Maybe it's the little middle schooler in me who always skipped lunch rather than face the what-table-can-I-sit-at shuffle in the lunch room, but people coming together--women supporting each other rather than competing (and fine, the man-pies are invited to join along too)--means the world to me. That is why I am doing this. In case you were wondering. Since you probably were. Wondering. Why.
There are now a multitude of ways to read the newsletter. It is published every day and the title states the day (eg. Tuesday's Connections Abound) whereas the Lost and Found page is constant. Both (the current newsletter and the Lost and Found page) are the only two posts on the front of the blog. If you miss a day, you can easily read back issues through two ways on the side bar: there is an archive based on subject (so you can see all the past pregnancy announcements, for example) as well as date. For the most part, the newsletter changes every single day though I've sometimes held over information.
I've created a temporary post at the top of this blog that will have a link to the current newsletter whenever I hit publish. The date is set well in the future so it remains at the top of the blog. I'll switch it back to One Smart Mama in the future, but until more people know about Lost and Found, I'll leave a link at the top. You can click there to read the newsletter.
You can also reach the newsletter via the icon on my side bar. You can bookmark the Lost and Found blog and click there once a day (usually around/after lunch). You can email the link to yourself and access it via email. You can subscribe through google reader or bloglines. AND you can have the email sent directly to your email. Sign up for the newsletter by leaving your email address in the space on the sidebar.
What I need from you: Spread the word. The more people who read it and use it, the tighter the community becomes. You don't need a blog to read it so put out a link on bulletin boards. Add the icon to your side bar by cutting-and-pasting this code into your template (changing all of the red brackets into a <> when you paste it) :
{a href=" http://lostandfoundandconnectio
{li}{img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/
{br}{a href=" http://lostandfoundandconnectio
Write a post about it. Tell your friends about it. Talk about it in the clinic waiting room. Any method for getting the word out there.
And because this is my massive distraction, because I truly believe that we can each make a difference in each other's lives, because I think that making a difference can be done by giving other people ten minutes of your day, I am asking for reporters. I know at this point you're thinking, "what the hell? Reporters? For a newsletter that covers the IF/pg loss blogosphere? I have a freakin' life." Well...um...I agree. But what I mean by reporters is that there are a lot of blogs out there and I can't read all of them all the time. Whenever I see news, I add news, but I need other people sending me links as well. So if you want to cover one or two of the sections on my sidebar (for example, adoption or female factor or living child-free at IF/loss), please email me (thetowncriers@gmail.com) or leave a comment and let me know. What it would entail is clicking through blogs and reading for news--either a blogger who could use a little extra support or a blogger who has good news to share--and sending me links when you find them.
So that is it. Please help Lost and Found bring together community, spread ideas, and create opportunities.
And since I am mentally there today, let's all reminisce about middle school. I had big bangs and one side of my hair was hairsprayed back. I wanted to be Cyndi Lauper. I was not even close to being Cyndi Lauper. I wore plastic framed glasses. Whenever the girls were picking on me, I would pretend that I had cramps from my period and curl up in the nurse's room because if you faced the wall, she couldn't tell you were crying. I didn't want to get my period. I pretended that I wasn't wearing a bra even when I was wearing a bra. My first boyfriend was Jon. He is now a neurosurgeon. I was in love with Johnny Depp in 21 Jump Street. I read Sassy magazine.
10 comments:
Sassy magazine - I LOVED that magazine!!
My mom arranged for me to ride the bus because I had asthma. The other kids always got picked up first and dropped off last, meaning I had to walk through the already filled aisles to find a seat.
Every day, I got called "Asthma," and kids pulled things out of my denim bag as I navigated the narrow path and avoided the hazards of being tripped and further humiliated.
One afternoon I just had enough. As I got off the bus amid the taunting, I -- meek little me -- yelled back: "Stick it up your asthma, jerks."
I never road the bus again (I took my Ross Barracuda with the banana seat instead), and that was the day my lungs began to work better.
P.S. Anyone remember Shrinky Dinks?
I totally loved Sassy magazine.
Let's see- in the eighth grade, my mom talked me into getting a "body wave" which transformed me into frizzy trianglehead. I wore my jean jacket with pins on it on a pretty much daily basis.
The most embarrassing things I can remember...the day I acted in a play (Brown Bag Theatre) at lunch, and had to play a male character, so we drew on a moustache and goatee with eyeliner.
And of course, I got engrossed in a book after the performance and forgot about my stage makeup, and walked into my next class with my face half covered in Wet N' Wild hatch marks. The whole class was giggling about it until my friend finally pulled me aside and told me to go wash my face.
Then there was the day the football player who sat next to me asked if I had gotten "silicon injections." Ah, teenaged boys!
Loved Sassy as well. Oh Jane Pratt, I even read Jane until some dude took it over and ran it into the ground.
The icon is on my sidebar!
I am linked to Lost and Found. :) I will blog about it soon.
In middle school I wore my hair always pulled back on the top with HUGE bangs. I always had a perm. I tried to wear my hair long but it always looked gross with tons of mousse in it. I started wearing makeup. I had HUGE boobs and a little body so the boys constantly slapped my butt when I bent down at the lockers.
I didn't have any girl friends because of the boys. In fact one girl spread a rumor that I did bj and then did girls. Ummmm NOT NICE when you are in the 8th grade.
I LOVED Scott Baio (watching his reality show as we speak) and Kirk Cameron. I have pictures of him all in my scrap book from one I was a kid.
Oh, I can't think about middle school. I'll get nauseous and start crying. I still have nightmares about getting on the bus carrying my practice drum kit (Yep, I played percussion in the school orchestra). I'd have to leave my last class and run to the far side of campus to the band room to pick up that 4ft long, 40 pound case, struggle to get it and my bookbag back across campus to the bus lot. I'd always be the last one on the bus and no one would let me sit with them, so I'd have to stand until enough people got off for me to sit down. But, you couldn't have the drum kit in the aisle and the bus driver would yell at me to find a seat to put it in. Yeah, that went well. "Hi, I know you don't like me and you won't let me sit there, so will you let me put this big box in front of your seat so you can't put your feet down?"
Combine that with the fact that I didn't like pop music, I read "strange" books instead of things like The Babysitter's Club, I didn't wear makeup or fashionable clothes, and I was always the one the teacher asked to collect and grade the pop quizzes.
Yep, middle school was a BLAST.
i remember this one outit tat i thought was the "coolest" because it had OBR (out back red) on it. It was sold by The Limited and I just wanted to fit in with my big bangs that were sprayed with too much hairspray and the very famous orange blush with cotton candy pink lipstick (yes isn't that a pretty image. I was alos in love and going to marry Kirk Cameron and Corey Haim
I was on the taller side, built like a stick, with feet a grown basketball player would be proud of. I had to march with the xylophone in parades (horrible contraption to buckle it on you) and the thing probably weighed more than I did. I was the last one out the door once and leaned just a little too far back (had my backpack on), and fell over, a la turtle style. Yes, I got stuck, couldn't move. Nope, no one was left in the building to help me up. Yes, totally mortifying when the director sent one of the drummers to see what my problem was, only for him to find me scooting around on my back trying to figure out how to rectify the situation. Good times, good times...
I was just about to write a post on this EXACT subject. I'm in the last few days of summer and am preparing for my 7th graders to return.
I had the cobra thing going on. Big bangs on top and wings on the sides. Oh how I loved AquaNet in the blue bottle (ok, sometimes I liked the hot pink bottle too). I loved Sebastian Bach screaming Youth Gone Wild and cried to Motely Crew's Home Sweet Home. I walked the mall for hours and lingered outside of Chess King for the cute boys who wore their Z-Cavarichi jeans.
Ahh... the good old days! I think this is why teach middle school kids. I tell them these are the ugliest years of your life, inside and out. If you can make it through the next two years, you'll make it through anything!
Ahhhh, yes! Big hair and pegged pants. Being the younger sister, I had access to cool high school trends. And remember the leggings with the lace trim at the bottom (a big hit again). I was the first one to bring them to the 6th grade. I was so proud!
My sister got Sassy but I wasn't supposed to read it. I would sneak it in the bathroom and read it cover to cover!
Looking back, those were the ugliest times but yet so innocent.
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