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Mar

31

A Star Is Born in Her Binary Form, from the Some People Pay Me Department

Filed Under Blogging, Media, Women, Writing | 2 Comments

This month’s column in Cleveland Family Magazine is all about social networking and making connections:

Mothers, MySpace and Facebook are not just for kids any more.

About two years ago, I joined an online community (read: a group that meets in virtual space on your computer) called BlogHer. More than seven million women, from all over the world, consider themselves members of the group. Editors write about, organize and offer news and opinion on topics that range from politics and parenting to journalism and technology.

It’s such a hot idea that in March, The New York Times profiled wowowow.com, a new online community for women over 40 that was launched with more than a million dollars of backing. The Times’ picture of four blondes in a row that accompanies the article did not thrill me, but who will quibble when the blondes are: columnist Liz Smith, journalist Leslie Stahl, advertising agency founder Mary Wells and Joni Evans, former president of publisher Simon & Schuster.

But enough about those has-beens. Back to my cyber-enabled success story.

The editor of the political section at BlogHer is a graduate student at Harvard. She has been on CNN and other stations’ news segments over the years. In February, a CNN booking agent contacted her for suggestions of people who could appear on “Blog Buzz.” The BlogHer editor gave the agent my name.

Why my name? Read more

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:33 pm March 31st, 2008 in Blogging, Media, Women, Writing | 2 Comments 

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Mar

31

Read Chancellor Fingerhut’s 10 year plan for Ohio education

Filed Under Announcements, Education, Government, Ohio, Politics | 5 Comments

When I realized that today is indeed March 31, 2008, and that no one had mentioned anything in all the places I’d been checking over the last few days to try and keep up, so I wouldn’t be too far behind, I emailed Michael Chaney at the Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut’s office and asked – is it out?

And sure enough, he received my message just as the Chancellor was presenting the plan to the governor. How fortuitous.

I just received the e-mail but the links don’t work so I put them in myself. There’s no permalink to the news item on this page but here it is – all the plan items are in pdfs including the press release:

Chancellor Delivers 10-Year Plan for Higher Education to Governor Strickland, General Assembly

Strategic Plan CoverChancellor Eric D. Fingerhut presented a 10-year strategic plan for higher education to Governor Ted Strickland and the Ohio General Assembly that details strategies to meet the governor’s goal of enrolling 230,000 more students while keeping more graduates in Ohio and attracting more talent to the state.

The plan promises to raise the overall educational attainment of the state of Ohio.

“This report builds upon the principles I put forth last year in creating the University System of Ohio,” Strickland said. “This 10-year plan for Ohio’s institutions of higher education will ensure not only that we dramatically expand educational opportunities for Ohioans but that we do so in a way that makes our state a world-class economic competitor.”

I’m eager to look it over.

Here’s more from the presser I received in my inbox, which included this link to the “dashboard” where progress toward the plan’s goals will be measured and posted – transparency? sunshine? We shall see. Read more

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:33 am March 31st, 2008 in Announcements, Education, Government, Ohio, Politics | 5 Comments 

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Mar

31

First-person account of terror in Tibet at hands of China last week, urges media to ask questions, pay attention

Filed Under 'Roots News, Blogging, Civil Rights, Foreign Affairs, Law, Media, Politics, Social Issues, Women, Writing | Comments Off

I’m working to get permission from family friends who circulated to some media and family the account their daughter has given of her time last week in Tibet.  What was supposed to be an exploration by a well-traveled, multi-lingual, philanthropically and good-natured soul turned into something that goes beyond keeping parents up at night, but, as the author writes, caused her to feel like the hunted as she kept moving forward and eventually out of Tibet through Vietnam.

I located this German language article that includes the first-person account.  I used Google translator and got this English version which is a bit better but still not great compared to this translated version from Babelfish but clearly the translation is far less than perfect.  The letter I received through my mother from the writer’s father is in English, written by her to family and friends.
If anyone knows German or can recommend a better translating program for the German news article, let me know and I’ll feed it through there.

In the meantime, please read Jeff Hess’s blog, Have Coffee Will Write because he does pretty much the best job around at keeping up with atrocities in places such as Darfur and Myanmar.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:54 am March 31st, 2008 in 'Roots News, Blogging, Civil Rights, Foreign Affairs, Law, Media, Politics, Social Issues, Women, Writing | Comments Off 

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