and fanning this blog post won’t improve your life if you don’t live what it suggests.

Give what you want to receive, for example.

You want love – not more disregard or lip service. Are you giving love or lip service?

Give love to all the people written in your heart. And giving it, be sure, means making “it” better. Life, the day, or right now. For them.

Lift them up in love, joy, and peace. Be kind, gentle, and patient with them when there is difficulty between you. Be faithful, forgiving, and good so that they may savor your love. At your convenience and, yes, even at some inconvenience to you. Social media, of course, has made this a little easier to do.

Tweeting about what you had for breakfast may (or may not) be interesting. But thanking people, individually, for their friendship, encouragement, and/or contribution is always interesting and uplifting. That’s the kind of small talk that counts the most. Tweet it, email it, message it on Facebook, send a postcard by mail – you get the idea.

It will make everything better.
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Subscribe to Marc and Angel’s blog, Practical Tips for Productive Living

Need more Marc and Angel? Check out the following:

99 Tiny Stories to Make You Think, Smile and Cry

28 Dignified Ways to Impress Everyone Around You

16 Harsh Truths that Make Us Stronger

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Mint Royale, SIngin’ In The Rain
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3. Komen In PR Mess Because of Planned Parenthood Decision by Gini Dietrich

Asked Gini (and many others):

What the heck is wrong with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure?

My comment:

After much uproar, the Susan G. Komen foundation (to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer) has promised to reinstate grant funding to Planned Parenthood.

Statement from Susan G. Komen’s Board of Directors (as it appears on the official website):

We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives. The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not.

Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair…

Statement from Planned Parenthood:

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation reversed its decision and continues to fund breast cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood health centers.

The cause of women’s, children’s and human health – especially for the poor – deserves our unflagging support and attention. Of that, there should be no doubt.

How Planned Parenthood and the Susan G. Komen Foundation bitterly wrestled in their  misunderstandings and contempt for each other is unfortunate – especially when their mission is shared. In this scandal, both organizations have done much disservice to the cause of women’s health. And neither recognize the harm which they have done.

Beyond the negative, however, is the positive: the impact that people can have upon organizations by speaking out, speaking up, and calling, Shenanigans. People using social media (blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc) contributed to the quick reversal of the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s decision and policies.

That’s awesome.

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times recently wrote about Ted Well’s fourth grade class in Brookline, Massachusetts. These small heroes forced Universal Studios to speak to the environmental issues which they felt was told by Dr. Seuss’ story, The Lorax.

Such action sparks hope that one day, people will come together freely and regularly; they will persistently define relevant concerns; they will speak up about what is right and wrong, and they will have immediate impact upon government, organizations, and corporations.

It can begin to happen today. It’s up to you. And you. And you. And you.
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Subscribe to Gini’s blog, Spin Sucks.

Need more Gini Dietrich? Check out the following:

Three Ways to Use Pinterest for Business

Take a Different Approach to Brainstorming

FedEx Customer Video Turned Good PR

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Tom Peters, You Are the Company You Keep
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4. Race to Nowhere by Matt Lintner and Tom Peters

Writes Matt Lintner, a teacher from Fairfax County, Virginia:

You can graduate from high school with straight A’s without ever having:

• Searched for answers to unknown questions
• Practiced consensus building or the messiness of compromise
• Created art that speaks to the soul
• Built something of value
• Volunteered substantively in your community

The list is much longer.

My comment:

It struck me as interesting that the opportunity for all these things is there for anyone who does social media (blogging, Twitter, Facebook, etc.).

And it strikes me also as interesting that most of us don’t seize upon those online opportunities to do half the things on the same list bemoaned by Matt Lintner and Tom Peters as missing in American education.

And no one is talking about this failure. Or blogging about it. Yet we all yearn to speak with leadership, authority, and vision. Because, ultimately, people follow, subscribe, fan, like, and read leaders – not losers. Right?

Leadership is a great part of what building your social media presence is about. Are you owning it?

Whatever small things you do online, do you bring contagious and great- love, illumination, and inspiration to your online friends and followers?

As Tom Peters often says, excellence is a personal choice.

Was your last tweet, blog post or blog comment, ho hum? Or extraordinary?

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Subscribe to Tom Peter’s blog

Need more Tom Peters? Check out the following:

“Guru” This!

5 Days to Compose, 45 years Prepare

Little BIG Video #66 Brand You: You Are the Company You Keep (Transcript)
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Tom Peters, Be Extraordinary
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Adele, Make You Feel My Love
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5. Replies to Messages in Bottles by Marcus Baker

Writes Marcus:

No doubt you have also sent ‘messages in bottles’, metaphorically speaking. These are messages that ask for help. They may even be messages when you feel marooned yourself in some way. Another name for these is “prayers”, however it’s the intent that’s important not the name.

You can be sure that your message is always received. The reason you may sometimes miss the reply is because these can present in ways that we least expect.

My comment:

This Monday blog post that you’ve been reading is a reply to your many replies and many messages.

Make of that what you will.

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And this:

And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or country, they laid the sick in the market places, and besought him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment; and as many as touched it were made well. Mark 6:56

And this too from the Romanian Poet, Mihai Eminescu:

I’d like to see again the valley of my youth

Laved by the silver crystal of the brook in haze,

To see all that I used to love, forsooth:

The darkness of the woods, a true poetic maze.

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Subscribe to Marcus Baker’s blog.

Need more Marcus Baker? Check out the following:

How Do Other See Your Blog?

Don’t Be A Lone Wolf

How Can You Make A Difference?

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Feedback

If you think that this blog post sucks, let me know in your comment and don’t forget to include a link to YOUR favorite blog post.

If you think this blog post rocks, tell me why it rocks in the comment. “Awesome,””Great post,” etc. works for me. Don’t forget to include a link to YOUR most recent blog post.

Subscribe to this blog if you would enjoy keeping up with my thoughts and commentary.

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Stan Faryna
6 February 2012
Bucharest, Romania

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P.S.

No fairies were harmed during the writing and publishing of this blog post.