Everyone who has been in Goddess blogsphere land
over the last 10 years was seen or being seen at
Navy Pier on day one of Blgher Chicago. 2007.....
Divine exhausting and feeling very Marlene Dietrich
Bring on day 2

Vita

Well I have arrived in the windy city, Chicago
via LA....Ah ya ya LA a city where they take
nothing on board nor prisoners. However it would
appear quite keen to strip one of possessions.
Particulrly ones fluids, and essential sharp items.
Lucky ones lingus (tongue) is attached...Lucky for
them I was parched and not in New York mode YET.....

Letting go of their lack of manners but holding firmly
on to my CDM luggage (see my link to Catherine Mamuell
on the right)... One may need to refresh the page ..
I am now relaxed and fed and being whooad wowed and loved
in fabulous Chicago...

Having left cyper space I have now earthly contact
with my the divine and delightfu Blogher teamm....
Leaving the way open to intimate dialogue and fresh liquids
in a world full of goddess's.....

Ready for more moisture and good manners....
I must away...
Vita

"To speak Gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to
enact Gratitude is generous and noble, but to live
Gratitude is to touch Heaven."

Heaven it is! May the journey of gratitude make
us noble and able to live with graciousness and
glee. Let us all love our journey's as will be..

To fully live our inspirational stories, we must
engage and witness ourselves and our immediate and
global families shifts into new patterns of being.

We must allow ourselves to grow evolve to forgive
and to flow into the NOW with Grace kindness.
and Gratitude for what has been and what will
become.

We must allow everything to flow into place and
proceed everyday with Faith and Wisdom. Letting go
of old patterns linear~ness and always trust that
everything is in order.

Leaving on a jet plane and in the flow of a northern
summer...

linkwww.nywift.org/

Vita

'I AM BLOGHER, HEAR ME ROAR'(AGE TITLE)

Below is the AGE newspapers edited version
published in "Next Technology " section Tuesday
17th of July 2007......

Stay tuned to VITA for my original content.

The use of blogs and online forums to build a
political voice for women will be discussed at
this month's third annual BlogHer conference
in Chicago, US, titled "A World of Difference".

see Vita's quick for the Blogher link

The three-day conference is expected to host 1000 women.
Liza Sabater, a political panel member at BlogHer and
a participant in the conference, believes blogging has
improved women's opportuniy to have a political voice
online.

see my previous article and interview with LIZA

"Some of my readers are mothers I meet at soccer or at
gym events involving my children," says Liza, who
is also the creator and lead writer of Culture Kitchen,
ranked by ndnpac.org as one of the top 100 progressive
blogs in the US.

see Vita's links for the Culture Kitchen link

"I have had friends who have thanked me for the site
because 'you help me make sense of all information
that's bombarded to me from TV and newspapers'.

"I am not just a blogger or online pundit. I am a
real person and a real mum who helps people
understand politics by evaluating the spin from
the facts."

Another of the speakers at the conference will be
Kim Gandy, president of the US-based National
Organisation for Women (NOW), the largest
organisation of feminist activists in the US with
500,000 members.

linkwww.now.org/

Kim recognizes the use of the internet as an invaluable
tool that is empowering women. She says the NOW site "has
definitely exposed more women to the organization"."Women
who don't have time to attend meetings or events are able
nonetheless to participate in effective activism."

It raises the question how has the internet empowered
how political voices are heard and acted on? According
to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, twice
as many Americans used the internet as a key source
for information about the 2006 presidential campaign
as from the previous election.

While Australia has been slower to follow this trend
some sites are growing in influence. EMILY's List, the
national organization aimed at getting more progressive
Labor women elected to parliament, uses its website to
foster interaction among members.

EMILY's List convener Hutch Hussein says: "It definitely
gives us wider reach and allows our 'expat' members to
stay in touch and the opportunity to shape the society
of their home country."

see Vita's quick links for the American and Australian
EMILY'S LIST site

The BlogHer site burst into the blogsphere two years ago.
It is a community website in which more than 9000 women
have registered their blogs, posted their views and shared
experiences.

The site was created by Elisa Camahort, Jory Des Jardins and
Lisa Stone in an effort to answer the question, "Where are the
women bloggers?"

They will all be out having a voice at Blogher in Chicago 27th
28th and 29th of July 2007
See you in the windy city next week...
Vita

Part 3 interview with LIZA of Culture Kitchen.
WOMEN'S VOICES USING SOCIAL MEDIA AS A TOOL

Women networking, consuming and producing in
the 21st century...

VITA
How have things changed for bloggers since
the advent of media owned blogging sites?

LIZA
The game has changed, especially in the last
two years.58% of blogs out there may well be
women's blogs Yet if 90% of the traffic is
only going to just 10% of those blogs..

Given that 10% is not only being funded by big
media companies they are also increasingly being
run by men. I question whether that 58% is really
making a difference? A question I have yet to
answer....

VITA ASIDE
I guess to truly assess that question we need to
to look at what the original research is being
based on? What questions are being asked and
who is assessing what is influence? (This
statistic was sourced from PEW research)

Mmmm what data is being assessed to determine
these figures? How far is the reach? On the up
according to "PEW" women's blogging sites have
more longevity than men's. blogging sites..

(See vita's links for "PEW's" research
on that issue under 'USA internet research".

VITA
Liza how has having a blogging website
changed your sense of influence & impacted
on activism by and for women?

LIZA
It has demystified the whole process of
influence building and has shown me how
old habits are hard to break even if you
are a new media whiz. US politics is all
about money as power.

For some reason or another the bloggers
who have taken to this 'reality' are the
people who came out of the 2004 campaign
blogs and most of them are male.

The majority of feminist bloggers in the
USA do not come out of that sphere of
influence They do not fund raise, nor
endorse specific candidates.

In the game of mainstream politics, these
things matter and the influence of feminist
bloggers as a whole is not as dramatic as
the self-described 'netroots."

VITA ASIDE
"Netroots is a recent term coined to describe
political activism organised through blogs
and other online media, including wikis and
social network services." (wikiapedia)

LIZA
Although "Netroots" are a small slice of
the women blogosphere. In particular sites
such as "Riverbend' have highlighted the
cause for Iraqis who are against, the
occupation of her country.

linkriverbendblog.blogspot.com

VITA
Where is her voice now we may well ask?

BLOGHERS INFLUENCE

see my quick links for the BLOGHER site

LIZA
BlogHer is proof, there is a whole world of
women blogging about a whole universe of issues.
The influence of women in technology blogs has
grown dramatically, thanks in part to women like
Mena Trott (SixApart) and Caterina Fake (Flickr).

linkwww.caterina.net/

see previous article for the "SixApart" site

Mommybloggers are not only becoming a force
to reckon with in consumer activism but they
are dispelling the myth that most internet
users are male, white and under the age of 30.

However we still have a huge majority of minority
women, mostly women of color under 30, who are
communicating online through cellular technologies
yet not necessarily partaking of the blogosphere.

This is not a problem of digital divides.It
is a problem of digital exclusions, with the
new majority of colored and ethnic under 30s
not meshing seamlessly with what is happening
on the blogosphere. If there is an ugly truth
about the blogosphere that keeps me awake at
night, this is it.

VITA
Do you have a belief that women are leading us
into the 21st century..if so is this happening?
Has the internet and blogging influenced that
change?

LIZA
This is an interesting question. Do you mean to
say that women will lead us into the 21st century
as consumer or as producers? As consumers, there is
no question about it. I believe women are actually
more interested in the practical application of
networking technologies than men are.

There has obviously, been a major increase in the
consumption, of computers and cellular technology
for domestic use. Yet the real movers and shakers
are the makers, not the consumers. If we look at
some of the companies out there: Ebay, Six Apart,
Blogger, Flickr --these all have (or have had)
women among their founders.

In that sense, yes, sure, women are also blazing
the trail. Yet the problem is that I still see most
of the investment money offered to male-run projects

This is painfully true in the blogosphere, where
more than a few 'top blogs', (including some of
the political ones), have been funded by, angel
investors and/or angel donors.

NEW TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGING OLD PARADIGM'S

LIZA
I have come to this observation on the issue:
Most of the web2.0 technologies we are enjoying
now have been disruptive to old political, media
and business models. Yet not necessarily changing
their infrastructures and their hierarchies.

That is because we are still in between the old
and truly revolutionary new. We have "created"
disruptive technologies yet what we need right
now are disruptive social dynamics.

VITA
It would be interesting to know whether PEW'S
research questions were asked in other community
languages other than English as a first language?

LIZA
In America pro-union Latin is, primarily leading
this movement. American working class women are
"having an impact on this change".Most of them
are over 25. Their networking tools, of choice
are cellular phones, email lists and occasional
MySpace and Flickr accounts.

I am looking forward to the 2008 elections. I
believe, is not the middle class college-educated
blogger who will be making a difference.

My observation and instincts tell me that the labor
/immigration movement led mostly by working class
Latinas who are going to crash into everybody's
political party....

Vita

Part 2: from Liza the publisher and one of the team
at ?culture kitchen?. Liza talks to me about 21st
century women creating change. The influence and
the impact these women are having as ?consumer
and producers?, in the world of ?netactivism?.

See Vita?s quick links for her site, or on
my article below this interview.

VITA
Has the use of ?culture kitchen?s? website
enhanced grass roots activism and reached
women who may never have a voice before?

LIZA
Blogs are not entities by themselves. Blogs
are points or nodes in a whole network of
relationships. I reach regular folks, yes,
but most of the people I know who read my
site are 'influencer's' in the activist
world here and abroad.

I reach them offline through conferences
and workshops. I help a lot of activists
advocacy groups and issue specific groups
to jump start their own online efforts.
For some it may be a blog, for others it
may be a wiki, an online forum or an email
list. Many of the conversations continue to
happen offline as well and developed outside
of the culturekitchen sphere.

VITA
The internet research company PEW have
found through their research, of blogging
sites they identified 58% are sites by
women and in fact maintained longer than
men?s blogging sites!

LIZA
Yes, I am aware of that but I am hesitant
about those numbers. LiveJournal was one
of the first places for women to establish
a voice and easily publish online.

Please note I have chosen to not link to some
sources that LIZA has mentioned. However do
seek them out ones self if one is compelled
to do so.....VL

LIZA
It was not until after ?SixApart? bought into
the market did Live Journal have a much
higher profile as a 'blog' service.

linkwww.sixapart.com/

(Mena Trott is the co founder of the site above
and it is worth reading her profile on the site
and her longevity in the industry) VL

LIZA
It is the same with (?Murdoch?s purchase?)of the ?MySpace?
site and a myriad of other social networking sites. I am
an old school blogger, so I take issue with calling people
who write on those sites, bloggers. I wish I were more
enthusiastic about the figure but the truth is that out
of the 65+ million blogs out there, more than 2/3 are
splogs (spam blogs).

LIZA ON START UP CAPITAL
In addition, what is worst, most of the successful
blogs launched these days have a big chunk of capital
or start-up money behind them. Look no further than
Arianna Huffington and her site.

VITA AS AN ASIDE
Arianna appears to have an excellent PR machine
and lots of connections in celebrity land.It
would be fascinating to know what her market mix
is and why people read her column?

LIZA
It used to be you could have an actual audience
of thousands with just a blog and good content.
Now it is increasingly difficult for anybody, but
especially for women and minorities, to launch a
blog and break out of the dark confines of the
'long tail'. Given bloggers just want a few
readers, then that is not an issue.

However, when you are blogging to make a
difference in the world, having a handful
of readers can be a challenge, not a
breakthrough.

Especially when you have old media companies
throwing millions behind their 'little' blog
ventures.

Part 3 from LIZA on the influence of women and
net/activism soon...
Vita

Culture Kitchen Publisher and writer Liza Sabater,
talks to VITA on life in the politically charged
blogsphere world....

linkwww.culturekitchen.com

PART ONE

VITA
How many women are using your website as a
resource for political information and as a
means of activism for them? Does Culture Kitchen
know the breakdown of how many women are regularly
accessing the site?(Geographical socio economic
and age)

LIZA
That is hard to tell... I honestly do not take
women or men's user names at face value because,
on the 'internet' nobody knows really knows. In
addition, I have found this to be true on blogs,
not so much on email lists. There is an aspect of
email lists that gives a certain level of real
'intimacy that propels even anonymous bloggers
to use pseudonyms or even their real names.

I cannot give you specifics for these questions
because I do not ask those questions. I am more
interested in how people reach my blog semantically
because it gives me an idea of the psycho demo-
graphics of the people reading us.

Most people who stumble upon our site are
not looking for political information. On
the contrary, they may be looking for the
latest on a variety of topics: pop culture,
education, movies, recipes, midwifery.

That is because "culturekitchen" is not a
blog about women's issues. Most of our writer?s
feminist practices inform their critical analysis
of culture and politics in a blog.

People that hit our site, on purpose do so because
they seek more than the academic does 'SHE SAID,
SHE SAID' of most feminist blogs. (or broad sheet
media for that matter)....

People who stumble upon our site by accident do
so because they were looking either for p..n
or for the latest gossip. Those are the ones I
am most interested in because if I see in my
traffic logs that any number of these people
stayed long enough to read more than one article.

Then I feel we have accomplished our mission of
providing a critical eye to the issues (and
trends) of the day.

VITA
What are the issues that are paramount and are
consistent over the time you have been involved
with grass roots activism particularly for women?

LIZA
On women's issues, we consistently have been
involved with causes around reproductive rights.
Here is a good example

linkwww.culturekitchen.com/archives/003437.html

VITA
What impact do you see the Culture Kitchen website
having for women accessing information and being
empowered to have a voice?

Do you see the impact of change happening via the
use of your website as a way for women to have a
voice?

How is this impacting and changing the status
for women?

LIZA
Some of my readers are mothers I meet at soccer or
at gym events involving my children. I have had
friends who have thanked me for the site because,
as one of them said to me, "you help me make sense
of all information that's bombarded to me from TV
and newspapers".

I am not just a blogger or online pundit. I am a
real person and a real mom who helps people to
understand politics by parsing the spin from the
facts. Yet, on a more personally political
level, I am probably one of a handful of '
minority' women who are prominent in the US
blogosphere.

I also came to prominence outside of the clique
of candidate and Capitol Hill bloggers that are
now considered the 'big blogs sites'. Therefore,
it means a lot to my readers that I am a Puerto
Rican black woman over 40 with influence in the
political blogosphere; shattering the conceit
that said blogosphere is male. That is All white,
all under 30 and all upper class.

Just by being here,I help make a difference

More later from LIZA shaking the cage in the
blogsphere world

A world where women speak and are heard!!

Vita

This from Louise Barry

"Two years ago I was on a bus that was blown
up by terrorists. Three months in traction &
six operations later, I'm asking for your help
to prevent this from happening to any more
people.

These recent attacks in the UK have not
only brought back some really painful
memories, they've prompted me to make
a television ad and we need your help
to show it.

Please watch my urgent plea here:

linkwww.getup.org.au/campaugn/PleaseMrHoward

I thought going to war in Iraq was supposed
to make us safer, not put us in more danger.
Now we're hearing it was for their oil. Some
of you may have seen me ask John Howard from
my hospital bed whether he thought what had
happened to me was a result of the war in
Iraq.

I did not think then that two years later
that Australian troops would be still be in
Iraq. I am compelled to ask the Australian Prime
Minister(Mr Howard) the same question.

Yet here we are our military presence is not
making the Iraqis any safer; it is not making
Australians any safer.

Why, exactly, are we there then for?

I want to help the Iraqi people, but not at
the end of a gun. Our involvement in the
violence in Iraq will only lead to more
violence. Why can't we instead spend the
money on reconstruction programs?

I have first hand experience about the
real cost of terrorism. Please, help me
compel the Australian Prime Minister to
leave Iraq NOW.'

Louise Barry
Survivor, 2005 London Bombings
GetUp member

Indeed Louise has an excellent point. What are
the "Coalition of the willing' trying to achieve
by still being in Iraq? How long will it take
one may ask to "win", as they put it..How many
people need to die to achieve peace? Who is
determining the fate/ outcome of this appalling
and unjust situation....?

As Gretel from 'Australia's BIG Brother'
would say 'it's time to go"...On this occasion
there are NO prizes for endurance and suffering...
Leave now "Get up and give it up... There is
nothing to win from this fruitless and ego based
battle.. Focussed on patriarchal control.The
fall of the last empires and their sense of
what is right seems to be what may well be at
stake... We well may ask whom does this conflict
benefit? This question MUST be asked!!

linkwww.csiro.au/science/RenewableEnergy.html

Vita

Where did the word BLOG originate, from? A guy called
Jon Barger in the USA by all accounts?.However we at
?VITA? and my favorite ?Bowerbird? have been examining
the use of the acronym and ?musing? over the word ?BLOG?
Absolutely hilarious topic while considering ones
mountain top and what to marinate the kangaroo in...

linkcookalmostanything.blogspot.com/206/05/paper-chef-17.html

(click on the "SavedTimber")logo opposite for more
on the good wood at Bowerbird timber.You may have
to refresh the page due to the popularity of
sponsorship on VITA)..

BLOG ACROYNMS

Could it be, ?Big Ladies on Glass"

Mmmm, transparent indeed and rather vital and very
very naughty. Or it could be an exciting and
thrilling, 'Big Loving Organized Goddess?"
Ah, yes excellent branding for the modern Goddess?
(As opposed to temporary love and disorganization).
I am quite, taken with that acronym, myself.

Given the internet is made of 70 per cent temporary
pleasure for those sadly unable to commit to the
real deal in the human form. Tragic really!! Big real
love could well come back in Vogue....

Or is it "Brilliant Luscious Oral Goddess?s .."
Ah ya ya.... All volume no off button....Others
have felt it to be a far more ordinary concept.

A secret society for those confined to pajamas.
Cyber junkies addicted to their laptop in a new
world of global networking, from the comfort of
ones home office?

POLITICAL ANGLE FROM TARA
Meanwhile Tara popped in from one of my absolute
favorite networks BLOGHER..and threw into the mix
that the vibrant very verbal..?internationalization
(of the blog/internet) is a hotbed of political issues.
that one should encourage local business to flourish.
Then partner and 'hook in' rather than colonizing from
the US around the world?..but I guess it's too late on
the Yahoo/Google end?.

She could well be right on that angle? Alternatively,
one could take charge and galvanize ones networks to
challenge the big end of town.. With venture capital
and commitment within ones networks? Think and BE
local BE inclusive and live globally ?.

As a fabulous, Kennedy might well say Do not ask
what the world is doing for one...Ask what one is
doing for the world!

Tara is insigting me to be far too serious at this
hour, of day me thinks. What time is it in cyber
space? Anyway? Being of Buddhist persuasion I am
very vital and inclined to think it is right NOW!

Where is the "jim jams" draw in ones cyber space?
Is their room for the coffee maker... Or do people
BLOG in the N..E?

VITA GLASS
And what of ?Glass: could it well be a new addictive
insidious recreational d?g being pushed on YOU Tube
"MY Space" and "Second Life" ah ya ya?.What are all
those people doing over there? One may ask how many
?besties? does one need? What are they sharing over
on those sites? More on that issue later?.

?No time to waste over there?,as my extreme sporting
Goddess friend Scout would say! There are mountains
to conquer and great journeys and climbs to be
?Blessed Loved Ogled & Gripped? at the pinnacle.

However back to the ?BLOG? acronym, others with a
wicked sense of humor, have suggested,

?Brazen Ladies on Gin? or could it be.
?Bold Ladies Often Give? (great real love)!
Blatant Ladies on Giraffes?

As an aside checkout Catherine Manuells
new range of beautiful Westgarth created
luggage...It is divine and very much for
the bold ?brilliant? very NOW Goddess.

Catherine Manuell Design logo and link are
NOW under Vita's sponsored links. Refresh
the page or click on her link on this
article.

linkwww.catherinemanuelldesign.com/

VITA IS HERE TO STAY
So what ever the BLOG may be it is here
to stay, no longer a precarious arrangement
of blogging vs journalism. (Such a dull issue)
It is part of a grand and permanent plan in
the 21st century.

So make ones BLOG unbelievable unbeatable and
untouchable. Create a very personal presence
with ones BLOG. By all means, create a beautiful
loving oracle gorgeous space.

?BLOG?s by women will emerge triumphant heard and
listened to. Go forth and have a voice. Be credible
go at full capacity and one will discover the BLOG
within?

BLOGS are a great opportunity to create visibility
vitality vigor and vision, in a timeless place of grace
In cyber space where there is no doubt that we have a
bountiful voice.

Very vital with beautiful luggage (as opposed to others
baggage)
Vita