Dopp Juice Archive

Let me tell you about a phenomenal woman named Sue Richards. Sue Richards lives in Canada. She started off on the “normal” life track — you know, go to school, get a job, be the best corporate monkey you can be… when suddenly, right smack dab in the middle of her default life, she realized she wanted to do so much more than sit at this boring desk. She threw her hands up in the air, screamed “SCREW THIS!” at the top of her Canadian lungs, and set out across the great land of “eh?” and “aboot” to do something phenomenal. Sue Richards became a social pioneer. A chunkful of fearless years later, she’s now the proud organizer of the multifaceted calendar project, Breast of Canada. On its sixth year of beauty, the Breast of Canada calendar is an incredible compilation of artistic photos and breast cancer awareness health information.Let me put it this way:

1. You buy the calendar and hang it in your kitchen.
2. You immediately have a fascinating conversation topic whenever someone comes over to visit, thus increasing your social prowess and reputation as a cultured, artistic, and interesting friend.
3. You learn about and increase your awareness of breast health, body image, and general health.
4. You feel good that the net proceeds of your purchase are going to help the Canadian Breast Cancer Network
5. Every day you look at the calendar, you are reminded of the story of Sue Richards — the phenomenal woman who broke free of the daily grind to save the world one boob at a time.

Sold yet? Good. Now go buy your Christmas/Hannukah/Solstice/Yule/New Years gifts here: http://www.breastofcanada.com/order.phpI’ve got one. I’m also overexcited to get to January, just so I can start using it without looking too strange. Now, back to Sue. Sue’s my hero for a lot of reasons. One is that she broke free of social restraint to do something phenomenal. Two is that she blogs in red satin gloves that stretch all the way up to her elbows. Three is that she runs an art collective. Four is that she tells the world about her menopause in a riveting must-read format. She is nothing short of outlandish, couragous, and fearless.Her other blogs include Calendar Girl, The Breast Views, and a local interest blog about her hometown, Guelph. I met Sue Richards at the Chéz Badgerbag Woolfcamp after the BlogHer ’06 conference. After bearing witness to her fearless presence, I bowed down before her and asked to be knighted a Breast Ambassador to the United States of America. She pulled out a four-foot long bejewelled sword with her red satin elbow-length gloves, tapped me on each shoulder with its razor-sharp blade, and blessed me. I moved mountains that day.

Maybe it’s for the best that I missed my chance at a two-day pass. More than one day of women, writers, and tech geeks all at the same time just might send me into epileptic seizures of joy. But I’m zooming in for Day 2 of BlogHer in San Jose, and I’m ready to get my tech chic on. Let’s go through the schedule with commentary, just for the sake of getting über excited:7:00-7:45 – Free Morning Yoga SessionIf I can get my San Francisco butt out of bed by 5am, I am totally there. This computer-chair body needs some crazy cat poses like a PHP needs MySQL.7:30-8:30 – Breakfast/NetworkingThis is where I wander around with big scared eyes and a bad-breath onion bagel, looking for people I know from WoolfCamp.8:30-9:00 – Welcome SessionThis is where I feel officially included, and my big scared eyes start to relax.9:00-10:00 – Opening Discussion: How are your blogs changing your world? The theme of the conference. I look forward to being able to put the answer to this question into words… besides “well, I go outside a whole lot less now…”10:00-11:00 – “Blog Crushes”. Test drives of sports cars, hybrids, and hydrogen fuel cell cars will also be offered at this time.Yeah, I’ve got my share of blog crushes… but ooh! shiny gas-free cars!11:00-12:30 – Workshops! Mommyblogging discussion, Craft Chick conversations, Online Identity Analysis, Deep Geeking, and Educational Blog Talk.This is where I become accutely aware of the fact that I’m not a MommyBlogger, unlike 75% of the women here. So I book it to the Online Identity and Deep Geeking, where populations are lower… because everyone else is discussing how the Internets viewed the flickr posts of their placentas.12:30-1:30 – Lunch: Networking by the PoolBy this point, I’ve found a few WoolfCamp cronies, introduced myself to some of their cronies, and struck up a few conversations with some random anti-social new cronies by the water cooler. Anyone who does anything remotely related to building websites has my business card in her pocket now. I think it’s about time to start a french fry fight.1:30-3:00 – More Workshops! Outreach blogging with Danah Boyd, Entrepreneurial Blogging with Dooce, Community Assistance blogging with Grace Davis, Blogging for Business with no one I’ve heard of, and Sex Blogging with Melissa Gira.This is where my head explodes with indecision, because I have to choose between seeing one of four of my heros speak, or going to the workshop that probably matters the most to me. I’ve been following Danah’s work for years. Dooce is a superstar. Grace is my blogging queen. Melissa Gira has a no-holds-barred attitude that will inspire any woman to stand on the front lines. And really, my interest is blogging for business. I will make this decision at the last minute based on who grabs my hand first and says “Come with me!”3:00-3:30 – BreakThank GOD!3:00-3:30 – MORE Workshops! NakedBlogging, ArtBlogging, PoliticalBlogging, GroupBlogging, and TransformationalBloggingThis is where I glare at the organizers and say, come on, couldn’t you have split my heros up between these this session and the last one? I’ll probably be in with the transformational folk… but really wishing it was being led by danah, dooce, grace, and gira.5:15-6:30 – Closing Keynote – Creating Your PlatformsThis is where I stand at the back of the room, point wildly at Grace Davis who’ll be on the panel, and scream “I know her! I know her!” really loud while she’s trying to speak.6:30-9:00 – Cocktail Party…and since I’ll have been inundating you with liveblogging entries all day long, this is when I’ll start mispelling my words.Wish me luck!