The Hive

Perhaps its been awhile since you have been part of cubeworld. Corporate culture is faced with radical change. Every desk holds a portal to the web... tempting even the most dedicated worker to be sucked in without adult supervision. Personal email, instant access to your bank balance and perhaps Ebay?

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Mr. C, also know as The Man, the queen bee, has combated the web with a series of abstract policies to keep their worker bees in check. They have creative names like "Social Media Contract." All worker bees pledge they will mind the hive, each year you you digitally acknowledge your pledge. "I (enter bee  name here" promise to use the web to support and product the honey."

However, this may not do the trick. Unit leaders are compelled to remind their recruits that Facebook has a time stamp for every bee update. I'm sure that Mark Zuckerberg envisioned Facebook to be a  wide open field of clover where a bee can be happy and carefree.

Beeware: The Queen has a dragnet, phising software to rack the net and catch their bees being crazy bees of the clock. Is it just me or is Corporate America becoming our nosey neighbor peeping through the curtains every time you leave for the day? Has the bee voiced their First Amendment right? is it within corporate policy?

Doucing is an old/new name for a new kind of discrimination. I'm a good worker bee, I have high worker bee ethics and I'm grateful for the benefits offered by the hive, a predictable pay check, and benefits.

But! I'm a radical bee after hours. I use the skills that make me a good bee outside of work. I write. My name is Star and I'm a blogger (Hi Star). It has come to my attention through the buzz of the hive that what I have said in my blog may violate the hive policy. Buzzzzzz, I have never, ever identified my hive. There are a few hives right close (yep, Texas, an at will state) to my hive.

So my fellow busy bees, I have defriended my hive workers in the field of clover and would like to remind all bees that your stinger really is in your own ass. So watch where ya sit and stop buzzing around my field of clover.

On Friendship

Friendship is like your favorites book. When you are little you had that favorite book that you made anyone read to you until one day you could read it to your Mom or Dad. My son’s favorites were “Goodnight Moon” and “Guess How Much I Love You.” Mine was “Bedtime for Frances.”  

Friends are like those childhood favorites. You may not see that friend for months or even years, but down off the shelf they fall, or call out to you. You know each other beginning, middle, and where you left off, not quite the end.

Their words, your shared memories shave off years and you hear the laughter of your carefree youth tinkling again. You clearly remember the people, and places after probing each other’s memories. You suddenly sound like that other person you used to be and you catch yourself looking in the mirror to see if you still look like her… that woman you once were before she became the you that you are today.

The beauty of that friendship is that you don’t have to read the story out loud; your friend already knows it. You being the chapter and they finish it without having to think twice.

There is love, pain, joy, surprise, wounding, healing, frustration, laughter and tears. All shared and they know where you have been because they where there with you. While later chapters were lost or still not written, your friend can catch with fast because the beginning of the book captivated us. A book or two or more may have ended but like my son says, “Maybe it will be a series…” after reading a good one.

The Day Book

I haven’t been connected to the internet on my home computer since October of 2010 but this doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing. While surfing one of my favorite websites, www.edutopia.com, I found this great blog on how to encourage kids to write. The idea is to keep a Day Book, a place to write ideas that will not be graded in any way. So I adopted the idea. First you have to find a journal that is bound and hopefully the kind that you can find again later so you eventually can put the date range on the cover and you’ll have a nifty “series” of Day Books on your shelf. I found a composition book that has this great black and white floral pattern on it at the grocery store. Super cheap since I bought it during tax-free weekend for school supplies. And keeping with the concept, I made a few rules...

1.     No tearing out pages. I have done this with other journals that I’ve kept over the years because I did not want to revisit an experience or thought the writing was lousy.

2.     Write with what you want. This satisfies the office supply junkie in me. I love pens, markers, highlighters and pencils.

3.     Let it flow. No need for complete sentences. Include lists or a word that just tickles my fancy.

4.     Editing is allowed, but no erasers. This way I can still see the original work.

5.     Use of sticky notes allowed. Another way to get at those beloved office supplies!

6.     Glued in elements are encouraged as well as drawings, doodles, etc. I like the scrapbook idea for writing. Found objects are great and I always used to doodle in my school notebooks.

7.     Use both sides of each page. This encourages my eco-friendly side and days flow.

8.     Date each entry so you can remember. Seasonal elements add depth to writing.

9.     There are no bad ideas. If you end up crossing something out, you may just go back and use that idea later on.  

I now have a place to blog without typing, which is not always great since I can type way faster than I can handwrite. I now have a place to store all my ideas that end up on my blog. Hope this helps any inspiring writer of any kind. I’m sure it is not a new idea, but it just struck me as so wonderful that I had to share it.  

Speaking of online writing, if you are interested in publishing unique pieces online, please visit www.revolutionhousemag.com, an online magazine that is accepting written works for its inaugural online edition.

Unplugged 11/12/2010

It may have not been by choice but I’ve been unplugged for just over a month. No cable, no Internet; therefore, the absence from blogging. At first I bummed… missing my shows, Food and Cooking network and football games. I can still access email and FB on my phone.

We watch DVDs that my brother-in-law left behind, the kid flicks, every VHS tape and DVD we have ever collected and I ended up reading more than just before bed.

Book Count:

· 4 Sookie Stackhouse books

· Finished Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

· Shanghai Girls

· The Piano Teacher

FB games are like crack! Now that I’ve been clean for a month I go to bed earlier, spend more time reading, writing and being with my family. I even have more of the elusive “me” time. I can almost keep up with the New Yorker magazine. I read our Smithsonian mag from cover to cover. I am a reading fan of NPR and Edutopia.

Now the dilemma- if we re-connect. I would like to have access to PDF files and java-scripted content. I’d like to catch up on Weeds, Greys and Private Practice…

I hereby swear to ignore all Zynega applications. Perhaps only the internet will be necessary because I can watch TV on the internet, maybe two nights a week?

Send books and movies !

Missing in Action

I have been missing in action.... will be posting "Unplugged" in a short time to update my fans about life without internet or TV.