OVER ALREADY: BLOGHER ’08

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This photo was taken at the closing plenary of BlogHer08 and I’ve barely covered the event at all.  There are so many moments I’d love to tell you about: readings by bloggers whose words hold incredible power; one by one they reveal intimate moments of sadness and joy, anger and hilarity.  The words, drawn from their posts, are the clearest evidence of the power of this institution, not yet five years old and already a gigantic force for good in the lives of the women who have come here.  So many more.

We’re all on our way home now;  to Austin and Sacramento and Virginia and Manhattan and Minneapois, energized for another year, ready to write and comment and commit ourselves to that which we create.  From these two days we’ve learned about traffic and writing, activism and art, gender and age tribalism, friendship, sisterhood and the joys of San Francisco.  What we gain here informs the rest of our year: makes us wiser and funnier and more determined.  And really, whatever I would have written had it not been for Sabbath obligations and general exhaustion boils down to that.  So thanks Elisa and Jory and Lisa (and Jill and Mary Margaret and Kristen and Asha and Erin and Sarah and Devra and Jill and Kari and Beth and Tekla and Catherine and the other Catherine and Morra and Nicole and Liz and Kelly and Jen and Julie ) and all the other beautiful bloggers who, when we’re all together, raise the roof of whatever building we happen to be in, and also – every one of our spirits and our hearts.

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BLOGHER OPENS

Blog1the_3Here they are – the Founding Three.  These are bad pix because I used my phone; camera cable’s too much trouble.  There are 1,000 women here – the energy is palpable.  It’s quite a thing to see because I attended in 2006 when there were around 500, 2007 when there were 800 — now there are 1,000.  Doubled in three years.  Pretty cool.

The hugeness is more palpable this year; you can’t do it all and some choices are bound to be wrong.  I was in what was clearly going to be a great session and left to attend something else I had to go to; hard thing to do.   No matter where you go in something this rich and dense, you’re going to miss something else.

It is thrilling though, to hear all these smart women say such great things – all in the same building  I’m surprised that the hotel hasn’t levitated yet.  More when I feel more organized.