#FF: Professor Rap, Jane Fonda, Table Talk & Juggling Parenthood

Thought for the Day: I love the internet. It exposes me to new things every day. This week was no exception. My #FF Friday's Fabulous Finds this week include: two videos about a Professor, I happen to know personally, from Tufts Medical School who uses Rap to teach students about stem cell research, a world wide Valentine's Day Dance with Jane Fonda leading the way to stop violence against women, questions to facilitate communication with your children & an article with questions a five year old might ask their working mother about juggling work & motherhood.

1) My first Fabulous Find was a video, http://bcove.me/ip2g48yb, from The Boston Globe about Jonathan Garlick, A Tufts University professor who uses Rap music to teach students about stem cell research. I've met Jonathan socially several times while in Boston & never suspected his hidden talents. The 60 year old professor has earned a reputation with his students as the Stem Cell Rapper. I have included not only the Boston Globe article, but an earlier YouTube video (above) that went viral. He is an educator who is literally breaking down a difficult subject & communicating his message about the importance of stem cell research to young people in a way that they will remember.

2) My second Fabulous Find for the week  brings together multiple areas of interest for me. I have been a fan of Jane Fonda for many years. Her acting skills, outspoken ability to speak her mind even when her beliefs are unpopular, candid sharing of her personal problems & support for feminine causes are some of my reasons for respecting her. I have heard her speak twice & spoke with her briefly each time. The first time, I learned about her early painful years in Connecticut. I had not known that Ms. Fonda spent years in therapy trying to make sense of her mother's suicide when Jane was just a toddler. I also heard how years after Jane had taken on the cause of helping women victimized by rape, that she learned that her mother had been raped. So I was hooked when I saw that Jane Fonda was sponsoring this massive event: V Day Until the Violence Stops, http://janefonda.com/one-billion-rising/#.URK3X2P3hF0.facebook. But my excitement did not stop there. The event involves another of my passions, dancing, to help promote the cause. They call it One Billion Rising / Strike /  Dance / Rise! Events are happening around the world & anyone (including men who care about their mothers, daughters & wives) can join in the world wide flashmob experience. Take a look, find an event over Valentine's week near where you live & join the movement!  -->

3) I discovered my third find on Google+. This blog post by +Stefanie Mullen suggests 10 questions a week for Table Talk with your children: http://www.ooph.com/table-talk/table-talk-family-dinner-questions-week-37/#. This week's post is number 37, but you can check previous weeks. On the blog you will find great ideas for conversation starters with your kids like: 8. If I had to dance or sing in front of your friends, which would be less embarrassing for you? or 10. If I gave you one rule free day, which rule would you most be excited to be free of? It's never too early to start speaking with your kids about all kinds of topics so that they will feel comfortable speaking with you as they enter the tough teen years.

4) I picked the fourth article because of the unique perspective the author (who was doing a guest post) Leoarna, known as Not different but Interesting on Babyhuddle took of trying to ask questions her 4 going on 5 year old might pose if she interviewed her mother about the juggling act of being a working mother. The questions & answers may resonate with the working parents among you http://blog.babyhuddle.com/2013/02/things-my-daughter-would-ask-me-if-she-could/ .

Hope you enjoy these finds as much as I did & that you will share these with your friends. Have a wonderful weekend! 

Bullying Part V: Tragedy at Movie Screening "The Dark Knight Rises"

Ironically, I started this post a couple of days ago. In light of the horrendous tragedy in Aurora Colorado, the questions I posed raise even more serious questions about the rise in violence & bullying in our society. My heart goes out to all the victims of this senseless crime. The details of the crime & information about the gunman will soon be evident. As I prepare for a journey from CT to Virginia to Ohio, I welcome your thoughts comments & ideas on how to help stop the bullying & violence. Here's what I wrote a few days ago:

Thought for the Day: I saw the new Spiderman movie last week & loved it. I had forgotten the story line, since Spiderman was not my favorite comic strip growing up. Since I am focusing on the topic of bullying at one of the stops on my Dreams On Wheels, 2012 Tour, I paid attention to the victim turned superhero & defender of targets aspect of the film. Do victims who fight back & defend themselves become heros, popular even with the bully who tormented them, or bullies? Often parents encourage their bullied children to fight back. Does this work or does it lead to more bullying? I'd love to hear your experiences with bullying.

Does Social Media Lead to Social Action or Inaction?

Does Social Media Lead To Social Action for Social Good?

Thought for the day: There is something wonderful & terrible about all the social media sites. On the one hand, you can interact with people you would never meet without these platforms. It is easy to learn about things without leaving your home. On the other hand, these sites can become addictive, time consuming & may lead to less real life interactions with people. When confronted with four options: 1) like, 2) share, 3) unlike, or 4) move on, or ignore what we see, are we choosing option 4) more often than any of the others. Why are people opting not to interact? Are we becoming voyeurs rather than action takers? Is our attention span becoming shorter & shorter? Do we need more & more negative, shocking photos & videos to get our attention? Is social media missing it's mark & making us more asocial or anti-social? We know that twitter has played an influential role in the Arab Spring movement, so social media can lead to action, but does it sometimes lead to inaction. What does it take to get you to like or share something on social media sites? What stops you from sharing or liking something?

As a psychologist, I tend to test my theories before I write about them. I find the psychology of social media fascinating. For the last few months I have been thinking about & developing ways to understand the psychology of using social media for social good. My most recent experiment came before I even had a theory or a plan to write about it. I was simply curious. I responded to a facebook post & decided to try it on both my personal & book facebook page, my google+ page (which, I really don't understand yet), & my 3 twitter handles. That means the message went out to over 8,000 people or pages. I was reluctant to place the post since it felt a bit like chain letters which I do not pass on, but my curiosity won.

Here's the post I put out on all the above sites: "...Pay attention! I'm running a test to see who's reading my posts. So, if you read this, leave me a one-word comment about your day—only one word, please. Then, copy this to your wall so I can leave a word for you. Don't just post a word & not copy—that's no fun."

My meager results in over 48 hours are: 18 replies, shares, & likes. In fairness, I get a lot more responses when I post more interesting content. I also sent out my test on a Saturday afternoon when people are busy, so it may not reflect how well it may have done on a weekday. It still appears on my facebook pages, but it is ancient history on twitter & google+. 

Are we simply overwhelmed with so many posts, tweets, blogs & newsletters flashing by in real time? Do we need disasters or "glitzy" gossip from stars to get our attention?  Are we becoming "couch potatoes" on the internet? How can we get people to really connect in meaningful ways? I hope that we will not become numb to calls for action similar to the passerby phenomenon that has occurred when people hear the sounds of a crime happening & ignore it.

I find that some sites are making a conscious effort to engage people about real issues. On Voices Against Brain Cancer's facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/VoicesAgainstBrainCancer, people post pictures & stories about their loved ones who are either fighting a battle against brain cancer or who have sadly lost the battle. They are raising awareness, supporting families dealing with the disease & supporting research programs to put an end to brain cancer. It is so powerful that I can only respond to posts a bit at a time, but I make an effort to do so. Stop Violence Against Women www.care2.com engages visitors to click to have their sponsors support various causes. You can click every day & support multiple causes there for free.

What sites you share, like & comment on & why? As I see it it is up to us, the users to put social responsibility & activism into social media.