Tag Archives: parenting

Get an A Plus

Ashton Kutcher
via InStyle


twitter.com/aplusapp/status/961355137343143937

  @lisahopeking

Ashton Kutcher’s new media company A+ is off to a start that, well, suits its name.

On the surface A+ is a website that publishes feel-good content. Some of the upbeat, quirky headlines read like those on Upworthy — “They Expected To Rescue 1 Dog, But A Few Days Later There Were 10 More” and “You’ll Never See The World In The Same Way After Watching This.”

At its core A+ is a publishing platform that its founders hope will be used by writers, marketers, and celebrities who want to make viral content. In exchange for viral stories, A+ will pay some of its contributors a share of the ad revenue generated from their posts.

A+ was co-founded by Kutcher and two software developers, Kendall Dabaghi and Evan Beard.

“We situate ourselves as the new social publisher,” Dabaghi told CNNMoney.

Already, A+ has attracted an impressive audience with very little promotion.

Read article at money.cnn.com

A Story about Mom

I am in a discussion group for the book Recovering from Loss in Life, by H. Norman Wright.  I believe we have much to benefit from reading and talking ala book club like.  I even created an online book club on Goodreads.com, though it hasn’t yet come to fruition.

Have you experienced good results from book discussion groups?  If so, to what do you attribute their success?  I feel determined to pursue them out of an expectation that the effort will be well rewarded.

At this stage in my current group, I am applying one of the questions in Chapter 2 – healthy things I will do to respond to my next loss – by writing about my mother.  Her late stage dementia is a loss I want to cope with.  So, for my healing, and for her honor, I am remembering some good times that she created in my life.  I’m quite sure some fond memories will be a safe destination.

Once upon a time…

My senior year in high school, we lived far enough away that walking from home would not work.  I had a zero hour (7am) class because I played saxophone in the performance band.  As a member of the cross country and track team for the school, my team workouts wound up anywhere from 5 to 5:30pm before heading home.

We could not afford for me to have car, and I did not have a job.  What did mom do?  I drove her to work by 6:30am for her job that started at 8.  After dropping her off I would head to school in her car.  After work, she would get rides home from co-workers.

This was our routine, done with no fanfare, with no big discussion about sacrifice nor any acknowledgment that anything was special or extraordinary.  It just was.

This example reflects a myriad of the shared experiences which she contributed in our lives.  The nature of how my mother treated life and family can be imagined, I hope, from considering her role in this story.  I love you mom.

Finally Understanding My Mother

Finally Understanding My Mother

1967

Like another lifetime

Yet the same lives,

My dad, your husband,

Is off fighting the war

In Vietnam.

Your thoughts are with him,

Wondering, is he safe?

Is he hungry?

Will he make it home?

Not wanting to think about it,

Not wanting to watch the news,

But worrying nonetheless.

My little sister wonders too

Though it looks like she’s playing

Making lines in the dirt

Like a meditation.

I stand quietly.

Thinking. Pondering.

Wondering how to help.

Maybe just standing by your side.

Is enough.

 

Now, I understand

How strong you really were.

https://joannaoftheforest.wordpress.com/2018/03/22/finally-understanding-my-mother/
— Read on joannaoftheforest.wordpress.com/2018/03/22/finally-understanding-my-mother/

My friend Ann died recently. On Mother’s Day, thoughts of her and other mothers who have left us.