CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-03-27 21:12:31 (15 comments, 4 reshares, 77 +1s)

I wonder if the songs and poems heard in our dreams are really as poignant as we think, or just gibberish our brain is interpreting as profound.

 They're always so hard to remember upon waking.

(Says the girl who woke from a dream at 4:45 AM to write a poem about the poem she was forgetting.)


Photo by Lydia White: http://lydiaw.net

2013-03-26 21:17:02 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 61 +1s)

Today we stand up for love, lay down swords of hate, leave prejudice behind, and jump forward in our march toward universal human rights.


#SupremeCourt #prop8 #defenseofmarriageact  #DOMA

2013-03-26 17:37:20 (22 comments, 1 reshares, 50 +1s)

Pretty awesome that one of the trending topics right now is something in Korean. Love our international G+ community. ♥

...Wait. At least I hope it's awesome. 인피니트 isn't Korean for "pouring hot coffee on kittens" or something, right?

2013-03-22 20:00:33 (9 comments, 11 reshares, 85 +1s)

[Feel-Good Friday: Because it's so, so easy to forget to do this.]

And while you're at it, give yourself a hug. And maybe a milkshake. You deserve it. ♥


#FeelGoodFriday  

2013-03-22 18:15:28 (4 comments, 2 reshares, 28 +1s)

[Feel-Good Friday: Imagine a World Without Hate]

This video dares to, and its effects will touch you deeply. Simple. short, and poignant--perfect for #FeelGoodFriday. :)

2013-03-21 22:13:27 (30 comments, 13 reshares, 41 +1s)

[Is banning hugs part of the solution, or part of the problem?]

In light of the Newtown shooting, a Maryland school district is rolling out new rules that heavily restrict the type of contact adults can have with children on campus. Sounds well-intentioned enough, but this is taking things too far:

"A parent who is attending lunch recess can’t push a kid who isn’t her own in a swing or help a kid who scraped her knee put on a Band-Aid."

This is making me fucking outraged. Is this how we build communities? Is this how we care for one another and promote compassion and empathy? These types of restrictions on sharing love, tenderness, and caring with one another is exactly the type of shit that breeds lunatics wanting to run into a school and pop off a few rounds. We are moving so far away from solutions it makes me sick. We're only contributingto ... more »

2013-03-20 21:52:39 (74 comments, 159 reshares, 333 +1s)

[This nine-year-old philosopher has things all figured out. No, really.]
"Destiny is a guess--a guess of what it knows about you."

Oh, from the mouths of babes. This kid totally blew me away There are just too many unbelievable quotes in here to pick a favorite, but one thing I really love and appreciate about him is his repeated, humble admission that he may not know--that perhaps he is wrong. Most adults don't even have the confident humility to admit that. 

His answer to what the meaning of life is brought me to tears. I won't even bother quoting is because you just have to watch it in full. Can't wait to see what this kid becomes as he continues to grow.

"You never know for sure if there really is anything in the search. It's just---it's an endless quest without knowing what your quest is."

(This... more »

2013-04-18 12:35:22 (45 comments, 47 reshares, 221 +1s)

And would you impress yourself?

2013-03-18 20:59:22 (20 comments, 18 reshares, 38 +1s)

[News Flash, CNN: The entire point of a rape sentence is to disrupt the life of the rapist and tag him/her for life.]

It makes me violently sick how indistinguishable this Onion parody is from what just happened in the Ohio rape case: http://bit.ly/YmSifU

And as if rape wasn't bad enough, these men drugged and urinated on the sixteen-year-old girl. This is not a gray matter, or some type of "misunderstanding of consent." This was pre-meditated, malicious, dehumanizing, and a gang rape committed multiple times throughout the night. CNN better pay dearly for this. More here: http://bit.ly/16F8sbm

#Stuebenville   #TrentMays   #MalikRichmond

2013-03-18 22:24:58 (11 comments, 3 reshares, 21 +1s)

[The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows]

sonder
n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is perhaps the most romantic and moving collection of words on the internet. I think I've posted about it before, but every now and then I revisit it and am left breathless and inspired. A slice of its beauty is captured in the writer's response to a reader whoreach... more »

2013-03-28 19:13:26 (18 comments, 1 reshares, 74 +1s)

"Summer-summer-summertiiiiime..."

2013-03-18 03:14:55 (22 comments, 2 reshares, 100 +1s)

My dad, after encouraging me to take my writing more seriously by signing up for a writing class, and pointing out all I could gain from it:

"Yeah, I think it will really help you refine your craft. Plus maybe you'll meet your future husband!"
"Wow, improve my writing and meet my future husband, too, huh? That's a lot of bang for my buck!"
"Well really let's hope you get a big buck for your bang!"

Oh, Dad. ♥

#family  

2013-03-16 01:48:40 (3 comments, 3 reshares, 27 +1s)

TSBW Variety Show #50: ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY with Live Music from Sonia Rao!

Watch live on the hour! T-minus 12 minutes! Join us!

2013-03-16 04:43:47 (277 comments, 715 reshares, 1960 +1s)

Feel-Good Friday: Don't give up. These people didn't.

#FeelGoodFriday  

2013-03-13 23:17:45 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 35 +1s)

TSBW Variety Show #50: ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY with Live Music from Sonia Rao ! (On Air Hangout)

I'm amazed that I've been doing this for a year now and I'm thankful for every one of you that's been part of this. I'm going to be launching a free ebook this Friday about my "Run! Series" as a way to say thank you for your support. On Friday at 10:00pm ET we'll be joined by CEO of +Girlfriend Social +Amanda Blain; Photographer & Writer +M Monica who'll be talking about her recent NBC interview involving +Virtual Photo Walks™; +Alida Brandenburg; Print Publishing Professional +Laura Dochtermann; Photographers +Shantha Marie Fountain, +Maki Silberberg, +Jordan Oram, & +Rachael Alexandra; along with +Sonia Rao from NBC’s +The Voice who'll be playing a few songs for us. Let us know if you’d like us to answer anything.

For moreinformati... more »

2013-03-11 17:44:44 (37 comments, 4 reshares, 119 +1s)

[Winning +The Amazing Race might start with slipping into the auditions under the radar. After they closed.]

After over six hours of waiting, we were the very next people in line to go into the  +The Amazing Race auditions today when they closed it down and told us, and the other 800 people waiting, to go home. After all we'd been through, we pleaded with the +CBS News door woman to let us be the last people to audition, but she wasn't having it. Neither were we. Rather than accept it, my bestie and I melded minds and without another word exchanged, we both strolled right into the building like we owned the place and started filling out the required paperwork. "I'm sorry, and which forms do we need?" Holy shit this is going to work. Jedi mind-tricks activate!

But halfway through writing in our contact info, the +CBS This Morning  doorwoma... more »

2013-03-08 22:58:33 (44 comments, 18 reshares, 184 +1s)

[Mini-Memoirs: I wanted teardrops on my chest, not my pillow.]

I stood in the shower and prepared myself for my regular ritual, angling my body to face the sunlight in slight parallel, illuminating the silhouette of my pubescent figure against the plastic wall. I lightly pressed my index finger into the middle of my burgeoning breasts, forcing them into the perfect, perky circle I knew my anatomy was supposed to mimic. I stood for a moment, shifting side to side with my head tilted down, admiring the rounded figure that magazines and movies told me most other women had. But knowing my non-invasive alteration was transient, I released my finger with a defeated sigh, my breasts and spirits dropping in tandem. 

Later that year I would repeat this routine while standing in my mother's living room in my new boy-short bikini, tears gushing from my eyes, wetting my bathing suit... more »

2013-03-03 18:02:31 (26 comments, 7 reshares, 64 +1s)

[Mini-Memoirs: How I traded three slices of pizza for a duet with a homeless woman, and three of the best hugs of my life.]

I sat in my car as the sobs rolled through my body again and again like tiny earthquakes, shaking me and breaking me apart with each wave, too paralyzed to move. Exhausted after an hour, I wiped my face and reentered the world, careful to first cross the street to avoid the shadowy camp of a homeless person I'd noticed when I parked.

But before I got far, I heard her earnest voice rise up in the dark to accompany the melodic crooning of Vanessa Williams streaming out her handheld radio. "Sometimes the sun goes round the moon..." I felt a tug and crossed the street. I used to love that song when I was a girl.

"That looks like pizza!" the disheveled vagrant exclaimed, referring to the box of leftovers noticeable in my hand... more »

2013-03-01 23:00:41 (11 comments, 25 reshares, 69 +1s)

[Feel-Good Friday: Food isn't the only thing this restaurant is serving up.]

Restaurant owner, an Olympic athlete with more medals than Michael Phelps... and he has Down Syndrome? Absolutely inspiring. Check this guy out. What a beaming heart.

Especially for you, +Mike Searle. I hope you find this uplifting right now. :)


#FeelGoodFriday  

2013-03-01 19:07:09 (23 comments, 33 reshares, 195 +1s)

Feel-Good Friday: Keep searching and creating.

#FeelGoodFriday  

2013-03-01 04:49:21 (7 comments, 5 reshares, 55 +1s)

[Take my hoof, we'll make it I swear....]

By now you've all seen the "Goats Yelling Like People" video (wait, you haven't?! Here, let me change your life: http://bit.ly/147jT7F), but of course, as you know, the internet would never settle for just that level of awesomeness.

So I give you: Bon Jovi "Living on a Prayer"... Goat Edition. 

(Hint: there are tons more where this came from, including a Taylor Swift one! http://bit.ly/13s7M9d)

2013-02-28 19:32:55 (13 comments, 2 reshares, 24 +1s)

[Mini-Memoirs: Welcome to India]

December, 2005:

"Ashok grabbed a porter donned in his bright red uniform and passed him some rupees along with our bags, which the porter then heaved onto the top of his head in one swift motion. In a flash and before I could even process what was happening, Adam and I were nearly jogging to keep up with this man as we were swept into a sea of bustling people. I felt a slight sense of panic like a child trying desperately to keep sight of his mother through a crowd, with only fleeting glimpses caught in between the screen of passersby to calm the anxiety. A flash of blue over the tops of heads and bright red in between shoulders and I knew that my backpack was still within sight and we were still moving blindly in the right direction on the heels of the porter.

"Meanwhile, flashing neon colors of vending machines, the melodic... more »