My brother-in-law, a native Tennessean, used to shush his young sons up with a very loud, goodnatured, Simmah DOWN!, and that's what I think I'm going to have to say right here on the old blog.
SIMMAH DOWN!
I'm including myself in that admonition, too. I'm going to lay to rest the posts that provoked so much personal attack, even as the anonymous commenter told us her name in "self-defense." Thank you, Elise. I don't want to disable anonymous posts because I agree with another anonymous poster that privacy can be an issue, and I want to respect that. I also don't want to discourage people who disagree with me, and there have been many such back and forths over the years that are stimulating and interesting. I believe Elise has missed those and dwells, probably, on those that discuss G.W. Bush's nasty smile. I hope the back and forth continues and don't want to discourage it by disabling the anonymous function. I think where I draw the line is when someone directs comments at me, my husband or one of my children, because let's face it -- that sort of thing is creepy.
This is, after all, a blog.
As for Facebook, I've removed the Networked Blogs thingamajig, but I love seeing what my old friends are up to, enjoy the various interesting articles and humor stuff that is posted, and most importantly have a pretty incredible community of fellow epilepsy families that I just can't be connected to anywhere else.
So, onward.
What are ya'll doing today?
I gave my name because you and everyone on your blog seemed so hell bent on making me out to be the devil incarnate because I didn't give my name. As for GW, he had nothing to do with my post. You obviously missed the whole point. I just threw that in there because for someone who gets their feelings hurt so easily you seem to find it incredibly easy to insult others. A separate but equal point. I have read your blog from the beginning and read every fight between readers, family and trolls. I made some good points. Don't discount me and turn it into a GW thing. Signing off. Have a good day.
ReplyDeleteGood Lord! There are some angry damn people on this earth, aren't there?
ReplyDeleteSo...as to what I'm doing today?
ANYTHING I FUCKING WANT TO!
How's that?
Love you. Mean it.
The house looks like a hurricane hit as my daughter is packing to go back to college tomorrow. We will be driving her up in the morning. It will be our 28th anniversary. Setting our child up for a good year of school is as good a way as any to spend it I suppose. We can celebrate later.
ReplyDeleteSimmering down and sending love.
I'm going to do what Ms Moon said and I'll also be making pesto for the winter. I heard there's another Polar Vortex coming.
ReplyDeleteBest,
Bonnie
oh lordy lordy. brings to mind the lyrics, "we may be certain that some lovely day, someone will set the spark off, and we will all be blown away..." "They're rioting in Africa...they're starving in Spain; there's hurricane's in Florida, and Texas needs rain."
ReplyDeleteDon't know what the heck I'm doing this weekend...besides dodging wild turkeys in the road. La te da, la te da!
You have a good one, woman!
Can you just block that Elise because I love your blog and she is stressing me out.
ReplyDelete--Anne
Right on!
ReplyDeleteI missed the noise on your blog, but had a very small version of my own internet noise on the same topic, which led me to a similar chain of events: deleted controversial thread, considered deleting FB account, realized it's too vital. Now I'm left wondering if the commonly held belief is true: that the internet really is a place of disconnection, not connection. I'm hoping not. For now, I'm Facebook fasting. In other words: I feel you.
ReplyDeleteLove to you.
ReplyDeleteI took David to the ferry dock, from whence he took uber to the airport, from whence he is now winging his way to Maine for 3 months' work as a deckhand on a small cruise ship. Doesn't that sound like a great job out of college?
ReplyDeleteNext, I'm on my way to my first chiropractic appointment ever. Hoping she can straighten things out here. =)
Wishing all good, and only good, today and always.
Have you ever watched Seinfeld's online show called "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee?" It's funny. Might be a good idea for today. One of my faves is the one with David Letterman and the kettle corn. And the one with Larry David really reveals how their show came to be. xoxo
not sure what happened exactly, and not sure about the the correct way to reply to open (and civil) criticism that comes to one's blog - which anyone is generously welcome to read for free, and equally free to leave should the content not suit them.
ReplyDeleteI have my son's back to school picnic tonight will debut a new recipe, a tangy summer slaw made with lemon-miso dressing instead of mayo, from Girls Gone Child. It's also the last day of my vacation so I'll be living it up this weekend at a Nickel Creek concert.
ReplyDeleteTook Max for his annual checkup with his PCP, and ended up staying for 2+ hours working on a few plans going forward. Pretty incredible that his doctor spent 2 hours with him, when she was double booked to start with.
ReplyDeleteAs for this weekend...it's going to be beautiful, so my plan is to get outside and maybe pull up my garden which died some time in the July heat. I'm ready for fall!
My day? Fucking busy! Veins from hell. Allergic reactions. A patient with platelets of 3, which probably doesn't mean anything to you but OMG that's dangerous! A fight/discussion with the big guy about life, drinking, sobriety, what I will and won't take anymore, anger, addictions. It's been an awful week. Wish I was still on holidays:(
ReplyDeleteDisagreeing is okay but personal attacks are not and I wouldn't criticize you for deleting ugly comments. Today we swam in the nice pool of someone I don't know. That seems to happen here. It's the last day of summer break and my Utterly Southern friend brought cocktails, as she always does. I will pour one for you in my heart and pretend you are here with me, rocking on a porch on a not-too-humid evening as the sun goes down. (Our cocktails are Elderberry Pimm's, Gin, and blueberry basil syrup). Love you.
ReplyDeleteI am simmering down. I'm almost done.
ReplyDeleteOh my. Simmer down -- good advice for all of us!
ReplyDeleteAnd then here comes Ken to pee in the corn flakes.
ReplyDeleteI watched the stuff unfold, first hoping that your stat tracker had some level of accuracy, then wondering if I would have to defend my home state. But this was the only time I feel that I've had to disagree with how you handled something. Hopefully that is OK.
I don't like what was said to you, let me put that on the table. Not at all. Whether one agrees with your position or not, there are lines you cross and lines you don't.
That being said, you allow anonymous posting on your blog space. It is your choice. I think, and this is my opinion only, I think you do it because it ENCOURAGES more discussion. No one likes a dead blog. Just ask me.
But you said this above:
"privacy can be an issue, and I want to respect that. I also don't want to discourage people who disagree with me"
When you ID'd the person's location, essentially blowing their anonymity to a degree, you weren't respecting their privacy. You may want to, as the statement reflects, but in this case it did not occur, which can in some cases discourage people who would otherwise disagree with you, even though you suggest that you do not want this to happen.
I can't stand the stones people grow behind the shield of anonymity...can't STAND it...they say mean shit all the time. I have these comments on Bennett's seizures from YouTube I keep meaning to get to about Anon comments that are just fucking turdish. Well, they aren't Anon, cause I don't allow Anon...but they are from quickly set up phony accounts.
Anyway...my point is or was, somewhere left for dead way back there on the tracks, that if these things are truly want you want, sometimes you just have to sit there and take it. OR...you have to be able to say...this is not want I want, it's my blog and when you come here these are the ground rules and this is how we play. Which I think is totally cool and reasonable for you to DO.
Does that make any sense at all? This is Ken, I am from Ohio, and I am a non-anonymous guy just trying to express an opinion in a reasoned mannah that I hope did not come across as assholish in any way. :)
(The google account is new...I need to distance my old Google account from a new one to protect Bennett. He needs to have an isolated one that doesn't have me running around in it. I need to migrate the blog and junk...)
Kenneth Lilly -- Thanks for your comment and your humor, as always! First of all, I have no idea how to really figure out my stat record. You're far more savvy and experienced at that sort of thing than I. Second, when I figured out that my Anonymous commenter was from Ohio, it was a guess as that person visited over and over again, and I figured his or her interest in seeing what sort of reaction he or she would get determined that. Second, the comments were consistently offensive in that they attacked me, said creepy things about Sophie (in the context of attacking her mother) and other people in this blog community. I DO want to encourage discussion and differences of opinion, but that happens all the time on this blog, particularly when I write something political or talk about something controversial. And people generally use their names or make them up. That's fine. As a rule, people who write mean and creepy things ALWAYS use Anonymous, but Anonymous commenters are not always writing mean and creepy things. If you write mean and creepy things, I'm going to try to figure out where you're coming from -- so maybe that's the line I'm going to draw. I'll keep Anonymous comments, but I'll delete the mean and creepy ones like what happened the other day AND try to figure out where they come from.
ReplyDeleteThat's cool. And a much more defined stance...LOVE IT.
ReplyDeleteI dunno why I needed to have the clarity, maybe I just need you to have it so that I can glom off the stability.
Oh man. I read some of the kerfuffle and decided to let it all simmer in my brain for a day or two. Now I'm back and I feel like maybe I should pass out chocolate chip muffins... which is how I have ended my rather mundane Saturday; making choclate chip muffins. Today started with my son's first EVER soccer game (they were flattened, it was a hoot). I got a sunburn thanks to the antibiotics I'm on. Sexy, I tell you. Tomorrow I shall cook for the whole (f-ing) week, and continue to beg people for work. Also very sexy and a hoot.
ReplyDeleteI stumbled across your blog a few years ago, bookmarked it and have been reading it ever since. Occasionally, I have posted comments -- anonymously. Not one of them has ever been negative. I admit to having winced from time to time, when I've read comments you've made about about Republicans in general, (I voted for President Obama, twice) Catholics, (I am) and even the clothing worn by Hasidic Jews. But my "Wow, that was really hitting below the belt" reactions subside. It's your blog. You have plenty of reasons to be angry, and still your love for your family shines through everything that makes me flinch.
ReplyDeleteYou are also a consistently beautiful, beautiful writer, and you have done more to educate me about seizures and the urgent need for access to medical marijuana than any textbook, documentary or news report could ever do. P.S. I have a standard poodle too. So I keep reading and absorbing. Peace.
I guess that's what I have to say. And my name is Kathryn.
Anonymous Katherine -- Thank you for your candidness! And I know I deserve the criticism about my "below-the-belt" remarks about Republicans and Catholics. Mea culpa! The comments I've made about the clothing worn by Hasidic Jews have been because of the irony I see in them staring at my daughter as we walk about the neighborhood -- it's always struck me as weird and depressing that those who should most understand difference often don't. In any case, I appreciate your kind words and hope you'll criticize and comment to your heart's content.
ReplyDelete