I am finally finishing the latest script that I have been avoiding like the plague. Your Productivity with posts and Tweets have inspired me. Thank you, Slackmistress! -
Also, Just noticed you hail from Glen Ellyn. I was just there a week ago - Visiting Family back there. I knew there was something " Midwest" about you . :)
I'm not hating on the Nerd Girls - I think education is a fabulous thing. I hate the idea that the thing that's supposedly amazing is that they like lipstick and high heels and things that "typical" girls like. Which may be more a function of how the Newsweek writers wrote them (and I think I even say this in my post) rather than who they are.
The whole idea of the NERD GIRLS arose because of a lack of females in the engineering community. The founder is a female professor who felt that she had to overcome to reach the same levels of success that she saw her male counterparts encounter with less [whatever] - typical story in any field.
The point then, that you can extrapolate, is that the NERD GIRLS are meant to be an outreach program. The image of the NERD GIRLS you see has little to do with the actual program, an image created by studios and photographers to sell an image to the bright lights and flashy colors media machine.
The NERD GIRLS are meant to show that girls who tend to shy away from science at a young age because of the stigmas attached to the 'Nerd/Geek/Whatha veyou' community which dictate that you cannot be both 'wanted/beautifuf ul/recognized/pop ular' and also study hard and use your brain for something other than color matching and body painting.
The NERD GIRLS are a good thing. Did they sell out the name a little by doing a super upbeat photoshoot/video shoot, sure. Will there be any negative side-effect as many of you have suggested, absolutely not. This will not cause girls to forget that they are smart. This will not cause girls who are smart to long for beauty any more than every magazine and tv show you've ever heard of already does. Hating (if i may use a colloquialism) on the NERD GIRLS seems to be nit-picking minor aspects of how you 'wouldn't have done this or that' and much less about constructively criticizing a group that is seeking to promote the value of education. So you're against education? Now I understand your point of view...
Love the site! That was the best smack in the jewels since "Man hit by Football in Groin" won an Academy Award. I enjoyed the science lesson as "pain receptors" let the body know to elevate pulse heart rate, etc... Maybe next time they'll show us how the amazing human body will shut down to protect itself when hit repeatedly in the head with a shovel. Sport truly is a sweet science.
Chris Brogan has written at length on building a personal brand, most recently in this post "The Real Power of Personal Branding." While Chris may be addressing those who use Social Media for business purposes, his entire three-part series (part one, part two, bonus round) is chock full 'o good stuff that we'd be wise to remember. It's this part that caught my eye:
Here’s the secret to personal branding in a nutshell: be consistent.
I'm a big fan of being who I am no matter what the circumstances. Sometimes I'll play it up, sometimes I'll tone it down. Sometimes I'll have to use the dreaded winky face to make it extremely clear that I'm kidding. But tone is tough thing to discern on the Internet. News Flash, right?
But occasionally I'll get a blog comment from someone I don't know well that I'll read, re-read, and read once again, trying to decipher if I'm being insulted or the commenter is attempting to be funny. Is it snark or is it a swipe? My first line of inquiry is always to right to their blog, as a post or two gives me some context in which to place their comment.
I'm a fan of the don't-dish-it-out-if-you-can't-take-it rule, which means don't post a comment on someone else's blog if you can't handle it being said on yours. Just because a blogger works blue doesn't give you carte blanche to be a jerk - there's no "safe spot" to be an ass (well, maybe Fark.) I'm shocked sometimes at the disconnect between how someone writes on their blog and how they comment on other people's blogs. Being who you are - consistently - can help avoid potential misunderstandings. It's not only the key to building genuine relationships online, it's the first step to bringing who you are online into the real world.
Last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend TweetUpLA, a gathering of Los Angeles Twitterfolk, and for the first time in awhile, I knew almost no one at an Internet Gathering. My first instinct was to duck and run. Thankfully, I've learned to ignore myself. So what did I do? I wandered up to strangers and introduced myself. And then when they said "hey, who wants to pose for pictures?" I was the first one up for the photobooth.
And I was completely ridiculous. Which is pretty damned consistent.
Remember when the Internet was a safe haven for the socially awkward? Antisocial Networking is a little bit of Nerdvana: a place to ask questions and wax poetic about the politics of dating and relating in a social networking world with your host and Nerd Yenta, the slackmistress & along with the Geek Girls Advisory Board.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? click the magic button below:
