Even now at this hour, at this time in my life, I have sought knowledge, friendships, and connections with unambiguous flairs in my naiveté. One might think to first tread carefully as my prime is long passed being stripped from Adam’s rib. But let’s look at the person who now exists in this capsule. Appearance: Check. Okay—thin, fit, sometimes chic. Intellect: Check—slightly above average, reads a lot, studies, has life experience. Personality: (this one gets tricky). Let’s say—average due to shy nature. Okay, basics covered. Now where do I fit in?    

To be honest with you, I do not quite “fit in.” I was woman who was heard to roar through a purported glass ceiling, and then was sexually assaulted by a boss who left shards in my psyche. I was mother nurturing children, some who now refuse to call because, “We don’t call these days, Mom. Text me.” I am wife who is loving and devoted. I am blogger because I like to write. Social media? Not on Facebook because it looks like it’s for kids and seems trifling. I could be wrong, grant you, but what is the point, really? I always aspired to be a woman of substance, refusing to become part of womens coffee klatches and inane gossip.

So where have I gone wrong, she asks again. Well, I do not own a Blackberry or an iPod or an iPad. I still listen to CD’s and would never consider Sirius radio. When my kids recount stories to me about Howard Stern’s schtick, I don’t get it. They are dismayed by my lack of laughter. And connections? Well, those seem to be people who link to my blog and I to theirs…for a while. For reasons unknown, we move on to new and different links. We disconnect and are no longer “friends.” Where has my substance gone, this long time passing? I think I have the answer.

I have been bitch-slapped by time. The rascal crept up on me when I was busy trying to be hip or “in.” Now I am irrelevant, having done those things expected of me in my time, and reaching for affirmation. Yet even here, even now at this hour in my life, I will still seek, but it will not be for affirmation. Here, at this time in my life, I will enjoy the passage. Even now….

—cher

From time to time we feature other blogs. This is done to draw attention to particular blogs that impact us, challenge our thinking and force us to open our eyes. On this day, in this Season, I find it important that we focus on issues which draw us outside our own secure realms and into issues in parts of the world that have jagged edges. These jagged edges have produced shards of souls lost due to our lack of collective consciousness.

A Passion to Understand is written by Emm. She is a blogger who lives in the UK, but whose heart exposes us to issues of Genocide, AIDS and Human Rights in countries which include Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur/Sudan, Cambodia and Zimbabwe. Emm writes, “In this blog I’ll update about the various conflicts in the world but I’ll also post snippets from the news that I find interesting or disturbing. It is called “A Passion to Understand” because I have a passionate desire to understand how things like genocide can happen in our modern world and I need to know about these things.”

In response to a comment she received from a blogger regarding objectivity, Emm stated, “It is really interesting what you say about objectivity and passion. I don’t know if I want to be objective any longer. Our study of the world was so clinical in university. I think it is time to be more passionate.”

I admire her courage, her commitment and her depth of feeling as she pursues wrenching stories of inhumanity. She brings verbal images to her accounts of these plights, which make me feel at once horrified and guilty. Guilty because I have shown too little regard for the havoc heaped upon helpless individuals. In this Season of redemption and celebration, I would ask that you visit Emm’s blog for the awareness it brings and for the voice she gives to those who cannot speak for themselves.

This quote from Emm’s blog is indicative of her passion:
“First they came for the Jews
…and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
…and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
…and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
…and there was no one left to speak out for me”

- Martin Niemöller

Please visit Emm’s blog, then count your blessings.

—cher

With the explosion of the blogosphere, it was not a matter of if the FTC would step in, but when. The Federal Trade Commission has implemented revisions to the agency’s “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” The regulations took effect December 1st and is the first time their Guides document has been updated since 1980. In effect the document states that there must be disclosure between advertisers and endorsers. If a blogger, for example, recommends a product and receives either payment for that endorsement or “freebies” of the product, it must be disclosed. Anyone who fails to disclose such information can be fined up to $11,000.

Not all blogs will be impacted by this particular Guide, but some of the so-called “mommy bloggers” who are receiving and keeping free products from marketers and public relation agencies, will certainly be looked at. We have all seen these blogs and there have been “undisclosed endorsements” for a long time. Testimonials must spell out what consumers should expect to experience with products. Weight loss products are listed as one example.

Since some fear abounds, the FTC noted that the enforcement makes it more likely that an advertiser would be targeted for disclosure or testimonial violations than a blogger. If a blogger has received a warning, however, about their blog violating FTC rules and continues, then penalties could be assessed to that blogger.

Twitter is no exception. Celebrities who use Twitter, for example, to rave about a their car and it happens that the car was given to them as a freebie but was not disclosed, the celebrity could be fined. The issues of conflicts of interest are at play here and must be disclosed. Some reports state that the rules are hazy, but disclosure must be “clear and conspicuous.”

Bloggers beware. If you are in this game for the money or freebies, you may be taking a risk. Go to the Internet and look up these updated regulations. It is incumbent upon bloggers to maintain credibility and the FTC is acting to ensure that. I am personally ambivalent about these particular rules since I am neither advertising or endorsing products. I will share something with you I have always told my children, and that is, never put anything in writing that you don’t want to have come back and bite you on the hind site. Get used to it folks. This may only be the beginning.

—cher