I have 15 minutes to write this.
Black Hat Part
Some hack-bot came through this website and inserted viagra ads into some of my paragraphs. It’s not dangerous to anyone who clicks on one of these links, just annoying. These ‘black hat’ ads crept in here via bots when I didn’t update WordPress fast enough. This black hat stuff happens in my industry, though I’m a white hat kind of person myself. (I am running real google ads though, to pay for this website’s hosting, so click away if you like, I may earn 23 cents).
The side benefit to this website clean up is I’ve had to go through every post to find the paragraphs that look like I’m hawking male virility drugs. In this process, I’ve discovered, 75% of this website is about problems we have because of patriarchy gone wrong. I’ve also realized that black hat actors apparently get paid big $ by drug companies. Also, bots/black hats don’t hack in ads for vegetables, or environmental protections, shape wear or flip flops.
Mad Gratitude Part
Going through post after post is also helpful, and embarrassing to me. I see how I’m growing as a writer, and hoping I am growing as a person too. So much of this writing is crap, or pleading for someone in power to do something different, or an observation, or a wish. Now I just want to kick ass. Instead of getting depressed and “asking” for something better, I want to take some names.
But today, I want to thank some kick ass women who’ve been doing one very specific thing: helping to raise my daughter.
My kid is a powerhouse, a force, with intelligence, wit, strength and gumption. My kid also has ADHD and a bunch of talents/challenges that make ’em stand out. It’s going to be a road, but that’s cool (and hard) and cool. Did I say hard?
Fortunately, several strong women have initiated mentoring my kid. “Does T want to bake here once per week?” “Does T want to help at the farm?” “Does T want to do yoga with me?” “Can T help at our law office?” “Does T want to do a workshop here?” “Can I treat T to camp?”
The answer is always HELL YES. T doesn’t really like listening to me. I’m old mom, bossy mom and uncool mom. Thank god for all the other women offering up the good stuff. The world T is growing up in, the age T is, is not an easy place to be. Powerful women look out for each other, and for that I’m grateful.
And, I didn’t even have to ask.
Thank you ladies. You get it.
Elizabeth
