Inside PBS Blog

While the annual conference of women bloggers known as "BlogHer" is usually seen as a place to acknowledge women's voices across the Internet, it's also plenty of fun.

Which explains why PBS Parents was there earlier this month between heady presentations on politics, gender equity and e-literature. . .giving out mood rings and "super power" cards.

Why? To make sure everybody was aware of the launch of the Supersisters blog.

PBS Parents re-launches August 18 with an entirely new look and new content features, including a Guide to Understanding and Raising Girls and the above-named collaborative blog authored by three real-life sisters who share their kids' antics, milestones and adventures through the crazy journey called motherhood. (Hence the need to monitor mood and have "super powers.")

The highlight of the BlogHer event was the Community Keynote, the brainchild of
blogger Eden ("Fussy") Kennedy. Her blog entries have appeared many places, including two guest posts on PBS's Remotely Connected blog.

The keynote was a kind of group reading of women bloggers' "greatest hits"--funny, poignant or otherwise memorable entries selected by the BlogHer attendees.

Among the highlights:

Lindsay Ferrier, author of the "Suburban Turmoil" blog, read her post titled "Every Mom Needs a Little Wiggle Room." (You can see her reading of the post on YouTube.)

In her piece, she mentions PBS's own Kratt Brothers:

"Like millions of toddlers around the world, my two-year-old daughter has fallen captive to their mesmerizing charms. And, um. So have I. . . .It's obvious why so many men populate the programs on children's television. The toddlers may be watching the shows, but the mommies are the ones with the remotes. And a good mom will never say no to a little eye candy."

On a far more serious note, a blogger who goes by the name Mr. Lady, author of the "Whiskey in My Sippy Cup" blog, read a moving, deeply personal post titled "It's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop."

Here is her later blog entry describing her experience reading it on stage at BlogHer:

"I stood on an empty stage and told 1,000 people things that I haven't ever even told my father. I knew that the room had gotten very very quiet, and with every word I panicked just a little more. These are not topics for public consumption; mental illness, child abuse, suicide. And yet, I kept talking. The more I grew afraid of what you all were going to think of me, the harder I wanted to say Every Single Word out loud for the whole world to hear. Half way through that reading, I just started crying. I cried because I was afraid, I cried because I was standing there, reliving awful things in my head, and I cried because for the first time in my 33 years of life, I was owning it."

By the time the Community Keynote was over, the women were exhausted, exhilarated and full of emotion. Which may explain why one of them came up to the PBS Parents booth and reported that during the readings, her mood ring had changed colors.