Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts

Back in early January my principal, Mary Clark, asked me to help her set up a blog. She wanted to explore this “blogosphere” I speak of so frequently, and she wanted to begin with her own blog first. That has finally happened, and now she is the author of her very own blog, appropriately titled “So Little Time; So Much to Do.” In the next few days I will assist her in setting up a reader, and show her a few blogs to subscribe to in the beginning to get her a solid understanding of a reader and how it helps manage reading from the blogosphere. These will also be ones that will excite her about 2.0 tools, show her that there is a network filled with educators who believe in higher order learning, engagement in the classroom, and authentic use of 21st century tools. If you have a recommendation, please comment.

I am delighted to no end that she is interested in something I am an avid fan of–blogs. I have so many in my reader I’m embarrassed to share (287). How do I manage so many? My bloglines account has my subscriptions organized in folders, and some of the folders are meaningful only to me. Sometimes I mark everything in a folder as “read” if I feel it is material or information I won’t miss, fall too far behind in, or will be able to get some other way. A perfect example is my “News” folder. Most of the time the news is easy to get elsewhere, be it tv, radio, or the talk of the town. And my news folder fills up quick. Marking it “read” knowing I can get it another way removes the guilt of subscribing and not reading. I also hear about some blog posts through Twitter, and so mark them as read right away too. So having that many subscriptions is totally doable if you have a management plan. (But I won’t recommend it for my beginner blogger principal!)

We are only just beginning to set it up, so we selected a simple design to start with.  I want her to see that a blog is a conversation about today’s learner. Now I can say my principal is a 21st century learner too! W00T!

Attribution:

Image: 'Mac Keyboard - High Resolution - 4494‘

www.flickr.com/photos/70194213@N00/1973910

	technolibrary@cathyjo Hello library school students! You’re entering a great, innovative and growing possession–web 2.0 is the library wave!31 minutes ago from web inreply to cathyjo
	njtechteacher@cathyjo Hello from New Jersey USA near New York City - enjoy your presentation!about 1 hour ago from web in reply to cathyjo
	dmcordell@cathyjo Hi to you and the SLIS 761 students! I spent the day at home today due to icy roads & highwinds in upstate New York.about 1 hour ago from web in reply to cathyjo
	pepteach@cathyjo Hello, U. of So. Carolina! from a sweltering 8 deg in Milwaukee. Still -9 wind chills. about 1 hour ago from web in reply to cathyjo
	fceblog @cathyjo Hi SLIS 761students from cloudy Buenos Aires, Argentina.Hope you enjoy conversation with Cathy. about 1 hour ago from web in reply to cathyjo
	kjarrett@cathyjo Hello SLIS 761 students from Southern New Jersey, USA! about 1 hour ago from web in reply to cathyjo
	kimothymack@Cathyjo Hello from Las Vegas! about 1 hour ago from web in reply to cathyjo
	mrmosesdotorg@cathyjo - Hello from Las Vegas, NV. about 1 hour ago from Snitter in reply to cathyjo
	Deacs84@cathyjo Hello from Hot(currently COLD)Atlanta! about 1 hour ago from Snitter in reply to cathyjo
	nzchrissy@cathyjo Hi SLIS students from Napier, New Zealand about 1 hour ago from twhirl in reply to cathyjo
	chrislehmann@cathyjo Hello from Philadelphia, PA! about 1 hour ago from twitterrific in reply to cathyjo
	LParisi@cathyjo Hello SLIS 761 students. Welcome from Long Island, NY, USA. about 1 hour ago from web in reply to cathyjo
	robinellis@cathyjo hello from PA about 1 hour ago from web in reply to cathyjo
	alicebarr@cathyjo Hello SLIS 761 students! I’m from Maine about 1 hour ago from Snitter in reply to cathyjo
	kwhobbes@cathyjo Hi SLIS 761 students from really cold Saskatchewan where it’s -38C right now. about 1 hour ago from twhirl in reply to cathyjo
	bknittle@cathyjo Hi SLIS 761 students from Cape Cod Mass about 1 hour ago from Spaz in reply to cathyjo
	Riptide_Furse@cathyjo Hello students in South Carolina from Washington, DC about1 hour ago from web in reply to cathyjo

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Thanks to all of you who answered my tweet for a warm hello this afternoon as I talked with a “School of Library and Information Science” (SLIS) class. They were a graduate class from the University of South Carolina that I was meeting virtually as guest presenter/lecturer. It was really cool to be able to have face to face interactions with my former professor/advisor from 11 years ago, and answer questions from a chatroom forum. USC exposed me to many cutting edge tools as I worked towards my degree in the mid to late 90s, and I can see that they are still cutting bloody edge today, and continue to expose future librarians to the newest tools they’ll want for their school library program. They were really impressed with my network of friends and the international flavor they have! I had a student contact me after the class to tell me she remembered me from my very first teaching job. We taught in the same little school in Bowman, South Carolina, where I taught my first five years. 1986 was such a long time ago. But this walk down memory lane brought back fond memories, so thanks Karen! And thanks Donna Shannon, for allowing me to speak to your class.

Okay slowly but surely I know my presence is being felt at my school. Can’t take credit all by myself though, except that I have PURPOSEFULLY involved myself with three teachers at my school who seem to “get it.”

“Get it?” you might ask. Yes, they get it. My school for reasons that are beyond my control or understanding runs a block A-B schedule for exploratory classes, and then extended time academic area classes-some as long as 70 minutes. This post is not to debate the pros and cons of such a schedule, but rather to tell about three teachers at my school who understand how to work in such a schedule.

You see they plan accordingly, and make sure their students have engaging work for the duration of their classes. Two of these three teachers (Mr. Granito and Ms D. Williams) both teach social studies. In casual observations and lengthy conversations, I know kids like to be in these classes. These two teachers seek ways to mix up their plans, have high interest interactive components to their lessons, and keep the excitement going for their content area. I won’t take a lot of credit, but I will acknowledge that the two of them do bounce ideas off me, and that key piece of collaboration gives me the right to say yes–I am impacting their classes too. But of course I want to give them the credit!

The other teacher (Mrs. A. Porter) has her classes for 90 minutes (one being 95!) Wow how does one manage a 90 minute class with middle schoolers? It’s an insane amount of time! At least in my opinion it is. But this teacher tackles it with gusto, and not only has engaging lessons each day, but being a rookie-first year teacher–is a model for other teachers struggling to properly use their time. (I blogged about her once before here.)

What is it they do? The have engaging lessons with exciting activities. They do not lecture for a full period, but instead have student practice, complete readings, as well as work a fair share of worksheets, but in the mix you will find high interest projects, authentic discussion about content where students are encouraged to express their opinions–and feel they are a valued contributer in class, and students who surprising want to be and LIKE being there.

This is what Educon 2.0 was all about. The learners and learning. I commented on another blog tonight (Liz Davis) about how the 21st century has totally blurred the defintion of student and teacher, and it could well be said those titles no longer exist, but instead have become sysnonymous with the term “learner.” And “learner” applies to adult and child alike in the 21st century. Look back at the picture selected to enhance this post. Is that the teacher or student? Neither, I say. It is the “learner.”

This is a great staff I’m working with, and I am excited to know for sure that three of them “get it.” They understand the concept of learners in the 21st century. It is not about the tools, but rather the learning. Now off to cultivate more meaningful relationships with our students, faculty and staff that from this day forward will be called “learners.”

Attribution:

Image: ‘EZBERİTİME EVET DEMEYELİM‘
www.flickr.com/photos/51886338@N00/2088096239

My youngest son (17yo) objects heatedly when I talk at the table about friends I’ve connected with. He always asks “real” or “virtual,” as he does not agree that the people I network with using 2.0 tools can be anything more than people somewhere else that you really don’t know. Well I beg to differ, ESPECIALLY after this weekend.

Educon 2.0 was everything it promised to be and more. It was really surreal to see the people that I network with from blogs, chatrooms, wikis, podcasts, nings, and Twitter in person. But it was not like how Alex Russo described educators at conferences (my take on his reference was that we are somewhat like “8th graders at a dance”–very unsure of ourselves.)

From the get go, when Liz Davis met me at the airport in Philadelphia, there was an instant connection. We even hugged like long lost sisters. That was true for most of the day as I met in-person for the first time the people I network with. There were many, many spontaneous hugs.

As I continue to try and wrap my head around how special this conference was, I try to find the words to write. What made it so special? There was not one minute where I was not interacting and talking in conversations, and that includes sessions and fun activities, both scheduled and spontaneous (like the Franklin Institute, boxed lunches, a catered Philly cheese steak supper, an impromptu supper at that Asian Cafe that was so good we went back Saturday evening LATE, and they almost had to ask us to leave so they could close!)

Educon 2.0 was like no other conference I’ve ever been to (and that includes EdubloggerCon In Atlanta, which was more of a pre-conference un-conference idea.) There were no powerpoints or slide shows of bullets in sessions, only educators who served as facilitators to lead the discussion on how to make learning more engaging, more authentic, and how to get beyond the obstacles. There was a lot of discussion about NCLB and filtering, and educators who are not up to speed with the students we teach, who design lessons like it’s 1950 and not 2008. But it pleased me immensely to discuss these topics with the most powerful educators I know, and together strive to find a solution to these obstacles.

What struck me as odd?
There were ALL kinds of educators attending (200+), and they included 2.0 teachers, administrators, instructional technology directors, tech integrators, teacher librarians/media specialists, students, college professors, and more, and strangest to me, a broad range of technology and 2.0 skill base in using the tools, including absolute beginners to seasoned veterans. Many had heard of the conference from the tools we use, but others got it simply by word of mouth. It was great mix of our stakeholders. The only missing piece was parents, though many of these are parents too, so perhaps that was covered as well.

Re-occurring theme
“Touch them all.” David Jakes

Favorite Quote
NECC is a showboat compared to this. (Can’t remember who said it.)

Fondest Memories
Supper with the girls (me, Joyce Valenza, Carolyn Foote, Liz Davis, and others). We nixed on two restaurants Friday evening, writing them off due to crowds (after all, Friday is a date night.) We settled for the Asian restaurant, and shockingly enough, befroe we knew it, we had nine at our table. Then right after we ordered two more groups came in, and because the tables were somewhat close, the conversations continued well into the evening–by the end our crowd included close to 75 people. (See my pictured table!)

What I found MOST surreal
My RSS reader was walking around with me, and many were calling me by name. Yes, I do mean Chris Lehmann, Will Richardson, Joyce Valenza, David Jakes, Christian Long, Patrick Higgins, Jennifer Wagner, Woody Delauder, Glenn Moses, Ryan Bretag, and, well, I could just keep going here, but the I would not meet my goal of brevity…

Tons of time to connect!
I will probably blog some more about the conference, but I did want to leave this food for thought. I know it was an immense challenge that Principal Chris Lehmann of the Science Leadership Academy pulled off, but he pulled it off extremely well. But this is the first conference ever that only cost me $50 and included so many well established gurus. There was no exhibit hall, no badges or bags (though I did win a prize, a mug with the Educon Logo), and no frantic schedule of sessions w/ no time to talk between. This was by far the best conference I have ever attended, as each session was designed to be a conversation, with a full 90 minutes that more often than not allowed the participants to really connect, debate, and learn from each other. Many of them had some kind of interactive component (our session had participants draw a traditional library vs. a 21st century library, and then describe them; another session had the participants create a poem or lyric to share about the topic.) Then each session allowed 30 minutes to get to the next discussion, which allowed you to continue the conversation should you choose to. All for $50. WHAT A BARGAIN!!

My Personal Blonde Moment
Sunday morning I was to ride from the hotel with Liz Davis , since she had rental car and our planes left relatively close together. We would ride to the airport form SLA together. But I misunderstood the time, and thought she had left without me (and I was wrong i later found out!) But Will Richardson and Ryan Bretag were riding in Will’s car (a Prius!!) and Will offered to take me and my luggage over. So I hopped in. Will remarked that he really wanted coffee, and I told him if he would take a right there was a Dunkin Donuts and a little convenience store right there. So he drove up to the curb, quickly threw the car in park, and was out of the car I thought before it came to a halt. I swear it rolled about 6 more inches. I about freaked out! I was asking very excitedly to Ryan is the car stopped, is this car in park?? Now mind you I was in the front. Ryan answered yes, but asked to get out (the child door locks were engaged.) At this time I’m still not sure the car is actually in park, so I still a wee bit nervous. I’m trying to unlock his door, while inside panicked about the motion I know I detected. Ryan basically had to say (and as politely as he could muster,) “No Cathy–you have to open my door from the outside–the child locks are engaged.” Talk about a BLOND moment. Oh well, at least I can laugh about it now.

Funniest Memory
The panel discussion, where the panelists all sat at the table each with their laptops (Gary Stager, Will Richardson, Sylvia Martinez, Joyce Valenza, Chris Lehmann, and David Jakes–gosh I hope I didn’t leave anyone out!) Each panelist was using a Mac, all except David Jakes. Jakes began by mumbling “What is this, a Mac commercial?!”

Final thoughts–much of Educon was Ustreamed and so if you want to hear the archived conversations, be sure to visit on channel “EduconTV.” Oh well, back to my original question, are they real or virtual. If I was not sure before Educon 2.0, I know for absolute sure now. These friends are REAL!

Technorati Tags: educon20, ustream

I’m still reeling with the knowledge that my wonderful advisor from the University of South Carolina, Dr. Donna Shannon, is reading my blog. This just blows me away! Look at the bottom of this email she sent me:

W00T! Best of all she wants me to “virtually” join her SLIS 761 class to talk about Web 2.0 Tools with current students and educators working towards school library media specialist certification. Ain’t technology grand! She assures me since I use Skype, it will be fairly simple! I remember my days in library school and having visitors (back then it was not really done virtually other than one tv studio to another–i can’t believe I think that is so old school now!!) The visitors for the most part were highly successful practicing educators in the field. One of my favorites was a class where we had the “standards” folks in charge of testing from our very own state department of education. That was a powerful class. Lots of great discussion about “the test.”

So now I’m slated to be that practicing educator who will visit the class to offer words of wisdom. Oh geesh am qualified? I still feel like I’m such a beginner, learning new things in on-the-job training everyday.

So I ask you, my collective brainpower here in the blogosphere! What 2.0 tools do you think I should share and focus on? Blogs? Readers? RSS? Twitter? Social Networks? Aye-aye-aye where do I begin? Maybe I should regenerate and tweak an old preso? Let’s hear it! What do U think oh-collective-brainpower that I know as MY NETWORK!!

PS–You better believe I did a spell-check and proofed this one folks! I have a reader who can hold me accountable!

Image Attribution:

Image: Doctor Donna Shannon, Ph.D.
www.libsci.sc.edu/fsd/shannon/shannon.jpg

Image: “Donna_NoteJan08.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/c_nelson/2213786902/

Two Saturdays ago my family went from Humane Society to Humane Society hunting for me a pet to keep me company here at the beach.  I fianlly selected a black/white “tuxedo” kitten that we named Onyx. According to the Humane Society, Onyx was a 4-6 month old kitten, and I rapidly took to her. We paid for her shots and brought her home, and then I put her in the car to bring to Myrtle Beach (the work-week home away from home for  now.)

I have 2 other cats in Rock Hill, and they were most unhappy with the addition. It didn’t matter though because Onyx would stay in Myrtle Beach for now.  Since the adoption we received a letter in the mail from the Humane Society, and the paperwork revealed that Onyx, who is very small, is in reality 4 years old. She has been raised at the Humane Society where I got her.  I tell this b/c the kitty (cat) is absolutely miserable. She hides 100% of the time. She has been hidden for a complete 15 hour span once. I’ve only seen her out and about by accident. If she realizes she has been seen, she cries, and runs. If I catch her she extends all her claws, and she trembles. I think I have TOTALLY disrupted and devastated this cat’s life!

At the YC Humane Society, I did think it odd that most of the cats were in cages, but three or four (including Onyx) were totally free to roam all over the office.  Now I suspect these cats were safe to roam b/c the office was their home, the ONLY home they have ever known.  All of them were probably raised as kittens there.

My husband is planning to take Onyx back this Friday.   He said the whole reason we got her was to offer me companionship, and if all she does is cry, scratch, tremble, and hide, AND she is  4 yers old instead of 4 months old, she is totally set in her ways and probably very homesick.  He has pretty much convinced me that it is cruel to keep her. The Humane Society does have a policy that will allow this.

I don’t know…I do have terrible pangs of guilt that she is so terribly afraid.  SAD in Myrtle Beach. Sorry for the personal post. Not much to be professional about here.

I have been tagged once again for a meme; Thanks Liz (you are driving me from the airport to the hotel in Philly, don’t forget! ) This one though is a meme for your goals. Ha! One step ahead, cuz i already did that. So I’ll just link to it here: 2008 Goals.

What? I was supposed to list 8, and that link only lists 4? Okay let’s recap and add to the list:

1. (Recap) Shorter blog posts
2. (Recap) Relocate my blog (still working on this)
3. (Recap) Add video to my blog mix
4. (Recap) Redesign my presentations –NO bullet points; more pictures and storytelling]
5. (Not on original post) Reduce caffeine intake (five diet mountain dews in one day is way too much)
6. (Not on original post) Eventually eliminate soft drinks from my diet–I actually drank MILK tonight instead of a diet mountain dew!! (Extra info–I had to put ice cubes in it, which my 17 yo son said was gross!)
7. (Not on original post) Increase physical activity (and hopefully shed a few pounds)
8. (Not on original post) Create screencasts –Liz, I love the screencasts on your blog, and aim to make some of my own, both for 2.0 tools AND for using the library’s online catalog! So tired of telling kids how to find the lexile level of a book.

Here are the guidelines, and here are the people Im tagging:

The Bucket List meme was started by Jeff Pulver and is based on the movie. It seems to have not evolved much and is still essentially a list of things you hope to accomplish in 2008.

Tag! Your it:

Ann, Allanah, and NZ Chrissy

Image Attributions:

Image: ‘Mistaken For Strangers‘
www.flickr.com/photos/17106526@N00/1160993551

Image: ‘Dew on table‘
www.flickr.com/photos/32834428@N00/816947760

Image: ‘cute little milk‘
www.flickr.com/photos/34427466731@N01/131012552

Do Ostriches really bury their heads in the sand when frightened? According to “Phrase Finder” this is a myth. Ostriches basically when frightened lay down and flatten their heads along the ground, so as to disguise themselves from possible predators. But this reminds me very much of how our schools and IT deal with content they block at school.

I really, really, really try NOT to write about filters and blocked content so much. After all, I am a mother of one teen-aged son, and one young adult son in college. Living w/ guys you kind of know what their world revolves around, and how easy it is to be sidetracked by less than academic content, especially online.

But it is infuriating to know that I cannot access the Nings set up at school, even though many of my PLN resides there. I must wait until I get home to actually partake of the plentiful servings of rich content and collaborative opportunities that are there! Why are they blocked? They are classified as a blog, a social network, and a forum. I am getting ready to participate in a collaborative project, and yes, I want TOTAL access 24-7. I don’t want to wait until I get home from school. This opportunity could actually lead to GLOBAL projects for classes at my school, and egads, yes, during the school day! I belong to several nings, including Classroom 2.0, TeacherLibrarian, and most recently Powerful Learning Practice for Teachers and Students. These are NOT risqué, profane-laced sites, but rather places where I can learn more, and pass the learning on to students and teachers, even at my own school. If there was ever a place to see authentic 21st century learning, the Nings I am a member of are it. And best, its members are ready to open their arms and welcome all, and can answer JUST ABOUT any question.

This has been nagging me for some time, but it has become really frothy and ready to fizz right over. You see I tried to network w/ another friend, and low and behold she wasn’t getting any of my emails b/c her email filters out all incoming mail from gmail. Now what’s with that? I know many of the EXPERTS in the field use GMail as their primary email for professional contacts. Is this district making the implied statement that only pedophiles, rapists, child-killers, and prostitutes use gmail? What about parents who use email and want to contact their child’s teacher?

Well, very soon I will be participating in a learning/leading excursion and will be charged with leading a group of newbies into the fray we know as web 2.0. Our main portal will be a Ning (called Powerful Learning Practice for teachers and students,) and my goal is to hopefully generate some collaborative projects for my school and students, and therefore we will need that portal (Ning) open. Yes folks, its time to approach IT about loosening this clamp on Nings. All blogs, nings, wikis, and social networks are not bad for kids.

Let us be the professional and offer guidance into sites where we can teach our students to evaluate situations and circumstances and exhibit making good choices–what an authentic teaching scenario—instead of sticking our heads in the sand, like the fabled ostrich.

Image: ‘untitled‘
www.flickr.com/photos/49358150@N00/298444281

Image: ‘ostrich‘
www.flickr.com/photos/13119988@N00/213159950

Lucy Gray led a session at MacWorld in San Francisco, and asked readers to respond to these questions. I missed the original call, as I fell behind in my reader. But I do want to respond, and so I figured I would respond both here (and there, albeit a little late.)

• Why and when did you start blogging?
  I began first with a blog for my school library, and use it to talk to kids about the SC Book Award Nominees. I was already reading many blogs, actually discovering a whole new world called the blogosphere in Philadelphia at NECC 05. During the summer of 2006 (5/31/06) I launched the library blog (titled @the Northside Library which btw is now defunct since I no longer work there), and then that same school year, birthed my professional one-TechnoTuesday: Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts begun October 1, 2006. I started the school one as a tool to discuss the book award nominees. I did so to expose students to the read/write web, and then a professional one to further my own learning, as I saw what the impact reading other professionals was having on my own learning. Little did I know then I was cultivating a PLN or PLE.

• Do you blog for yourself? Yes and no. I began with intentions to involve students, but in my school environment and teaching situation, I just do not feel it was a successful as I would have liked. But it did not deter me. I even had authors who I was blogging about respond. Then when I began my own professional one, initially I felt I was just echoing my thoughts in my head. But it was therapeutic. I would say that specific bloggers were my catalyst, but I was reading so many it would be unfair to name one or even two.

• Do you use blogs in the classroom? If so, how (briefly)? I used to sponsor book lunches, and one way kids could get invited was to comment on the blog. I still use a school library blog in my current position, but I have to promote it to get student interest and reactions. If I don’t remind kids, they don’t visit and read. That may be just that this is still new to them –that of a read/write tool being available in school. Our kids are just not accustomed to them being open instead of blocked.

• What blogging tools/software do you rely on? I used to like technorati to find edublogs, but I’ve sort of lost interest and trust in it. But it was a tool used to help me find blogs to read. For blogging, I have used Blogger, primarily b/c it was easy. But I went over to Edublogs, and have been there since. I am not 100% happy with Edublogs, but they are listening to my concerns, which is making me interested in staying with them right now. Other important tools I use for blogging are flickr for hosting images (I had no idea how much space I was using in my 100mb of free space for pictures–I wish someone had told me that!) and a reader for reading the blogs I subscribe to. I used Bloglines, but played at Google Reader for a while. I went back to Bloglines, but that may be b/c it was comfortable and well known.

• What’s your most powerful/memorable experience that’s resulted from blogging? There have been several but I’ll note just a few. First memorable experience was having authors of children’s books to respond on my blog. Second, to get a surprise nod in a session I was attending in my own state Edtech Conference. Helping encourage me to blog also was my ClustrMap, which showed me that I truly had a worldwide audience. Last, to be mentioned just recently as a Woman Edublogger of 2007 in a popular blog. WOW.

• What’s your favorite blog? I’m not ashamed to mention my favorite today, as I’ve noticed many have held back here. But my favorite changes every 2 months or so, just as the topics and latest new thing changes too. My favorite blog right now is Dean Shareski’s Ideas and Thoughts.

• What’s the title and url of your own blog?
  TechnoTuesday: Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts
  http://technotuesday.edublogs.org/

Now I suppose I’ll go copy/paste this over at Lucy’s original log post too.

Today I am writing about self promotion!  It’s so hard to do that, but it was a necessary evil that I succumbed to today. I will share about my eye doctor’s visit and an article I was asked to write up for the SCASL Media Center Messenger (our state school library asssociation’s quarterly journal.)

First up–Eye Doctor Visit
The appointment today was a six month follow up to my eye surgery from August. I wrote about it before here.  Today I find that my vision is 20/20 and 20/25 BUT I have developed “yag,” a side effect where scar tissue is causing my vision to be a little cloudy.  I have to go back in for a treatment which essentially means they will buff the sack that the synthetic lens sits in, and eleminate the cloudy effect.  I hadn’t really noticed that my vision was a little cloudy, but described it more as a little blurry.  My doctor (Dr. Christenbury) says it’s very common and very correctable.  I also will get a touch up Lasik procedure to make my eyes vision balanced and even better.  Woo haa!

Second, I was asked to write up an article for the Media Center Messenger about my Edublogs Award Nomination.  Does anyone know how hard it is to brag on one’s self?  I struggled with what to write, but I really felt it does deserve a mention, so I wrote the article. I did ask the editor of the journal to place it in the journal as written anonymously or written by her, the editor, as I felt it would look bad if I signed it as author.  But you know what? Anyone who knows my writing style will immediately know I wrote it.  Perhaps I’ll resend it and write in first person instead.  I’ll think about it.

What? You wish to see it? Ask, and I’ll send you the copy. Comment and include your email in the comment form (which will not be public) and I’ll be sure to share my little self serving promotion of “Cathy Nelson” who DID NOT win the 2007 Eddie, but instead has won much more.  Yes, that’s exactly how I feel.

Perhaps tomorrow I’ll get back to the business of writing about well…, ya know…, my “professional thoughts.”