Significant day

Ugh. What a day. Suffice to say that I will remember today as a turning point in some of my work.

On the upside, I had one of my moms write that she is applying for law school. She was asked to write an essay about her community work and wanted to include what she has been doing on our message board for several years, now. She was worried that she would sound like a flake spending all her time online. So I wrote back:

Some folks still consider using computers to communicate as "not real", but I think there are ways to present your work as very real.

• You are serving the needs of parents who are otherwise isolated from local assistance
• You have made local contacts and assisted parents via phone and in person based on initial connections developed online
• You are able to spend time reading, comprehending and asking follow up questions before you craft carefully worded messages
• Via the board, you are able to advocate for local and national actions across the country
  

The commonality of these is that you are bridging the online with the offline. What you do online has a very real and positive effect offline.

She was worried that she was imposing on me by asking, but it's really nice to take a moment to reflect on the good that is coming out of my work.