Several website have gone “dark” today to protest the two anti-piracy bills that are before Congress right now. SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act and PIPA, the Protect IP Act. Most of the websites maintain that they are all for making sure piracy is stopped, however the language used in these bills would make it all too easy for any website to be shut down without due process.

Here’s a list of who is “going dark” today.

Join the strike and write your congressperson here.

Why SOPA is dangerous

Google: End Piracy, Not Liberty

The Oatmeal’s take on it (FYI – possibly NSFW or if you have young eyes around)

And finally I’ll leave you with something a friend of mine posted on Facebook this morning, “I’d tell you to stop SOPA and PIPA but everyone else is telling you that today. What I will instead tell you is to put on your calendar to keep calling your congressperson once a month about it. Because what they’re counting on is that we make a big fuss for a few days and then go on to something else. So please–the best thing you can do is set up an autoreminder in Events or iCal or Outlook to remind yourself to keep asserting your freedom while you still can.”

It’s not just about today or when Congress comes back from their break and takes a look at these bills again. Use your voice. Be heard.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the delightful opportunity to speak with Kaira Rouda over the phone and ask her some questions about social media, being an author and philanthropy. Kaira is the author of the new novel, Here, Home, Hope. One2One Network members are currently reading and reviewing Kaira’s book on their blogs and we’re excited to read what they have to say about it. Kaira lives in Malibu, CA with her husband and four kids. Her first book, released in 2008, is Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs and Here, Home, Hope is her first published novel.

I’ve been looking over your Facebook page & Twitter feed. You do a really great job of keeping them current and responding to fans. How has social media helped you in your professional life? In your personal life? With your teens?

Social media had been critical to everything that I do. Long before I started writing fiction I found out that the power of connections is just unstoppable.  And when I wrote my first book, which is for women entrepreneurs, it was right on the dawn of when women started harnessing the power of the internet, using it both for business and personal life. That’s when the playing field started leveling and you could get your message across but keep in touch with everyone you care about. I’ve made it a part of my life. And I *love* Twitter, I’m not really sure why, and people would make fun of me but it’s just been amazing.

One of the tenants of my first book was that you need to be able to describe yourself in a word and it’s interesting because it was right around the time Twitter was starting. So if you think about it when you can summarize who you are and what you believe in, in as short a way as possible, you can get your message across and Twitter feeds right into that whole notion.

What about your kids? Are they involved in social media?

My middle son is going to be publishing an book in August, too. He’s starting to learn about Twitter, to establish himself on there. They all, of course, are huge users of Facebook and our rule as a family is that we’re all friends with each. I don’t stalk them but we’re on friends on Facebook. It’s a way that we can all connect. My oldest is in college and he’s quite adept at using Facebook to update everything he’s into. He has a class about using Twitter, so he’s out there getting on social media as well.

I also see you have a blog on your website, have you had other blogs?

I’ve been blogging for a really long time. Since I’m a writer at heart, even when I was working in business, I’ve always felt like writing was the cornerstone of everything. My last career I was president of Real Living, a residential real estate company, and real estate was an early adopter of blogging and the power of blogging. I didn’t use blogging as much to promote myself and business until I released my first book in 2008. And I’ve been blogging pretty steadily since then.

You’ve said that writing a novel has been a long time dream of yours. When did the idea for Here, Home, Hope come to you? When did you know it would be more than just an idea, that it would be a full fledged novel?

It’s been a dream to publish a novel since I think fourth grade. This particular novel takes place in the setting where I also have a few other finished manuscripts. It’s a fictive town of Grandville, a suburban setting, a lot like where I was raised and my kids were raised. I think for me, the setting is something that feeds the story but it’s also the basis for the story.

The book came to life when I was sitting in a dentist office (like the opening scene of the book). It’s the notion that if you’re blessed (socio-economically and otherwise) and you live in the suburbs…because of that lifestyle that the characters live they can feel restless and have the opportunity to consider their life and think about what’s next. And then Kelly started coming to life as a character, and to me when stories start coming to life, they keep going. It’s fun, the title will pop into my head and maybe a scene or character and then the story just takes off from there. I’d say it was about 3 years ago that this book came into my head.

You have been involved in helping support and encourage many different charities. Now that you’ve moved to Southern California, are you working with any local organizations?

The first activities that I’ve been involved in started in the kids’ schools because moving and getting them resettled that was where my focus was . I’m part of something called the Shark Fund which is a charity that helps support and fill in the gaps where the public school system has had funding cuts. And volunteering in the kids’ schools.

Just recently, I got tied in with an organization called the Human Rights Watch for my book launch party. They’re a part of Women’s Rights division. I’ve always been a firm proponent of women’s rights. It’s [women's rights] part of what I’ve done with the homeless shelter [in Ohio] and in trying to keep women in the center of what I hope to touch and reach and empower. I’ve had the opportunity to learn about them and the amazing work they do all over the world.

There’s a wonderful teen center in Malibu, the Boys and Girls club, part of the global organization. And Melanie, in the story [Here, Home, Hope], is a perfect example. We have this opportunity with our young women to support them and help them and that’s what this Boys and Girls club does. A young women, who was helped by the club here [in Malibu], is the Teen of the Year in the state of California. It’s just so amazing  what can happen because she had such positive role models at the club. They helped her fully find her voice and her life.

So I tend to focus on organizations that support women and girls. Those two are the ones I’m involved in right now.

Is it a family thing? Are your kids and husband involved?

Yeah absolutely! I think that if you raise your kids that that’s part of what you do, that you give back and it’s an honor to that and blessing to be able to help others then it’s just what’s expected. They’re always a part of whatever I’m doing and I love that we’re together in that.

What kind of books do you read?

I read so much, I’m a voracious reader. I love to read. If you looked around my messy office at the moment, you’d see stacks of books every where. I tend to read, I guess what would be considered women’s fiction, the most and that’s the genre that I write in. I guess you write what you know. I was an English major, so I’ll pop open a classic too.  My kids, now that they’re in high school, I look at they’re reading lists. I’ve always been a huge fan of The Great Gatsby, so every time one of my kids is assigned it to read and they roll their eyes about it, I get to read it again. That’s fun. And when they love a book, too, that’s so cool.

The coolest thing about this journey so far has been, if you look at the back of the book [Here, Home, Hope], you can tell the support from these established women’s fiction authors who agreed to read the advance reader copy and endorse it.  Which to me was such a kind and generous thing to do for a first time novelist with a small publisher. These amazing women with these amazing careers in fiction. It has been such an example of when women support each other. It’s been so amazing. And when they would write back or call and say “I’d love to endorse your book”, you wouldn’t believe, I would sit here bawling. I couldn’t believe that these women that I respect and have been fans of for so long would actually do that.

Thanks so much to Kaira for taking the time to speak with me! Here, Home, Home is available for purchase in stores and online. Kaira is currently traveling around the country on a book tour, find out if she will be near you!

Last Saturday, I headed down to Franklin, TN, just south of Nashville, to the annual Franklin Main Street Festival. My objective was to seek out the Garnier Cleaner Greener World Tour bus so that I could see for myself what this tour was all about.

Found it!

And let me tell you, that place was hoppin’! They had people handing out samples, taking pictures and guiding guests through the tour. You see, the tour bus is actually a kind of mobile museum (and laboratory, as you’ll see later)! Inside the bus there is all kinds of information about Garnier and their new Pure Clean line of hair care products.

The Garnier Pure Clean Tour

After you go through the tour, you can make a Pure Clean Pledge and have your picture taken to go on the Garnier Facebook page.

My Pure Clean Pledge. Also, watch out for ginormous goldfish!

And you may remember from this post, that Garnier has teamed up with TerraCycle to give people ways to recycle used personal care and beauty products. There was a huge box set up in front of the bus for people to put items in for recycling.

Recycling Rocks!

I also got to meet-up with One2One Network member, Brigid!

O2O members are awesome!

And the probably the most ingenious part of the whole set-up was the the mobile laboratory inside the bus! Inside the laboratory, you could take hair samples and wash them using the actual Pure Clean shampoo and conditioner. Plus, a helpful lab assistant was on hand to give all the reasons why Pure Clean is good for your hair and good for the environment. (Just so you know, the video is completely unedited.)

Also, a goldfish mascot. Fun!

Goldy

The Garnier Cleaner Greener World Tour bus is currently in Ft. Worth, TX and will be continuing on to Detroit and New Orleans later this month! If you are in those areas, I would highly encourage you to head over there and see the tour yourself. It’s fun and informative!

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. ~Henry Adams

I think we all come away from our scholastic endeavors with at least one favorite teacher. And never are we more appreciative of them than when we realize just how much we learned under their tutelage . Sometimes it takes years for that recognition to grow, sometimes it only takes a few minutes in their presence. In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week and National Teachers Day, the O2O team members are sharing memories about their favorite teachers.

“I loved math and science in school and typically those were the teachers I enjoyed the most especially my high school AP Chemistry and Physics teachers.  They both had great personalities and you knew they loved their subject area and enjoyed seeing the light bulb’s go off in our brains when we discovered or understood new concepts and ideas.  They always came up with creative ways to keep their classrooms and the curriculum fun, relevant and exciting for a bunch of high schoolers.  I really appreciated them then and maybe even more now that I have kids of my own.” ~Barbara

“My favorite teacher was by far one of the toughest and some might say the meanest teacher we had. She was my 8th grade English teacher, Mrs. Holliday. An older woman at the time (she had taught my mother in the same school over 20 years earlier!) she knew grammar, knew how to write, and drilled the details into our heads. The information was taught so thoroughly that I honestly didn’t learn a thing in High School and placed into advanced English in college. Did I like her then? NO. Do I love her now? Most definitely. Thank you Mrs. Holliday!” ~Linda

“My favorite teacher was my 8th grade teacher Ms. DeGroot. She was a cool, hip no-nonsense kind of teacher in her late twenties. Everyone liked her and wanted to be on her good side, because if you acted up, she had no qualms making you feel ‘uncool’ in front of the class and you’d find yourself scrambling to get back in her good graces.

She taught many subjects but I could always tell she had a passion for Literature and English which were my strongest subjects. She took a special interest in my abilities and was always encouraging me to follow my talents. My favorite part about being in her class was her open-mind policy and she invited discussions about sensitive subjects like race, gender, sexuality and touchy current events that other teachers tread lightly on.

I remember feeling bad for her when I found out she had to keep two part-time nights/weekends job at Victoria’s Secret and as an aerobics instructor to supplement her private school teacher income. She was SO good at her job yet she had to keep some energy on reserve for her second jobs.

She went on to become a Principal a few years after I graduated. I always thought it was a shame that she was no longer in the classroom but she was finally able quit her other jobs and be recognized for her passion for education.” ~Amber

“My sixth grade teacher is my favorite not just because of what she taught me, like the Calligraphy that I use to this day or because the reading nook in her classroom was a porcelain claw foot bath tub filled with cushions or because book reports were not written essays but books brought to life through creating games and mobiles and dioramas. She was my favorite because she was the first woman, other than my mother, that took an interest in teaching me about being a woman. She was a tall and “curvy, and she had the kind of confidence in herself that I wished I could have. But most of all, knew the right thing to say this shy, awkward preteen girl who needed to know that someday, she could be confident in herself, too.” ~Malia

“The best teacher I ever had was Dr. James Perrone—clinical psychologist by day; UConn psychology professor by night. His Abnormal Psych course was captivating because there’s only so much that resonates from reading about obsessive compulsive behavior, post-traumatic stress, and narcissistic personalities in a book. Dr. Perrone illustrated using examples of his own clients that have sat across from him for thirty years. Anyone able to make a three hour evening lecture fly by is a master of their craft.

To ace his exams I would have to read the entire chapter, re-read it again with highlighter, and then do one last round with squiggly lines in red pen. The bookstore always refused to buy back my psychology textbooks when the semester was over. Dr. Perrone was tough, but I’ve also never had a professor care so much for his students. He demanded the best but was always on our side.

I want to thank Dr. Perrone for instilling a fascination for the human psyche in me and making my education so enjoyable. There’s no doubt I’ll be amateurishly diagnosing the eccentric people in my life for many years to come!” ~Maryellen

What about you? Who was your favorite teacher?

images from iCLIPART

Every March is National Women’s History Month with International Women’s Day falling on March 8th. I love learning about all the fantastic things that women have accomplished throughout history. There are many monarchs and warriors and inventors and humanitarians to admire and draw inspiration from.

And there are the women whose names are not well known to us but their contributions were still great; they paved the way for us in industry, academia, military, government and the home. I think one of the greatest assets that the women of today gained from the women of yesterday is the ability to use our voice to make a difference in the world. And even though the Internet is immense and the blogging can seem like just a drop in the bucket, someone, somewhere reads your words and draws inspiration or comfort or knowledge from them.

This year, National Women’s History Month celebrated with the theme: Our History is Our Strength. I wonder, who are the women of today that will one day be the women of history? If you could write the textbooks of the future, who would you want your great grandchildren learning about from your generation?

I’m sure we can find several of them in the 100 Women of Destiny tele-conference that has been going on all month. The list of speakers is amazing: authors, teachers, philanthropists, activists, actors, journalists, entrepreneurs, clergy, doctors and bloggers. Yes, bloggers, Catherine Connors of Her Bad Mother and Tsh Oxenreider of Simple Mom are among the one hundred visionaries who have been lending their voices to help teach and empower women all over the world.

The 100 Women of Destiny conference continues on through Thursday. You can register for free to be part of tele-conferences that are currently being held. (For $49, you can purchase of the recordings so that you can go back and listen to any or all of the tele-conferences from the entire month.)

What are women doing today that you see having a great impact on our future? Who comes to mind as a catalyst, an innovator or a visionary?

One2One Network is in no way affiliated with the 100 Women of Destiny tele-conference.

photo credits: Library of Congress on Flickr, Jochen Frey on Flickr

As we approach the holiday season, amidst the chaos, I tend to reflect about the things I’m thankful for, the things I can’t wait to put behind me and the things I’m looking forward to in the new year.

We recently connected with the folks at a new site called GiveBack.org that helps anyone set up their own personal giving foundation and organizes everything in one place.

Here’s a quick video about how it works:

The site was founded by Stephen Paletta who won $1 million dollars on the TV show Oprah’s Big Give in 2008 and was charged to give it away. (No pressure there, eh?) As a result of this process,  he and his team created an easy way for ANYONE to set up their own charitable giving foundation.  They’ve developed a really simple, organized (& free) was to manage your charitable giving whatever the level.

• You create your ‘foundation’ easily by registering via Facebook Connect or by name and email.
• You select and  ‘follow’ the charities that you’re interested in by dragging them into your Charity ‘tool bar’.
• Then, whenever you desire, you can make a donation to any officially recognized U.S. charity.
• Then, at the end of the year, they provide one tax deduction document for you to use.  (Ah, a nice change from scrounging for receipts in my make-shift filing system at home.)

What I really love is that 100% of your donation goes to the charity of your choice.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO START YOUR ACCOUNT TODAY?

Sorry to ‘shout’ but we’re coming up on the dreaded Black Friday and Cyber-Monday and you may be planning in to partake in a little online shopping.

If so, why not do it from your GiveBack account via to the hundreds of retailers on GiveBack’s shopping site.  This way, you get your purchase anyway but you also get up to 15% of your purchase back into your GiveBack foundation so that you can donate it.  FTW!

To get some first-hand accounts, check out what Isabel Kallman from Alpha Mom, Gabrielle Blair from Design Mom, Liz Gumbinner from Mom 101 and Allison Worthington from Blissfully Domestic wrote about their recent experience with GiveBack.

So, why not sign up now (they’ll even put $5 in your account to get you started) and post a comment letting us know that you registered.  Now, through December 31, 2010, GiveBack will be selecting one account per day to match the donations up to $100.  Since they just got started at the beginning of the month, I’d say your odds are pretty good (for now) so what are you waiting for? 

Give thanks and GiveBack.

Have you opened your personal giving foundation yet?