Silicon Valley Moms Blog

Michelle Obama: why does your garden grow?

The iconic photos last week from the White House organic garden have left an indelible impression on me. The stylishly dressed Michelle Obama squatting to cut lettuce from her bountiful garden, the crowd of fifth graders, the eager faces. Michelle certainly knows how to wield a knife on a head of lettuce. And she certainly kept the kids entertained.

Although Michelle's stated aim is to help kids eat more healthy food (yes: the dreaded veggies!) and tackle obesity, I'd love to hear from Michelle about her deeper motivations.

Some industry critics have said she's making a dig at pesticide manufacturers, commercial farmers etc. What?! A classic interview by Samantha Bee argued that by pushing organic, she's being an elitist organic gardener and has started a fad that will simultaneously make us starve, obese and get cancer ! It's all so outrageous, don't you think? I'd like to hear Michelle's answer to these claims. What would she say?

Katie Couric listened: children of the recession

I was busy editing an interview when I received the email from Beth Blecherman with an invitation to take part in a conference call with Katie Couric about the CBS series, Children of the Recession. My first thought was: Och, I don't think so. As thrilling as it would be for any journalist to talk to Katie - mom to mom - what could I possibly contribute to the conversation?

The green economy is my beat...I'm no expert on how kids are really suffering since the economy turned south last year. Too many friends of mine have lost jobs, but they're not facing the prospect of living on the street or lining up at the soup kitchen...not yet anyway. We live in a sleepy suburb of Silicon Valley, and although things are definitely tighter at home -  my kids are more concerned about what summer camps they'll do, than where their next meal is coming from.  But Katie Couric? I just had to find out more...

So I did some googling...checked out the CBS site, and the heartbreaking stories. Those doleful photos of kids and sickening stories of abuse and neglect got to me. Before long, I was burning to ask Katie: OK where's the call to action? How can people help? Is it better to concentrate on grass roots efforts or to call our representatives and get some action going nationally?

So, Tuesday morning, along with Beth and Jill's picks from around the nation (and Canada) I sat in my home office wearing sweatpants and talking to Katie Couric and her producer Tony, thinking: Tom Friedman is right - the world is definitely getting flatter! :)

I wasn't prepared for just how receptive Katie and her team would be.

Mother's Day Blogging: fun and frustration

Last week, I popped in to say hello to Lissa Kreisler the popular KBay DJ and mom of two, and I witnessed something that made me reflect on the role of the mother and the role of the blogger, something very apropos the Silicon Valley Moms Blog....after all, it is the place for moms to blog, right? But it made me wonder if anyone's written on the subtle similarities, and the not so subtle frustrations, that motherhood and blogging share? Probably they have (hasn't everything been blogged about?)...but let me tell you this story anyway.

I just discovered Lissa's blog last month and it really captures her bubbly personality, recounting her fun exploits as DJ, American Idol fan and celebrity-about-town. But last Monday was a low in her blogging life. There was Lissa, in her studio in downtown San Jose: the normally upbeat and cheery gal, tearing her hair out. Teeth on edge.

"I've just lost over an hour of blogging!" she lamented, staring at her PC screen.  Just by hitting the wrong button, she'd erased what she described as one of her longest blogs ...the mother of all blogs, you might say. Despite the help of a KBay tech expert, the blog could not be resuscitated. It was gone. Poof. She was back to square one.

Guy Kawasaki: the real thing twitter

Have you escaped the lure of Twitter? It’s practically everywhere these days. It launches on Oprah today. That's big time. In the past few weeks, I’ve seen interviews of the founders on everything from Colbert to Charlie Rose and even columns in the Op/Ed pages of the Financial Times of London where it was aptly described on Easter weekend by Ben Fenton as “the latest plague of distraction to spread around the world.” Who needs more distraction in our already hectic lives?

But against my better judgment, I recently signed up - SVGreenGal - just to see what all the fuss was about. Curiosity got the better of me and I’m now a follower of some prolific twitterers, including Robert Scoble, Katie Couric and fellow Silicon Valley Mom blogger Beth Blecherman . My first reaction: how in the heck do these people have  the time to tweet about the cool new website or blog they just came across? Do they really have kids, and a spouse and a dishwasher to load? Do they have a life?

Then I heard about TweetGate. The 140 character cyber version of Watergate – featuring our very own tech guru, Guy Kawasaki. Being a recent and somewhat reluctant member of the twittering classes I’d missed all the fuss about TweetGate, but I got the lowdown from Guy himself last week.

Project Cornerstone - who'll care for your kids when you can't?

Sometimes, you need a reminder don't you? A reminder to slow down, stop what you're doing and take time for kids.  Take time to look into their eyes, really connect with them - listen, and hear what they have to tell you. And I intentionally don't say "your" kids, because I'm talking about all kids, the snotty nosed kids at the doctor's office, the kids hanging out in the local park, the kids selling Girls Scout cookies at your door, the scary looking teens at the mall. They all need to feel valued.

As Rob Davis, San Jose's Chief of Police said this week: "Look into the eyes of a child and you see the future. What we're doing today impacts the future." There was barely a dry eye in the room. Over 800 people gathered  Thursday at the Fairmont, San Jose to celebrate 10 years of Project Cornerstone, a community partnership of organizations and schools that emphasize the importance of interaction with young people. Its motto could be:  "Kids need encouragement every day."

Taking Silicon Valley Kool Aid to Scotland

I'm just back from Scotland where I was invited to give some lectures about Silicon Valley entrepreneurship and green business at the University of Edinburgh.

Preparation was intense (the Edinburgh-Stanford Link asked for 4 distinct classes) and being hit with that mother-of-all-flu bugs in early February nearly sank me. There were days when I stared at my PowerPoint presentations through a complete dancing haze and couldn't make any progress. At one point, the nightmare of a 12 hour journey working feverishly through the night to finish them seemed as real as the endless cups of hot lemon and honey I forced down.

But in the end, it all came together. I found time to reconnect with some outstanding entrepreneurs I've interviewed in Silicon Valley over the last few years to gather some good information before I left. Those included the gifted young Frank Addante, who writes an excellent blog about his business adventures and has a lot of wisdom to share. A few days before I flew, I coerced the family into sitting through a practice run of my Silicon Valley ecosystem PowerPoint, titled: Drinking the Kool Aid in Silicon Valley. The kids promptly fell asleep before I got to slide twelve. An encouraging sign indeed.

Girls Geek out at She's Geeky Conference

The Girl Geeks came out in force last week at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. If you're ever in doubt that Silicon Valley is the center of the Geek Universe then you must put next year's She's Geeky conference on your calendar.

Proceedings began with a mic passing contest where girl geeks were challenged to out-geek each other. Kaliya Hamlin did a great job running the show. Overall winner from where I sat was: "I'm geeky because I named my first born after my favorite search engine."

Instead of my what the h***? reaction, broad smiles and nodding approvals were evident.  I admit to shivering a little at that point. That puts a whole new spin on the song: "where everybody knows your name"

Honorable mention goes to the girl geek who said "I'm geeky because I'm so attached to my laptop, I take it in the bathtub with me." Let's hope she unplugs it first. Eeek.

California- why the dream must go on

This morning I got an email from a friend in the UK. It included a link to the following AP story about how badly the CA economy is doing, how people are "fleeing" the Golden State and inferring that before long, we'll be a high unemployment rust-belt state. Hey, fellow Californians, is your blood boiling yet?

It really got my temperature rising, because fact is, I think there's a little bit of Schadenfreude involved in this kind of story. Great pleasure is being had at the idea that Californians are finally getting their comeuppance. Not that I think my dear friend feels this way. She may live in London now, but I know she's left her heart in California. Yet, I think many people around the world are rather enjoying our budget battles, our public education struggles, our higher than average unemployment and foreclosure rates.

Hope with Sudan: your dollars go far

There was hardly a dry eye in the room...even the dads looked shocked and silent. The kids were wide eyed and still. You can only imagine how the moms reacted. About a dozen families had gathered at the Pecora family's living room and we'd just watched the first 15 minutes of God Grew Tired of Us. It's a movie that documents the journey of the Lost Boys of Sudan from the villages they grew up in Southern Sudan, to safe refuge across the border in Kenya and Uganda. Almost 30,000 young boys (some as young as five years old, can you imagine?) literally ran for their lives during this second Sudanese Civil War.

This wasn't any ordinary family movie night, several of the Lost Boys were with us in the room to tell us about their journeys; their struggle to adjust to life in the San Francisco Bay Area; and their need for continued support for themselves and for their families and orphans back in Africa. It's a harrowing story, but it's also one of hope and redemption. Today, some have resettled in Silicon Valley and are carving out a new life but they haven't forgotten their country or their people. They have founded Hope with Sudan to help support these orphans.

One of the Lost Boys, Peter, has a wife and family back in Kenya (they're still in exile) and together, they support an orphanage with over 35 Sudanese children (these kids are still not safe in their native country). Peter sells African crafts (beautifully carved salad tongs, ceramic bowls, jewelry) and after doing brisk business that evening, had to pack up in a hurry, so that he could get to his third job as a night-time security guard.

I was so moved by his story and his dedication to help these young orphans that I asked how I could become more involved....

Christmas traditions : you can't make me like it

The holidays are upon us and despite the economy, it's time for these time honored family traditions...of gingerbread houses, stockings by the fire and ...dragging the kids to "fun" family events that they'd really rather skip and stay home and...say... mop the floor.

On Sunday, I dragged the kids along to the annual Christmas concert of Stewart Tartan Pipes and Drums at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Saratoga. My 13 year old was happy to come but my 11 year old, with some serious eye rolling, groaned - Do I have to go? 

Yes, you do!

It's one of those non-negotiables in our family. I for one wouldn't miss it for the world and like it or not, I want them to be there. Mean mum that I am. Even if they don't tap their feet like I do and get choked up at the music, at least they're experiencing the tunes and - I hope - get the skirl of pipes into their psyche. The music is an important part of their Scottish heritage; and I want it to be part of their childhood sound track, as well as Nickelback and GreenDay. At the very least, once they're my age, they may look back on it with nostalgia.

And anyway, this is the one time of year I get to see a sight for sore eyes ...my husband (and the band) all dressed up in the kilt and full regalia. Maybe I'm a biased Scottish lassie, but there's no finer attire for a brawny man, than a tartan kilt. No, this one isn't my husband, but you get my point.

The tune, Highland Cathedral makes me cry every time, so I had a plan...