What’s Next?

It was great to see so many people step up and reach out to their perspective representatives in Washington D.C. letting them know how they need to really look at the language of the SOPA and PIPA bills that were coming up for a vote. The vote has actually been postponed and many who were for it are now against it. It even seems that the bill is not going to even come up for a vote anymore. That’s great news, everyone rallied around a few brands who had a good idea (Reddit, Wikipedia) to go dark for a day in protest. This caused other larger sites to participate in one way or another, Google blocking out their logo, WordPress having a plug-in for individual bloggers to have their site go dark for the day. Many friends on Facebook blocked out their photo, as well as on Twitter. Word spread quickly, and people rallied around it and Congress heard our collective voice and is taking action accordingly. Collectively, we gathered together and spoke up and now are being heard.

But what’s the next step? What else is on the horizon that we can speak up about? We can’t be one and done, can we? Let’s take our collective voice and tell Congress to get behind our President and support the American Jobs Act. It might not be perfect, but I’m sure with it passed, we can get many Americans back to work. Which major company or brand is going to speak out and get everyone on board? Will Wikipedia and Reddit take another stand? Will Google step up to the plate and educate the American people on how if Congress works together we can get people back to work and our unemployment numbers down? I’m hoping some of these brands I use on a daily basis will take an interest it what I care about the way we took an interest in what they care about.

Here’s hoping that someone will take notice and take a stand. It’s getting lonely over here. Let me know if you have any ideas on how we can get big names to speak up for the people. Let’s get this country back on the road to the promised land. Let’s bring hope back to the people.

WordCamp Philly 2011

A few weeks ago, I attended WordCamp Philly, a WordPress event geared towards bloggers who use WordPress. It was a great event, they had a few different student tracts; user, power user, developer and designer. Since I’ve had a blog for a little while, I was intrigued on going to learn if I was “doing it right” and what else I could learn. Well, I learned a bunch, all the speakers were great, and I was glad that I went. I jumped back and forth between user and power user, depending on the topic.

The one seminar that I learned a great deal from was, “Stop Worrying, Start Publishing.” I’ve had a blog for a little while now, but I don’t post that much. You see, right out of college, I was a writer and editor for a monthly magazine. Before publishing something, we made sure everything was perfect. Everything. Had. To. Be. Perfect. It was drilled into me. So, it’s not that I’m afraid to put my thoughts, ideas, writings out there, I’m just used to it being 100% polished. I have many different posts that I’ve written, but don’t publish, because it’s not polished. But this class was great in helping me get over that. It doesn’t have to be 100% polished. I don’t have to write, edit and re-edit until I’m blue in the face and feel that it’s perfect. Honestly, who’s reading this stuff anyway. That’s an inside joke I have with myself now, not many people are reading this, so who really cares if it’s crap writing. I promise to try and not put out crap writing, but I’m sure sometimes it will make it’s way out there.

Anyway, I suggest if you are serious about WordPress, or getting into it, check out a WordCamp in your area. You’ll meet a great group of people, learn something, and get some stickers and a tee-shirt, and honestly, who doesn’t like that?