I awoke this morning to about 6 inches of fresh snow (still coming down hard), and the very exciting realization that we met our goal of 1,000 cookies in just over 3 days! Read this post here to learn more about the Clicks for Cookies campaign. Thanks to you, the many generous folks who decided to click through to our new blog, we are able to supply the nonprofit Birthday Wishes with enough cookies to stock every Massachusetts-based birthday party in the month of January (one cookie per child in attendance). I was told by Lisa Vasiloff, founder of the organization, that these cookies will be placed in childrens’ gift bags (along with other knick-knacks) to take after the party. If you’re looking to do some volunteer work with a minimal time commitment… helping out at a Birthday Wishes party is an incredibly rewarding way to spend two hours. Check out their Web site to find an upcoming party in your area.

A special thanks goes to Trish Karter, Scott Miller, and the rest of the folks over at Dancing Deer Baking Company for helping us make this happen by extending a healthy discount on product. I’ve known Trish for several years now, but we REALLY got to know each other this past April when Louder Than Words helped promote Trish’s 1,500 mile bike ride to end homelessness. Trish averaged 100 miles per day, riding from Atlanta to Boston, staying at homeless shelters each night to help raise awareness for family homelessness. She is passionate for the cause, dedicated to her trade, and a powerful cyclist to boot.

We launched this blog in early November and, like most new blogs, have only enjoyed a small amount of readership. These things tend to grow organically over time. So it’s worth checking the blog stats to see how this campaign so drastically skewed our numbers (for the better!) over the last few days. Click on the image of the graph to the right to see the numbers. We posted the blog at 2:30 pm on Thursday and then sent word out via email to our “friends of Louder Than Words” list. We also tweeted about the campaign and posted it to Facebook. Within minutes, unique hits to the post started to roll in and they didn’t stop.

As a communications agency, we are no strangers to the power of social media and viral marketing. Nevertheless, we have never been on the receiving end of this kind of campaign. So you can imagine how exciting it was to see how many people had retweeted our message – from far away as Quito, Ecuador. My wife, Jennifer, was particularly excited to see that the founder of Wholesomebabyfood.com had retweeted about clicks for cookies (she used their recipes quite often when our son was born). I, on the other hand, was much more excited about the fact that MISS UNIVERSE 2003 paid our campaign forward.

All of us at Louder Than Words had a great time putting this little campaign together. Seeing how strong the response was, I have a feeling it won’t be another 12 months before we do something similar again. Happy holidays all!! Enjoy the snow.

Welcome to Communicate Good, Louder Than Words’ new blog about communications, doing good in the world, and the intersection of the two.  Our goal in establishing this blog is to explore the many ways that social benefit can be augmented, advanced, promoted, and  inspired by employing smart, strategic, communications.

Over the last two months, we considered a number of possible names for this blog. We brainstormed, we test-marketed ideas with friends, family and colleagues, and then we brainstormed some more. In the end we opted for “Communicate Good.” To read the feedback from our “test” audiences, you’d have thought it’d be first on the chopping block:

• “Hate it”
• “Rubs me the wrong way. My mind keeps screaming ‘communicate well.’”
• “Don’t like it because grammatically it should be ‘communicate well.’”
• “Just sounds like bad grammar to me.” (Courtesy of my wife)

In fact, out of the 20+ people to whom we shopped names, only one person liked Communicate Good. So why did we go with it. Was it spite? Did I want to prove to my wife that I still had veto power in some areas of my life? On the contrary, there were a few compelling reasons why we selected it:

1)     A strong response: When it comes to the blogosphere, you want a name that is going to rise to the surface. If we called ourselves Communicate Well, who would really care to see what we’re about (let alone remember us)? In truth, our test market simply liked a variety of the other names we presented, but they strongly disliked Communicate Good. The response was quite visceral across the board. To us, that was significant. As a former intern noted, “It immediately captures the attention of someone perusing a variety of blogs. It compels you to stop thinking about whatever it is you were thinking about and assess the intention behind the seeming grammatical mistake.” (We have the BEST interns!!)

2)     It says what it is: The truth is, we’re not trying to be clever … we’re trying to capture the essence of what this blog will be about. As the platform expands, we’ll undoubtedly address a broad array of topics, but our goal will be to keep our discussions focused through two lenses: a communications lens and a social benefit lens – a.k.a. doing good. (Obviously we’re using the word “good” as a noun, not an adverb.)

3)     DAWGONNIT, We liked it: At the end of the day, it’s not about what other people think. It’s about what we think. After all, we’re the ones that have to look at this every day. As we deliberated blog names, something just felt right about Communicate Good. And as I’ve learned over the last seven years since starting this agency, go with your gut because it’s usually right.

Let’s face it – the world probably doesn’t need another blog. There is such a mindbogglingly giguntic amount of content out there that the musings of a few communications professionals may not amount to much in the scheme of things. But the reality is, we’re doing this for ourselves first and foremost. It’s a forum for the Louder Than Words team to grapple with its own ideas about the work we do, and to further participate in the ever expanding social media universe. If one day we find that a community of readers has coalesced around the topics we discuss here, we would view this as an amazing bonus.

Speaking on behalf of the entire Louder Than Words team, we’re excited to jump in full force, and to see who we meet along the way.

-Rich Polt

My internet connection has been having problems – this is without images and posted later than I would’ve liked.

I’ve decided to write a collective review of the first three Louder than Words books, because each title is around 150-170 pages, and I feel this kind of review will cover them more thoroughly than three short reviews.

I’ve blogged about the series before, but here’s a quick refresher: It’s a collection of memoirs, consisting of blog entries, diary pages, poems, etc, of teens in their own words.

Chelsey by Chelsey Shannon:

When she was fourteen, Chelsey’s father, a cruise ship entertainer, was violently murdered. The teen had already experienced parental loss with the death of her mother, to Leukemia, when she was six. Orphaned, Chelsey channels her emotion and anger creatively with writing. Shouldered with the burden of continuing school in the midst of being uprooted from her home, wanting to remain where it’s safe and familiar, she comes to terms with the loss. Chelsey finds solace in words, and eventually applies to the writing program of a performing arts school.

Emily by Emily Smucker:

Emily’s plagued with dizziness, stomaches, and fevers lately. Eventually, she learns she has West Nile, and it’s incurable. Suddenly, all of her plans for senior year put on hold. Now even the simplest things like traveling and attending classes are a struggle. Despite her diagnosis, Emily tries to continue her life as normal, even as her friends go on with their lives, while she’s left behind. A Mennonite, Emily’s faith both gives her strength and makes her question God’s plan with her diagnosis, until she finds peace with her situation.

Marni by Marni Bates:

Marni’s father is basically a stranger, her parents are divorcing, and school’s anything but easy. Unable to cope with the stress surrounding her, Marni begins plucking her eyebrows. At first it’s just heeding her sister’s beauty advice, until the urge to pick extends to her eyelashes, then hair. Scared to confront her family with the truth, Marni confesses to a classmate her habit and is met with disgust. Finally, after a talk with her mother, Marni finds a name for his disorder: trichotillomania and learns she’s not alone.

Each of the books in the series has an editor’s touch (Smart Girls Know.com’s mastermind, Deborah Reber), but the final products still bear the teen’s words. There’s almost a sense of voyeurism here – as if we’re reading an online journal we’ve stumbled upon. Within each account of the girls’ ordeals, I got a real sense of the author’s personalities from their writing – from Emily’s quirky sense of humor with her wryly-named cane, John McCane, to her diatribe against pink jellybeans. In their respective books, Chelsey’s complex search for an appropriate religion, and Marni’s resilience despite an absent father and troubling stress disorder stand out. The stylistic choices among the three authors differ, also reflecting the girls’ personalities well. Chelsey describes her ordeal chronologically, while Marni and Emily favor a more free-writing approach, using flashbacks and random anecdotes.

While I enjoyed all three books, Marni really struck a chord with me with its account of Trichotillomania, as I had a coworker and classmate who was stricken with the disorder. Reading a first hand-account of “trich” let me see what she was going through, as her situation was similar to Marni’s.

There’s been a deluge of biographies for adults on the market, but little for teens. Before Louder Than Words, “real” accounts for teens were the anonoymously-penned Annie’s Diary or Go Ask Alice. Now with the introduction of Marni, Emily, and Chelsey, Louder Than Words offers true stories teens were able to relate to, and definitely fills a niche. In the back of each title, readers will find book club discussion questions providing talking points for teens and parents.

Copies for review provided by the publisher.

Release Date: August 2009
Publisher: HCI Teens
Format: Paperback

Giveaway!

I have the above three titles to give away to one winner. Simply leave a comment on this post to enter. Contest begins August 12, 2009 and ends September 9, 2009.

Links Quebrados foram concertados
Layout Novo, Um tanto mais organizado
NOVO- Índice de downloads, á cima,  mais prático para pesquisas em vez de procurar pelos posts…

Por em quanto só. Mas assim que puder irei atualizando e postando musicas em outras versões, porque coisas para upar é o que não me falta.
Criticas e Sugestões nos comentários, por favor. Adoro ler a Opinião de vocês!

Até mais! ^^

A screenshot of the now defunct Louder Than Words Forum

This morning I was informed by a fan of Greenpeace Philippines’ Facebook page, that the Louder Than Words Community has been taken down by the start of July.

Below is their statement:

IMPORTANT COMMUNITY MESSAGE: Wednesday July 1, 2009
Dear Friends,
We’ve had to make the difficult decision to shut down this forum.
We realise that many of you spent a great deal of time here, and enjoyed meeting other activists and exchanging ideas.

We’ve attempted various strategies across more than a year to try and make this work better, but we are simply unable to dedicate enough staff time to moderate and provide quality input. As we approach the most important climate summit in the history of the planet in Copenhagen this December, we’re battening down the hatches and focusing all our efforts on pressuring governments to sign a deal that will stop runaway climate change.
We’re cutting back on many projects to make room for this priority work, and the forum is one of them.

News of Louder Than Words’ closing, saddens me now as I write this.

I was a part of that community, it was an extension of myself, where at times when it seems that everyone in the world wide web seemed to care less about what Greenpeace stands for, there are those kindred souls in Louder Than Words whom I can find sanctuary from the harsh words of nasty bloggers and the like.

It is in Louder Than Words that I’ve often be made to think hard about how I live my complacent life to one that always seeks to persevere in pursuing a greener and peaceful future.

It is with these and other memories of my interaction with Greenpeace webbies, that the closure of Louder Than Words signals a sad note in my online life as a Greenpeace cyberactivists.

But as with all endings come new beginnings, and the same could be said of Louder Than Words, which rose up from the ashes of the old Greenpeace Cybercentre.

As a parting note in the forum page the Web Team of Greenpeace International invited the forum members to continue their sojourn with Greenpeace by venturing to new horizons that have been opened up with the advent of Web 2.0

I’m pretty sure that I am not the one who feels heavyhearted with the closure of Louder Than Words, but it is with these endings that one also experiences the joy of rebirth which I believe is already happening with the volume of interaction that me and Jen here in the Philippine web team experience everytime we log on the internet.

The continuing struggle for the planet’s survival from the impending threat of climate change and a host of other menaces goes on even if one of the avenues upon which we take action ends its tour of duty. Hopefully, those of you who’ve been a part of the Louder Than Words community will join us on our

facebook | multiply | friendster | myspace | youtube

accounts or to sign up as an online activist and take action for a greener and peaceful future. Or better yet join the new unofficial community for Greenpeace cyberactivists.

Chuck Baclagon

Olá Visitantes! Estou muito, muito, muito agradecida pela visita e pelos comentários… Hoje estava Checando a Caixa de E-Mails do Blog, e tive uma surpresa, 900 Visitas em 2 Meses! Estou tão entusiasmada com o blog, que já estou upando mais coisas para disponibilizar aqui para vocês! Estou também pensando em criar uma galeria de Fotos da nossa Kate Voegele, o que acham? Assim que tiver um tempinho já irei dar iniciativa, mas agora já estou nas férias de inverno, terei tempo suficiente!
Obrigada denovo pelos comentários, pelas 900 visitas (de verdade estou muito feliz!)

Hey Guys!I am very, very, very grateful for the visit and the comments … Today checking the box E-mails Blog, and I had a surprise, 900 visits in 2 months! I am so excited about the blog, which I have more things available here for you! I am also thinking of creating a gallery of photos of our Kate Voegele, what do you think?
Thanks again for the comments, for 900 visits. (In fact I am very happy!)

Global Health Trax admires Jenny McCarthy and a number of autism organizations like Generation Rescue and TACA for their efforts to raise awareness and investigation of the disease’s causes. McCarthy’s recent book Louder than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing Autism discusses nutritional therapies and diet changes including a gluten-free, casein-free (GFCF) diet for autistic children.  Generation Rescue approaches childhood neurological disorders as symptoms of underlying physical conditions including build ups of toxins in their young bodies, food allergies, gastrointestinal distress, and yeast overgrowth.

the inertia is over… here’s book review #2!

the latest offering is Louder Than Words: The Power of Uncompromised Living, by Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church in Atlanta, GA.

summary in 20 words or less

your character is important. your character is important. YOUR. CHARACTER. IS. IMPORTANT!

key quotation

‘God’s goal for you isn’t just to end up at the right place. His goal is relationship. The goal is constant dependence upon His Spirit – dependence for direction and dependence for the strength to follow through. And when that becomes your approach to life, you will not only get to the right place, you’ll get there the right way. And along the way, you’ll know Him. And in knowing Him you will discover His character. The very character He longs to recreate in you.’ [ch.13, p.176]

bait-and-switch

for a good chunk of this book i felt like i was being drawn down a dead-end of legalism and guilt. while i appreciated the author’s insistence in the importance of character, i felt as able to grow the type of character i’d like as grow a third elbow. but it turned out the author had successfully suckered me in. i was meant to feel that way. i was supposed to realize that i can’t do it on my own. that’s the point at which God – through his Spirit – can step in. and then my character can be transformed, not just changed.

not a dead-end after all!

William E. Spear, Publisher and Producer of Lit Between the Ears – Celebrating the Power and People of Dramatic Audio, will perform his original story THE EMPTY TABLE at Friendly Grounds Coffeehouse on Thursday September 11 at 8:00PM. Spear and other storytellers are participating in Joey Novick’s Louder Than Words series.       

“The Empty Table is inspired by The Missing Man Table and Honors Ceremony which calls to mind America’s Prisoners of War and Missing In Action,” said Spear. “It is meant as a quiet reminder that there are American soldiers whose fates have not been resolved.”

The full text of Spear’s performance may be found here:

http://twoplusplus.wordpress.com/2008/08/26/missing-man-table-and-honors-ceremony-inspiration-for-william-e-spears-the-empty-table/

Louder Than Words

http://www.louderthanwordsstories.com/

Thursday, September 11th at 8:00PM

Friendly Grounds Coffeehouse
36 Mine Street
Flemington, New Jersey
http://www.friendlygroundscoffeehouse.com/

Cost of admission is $5 plus a food purchase.

# 30 #

“If someone you love is diagnosed with autism, Louder Than Words is the first book you should read. One morning, Jenny McCarthy was having a cup of coffee when she sensed something was wrong. She ran into her two-year-old son Evan’s room and found him seizing. In that moment, Jenny went from being the mother of an average toddler to being in the midst of a medical odyssey. Doctor after doctor misdiagnosed Evan until after many harrowing, life-threatening episodes later, one amazing doctor discovered that Evan is autistic. Though Evan finally had a diagnosis, Jenny didn’t know what to do next and she soon found herself alone without any resources except for her determination to help her son. Jenny eventually realized that she’d have to become a detective. She spoke with many doctors, parents, governmental agencies, private foundations, and essentially earned a Phd in “Google Research.” At last, she discovered an intense combination of behavioral therapy, diet, and supplements that became the key to saving Evan from autism. And, now in this book, she creates a roadmap for parents who are concerned about their own child. Jenny does more than just reveal the winning formula that worked for Evan. Her story shares the frustrations and joys of raising an autistic child and shows how with love and determination a parent can shape their child’s life and happiness.”

Order Louder Than Words from Amazon for $9.99

Don’t have Amazon Kindle? You can always purchase it from here
Or if you prefer to read the Print editions instead, you can get it from here

Other Kindle Books of Interest
Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s
Life Laughs
Baby Laughs: The Naked Truth About the First Year of Mommyhood
Celebrity Detox
Engaging Autism: Helping Children Relate, Communicate and Think with the DIR Floortime Approach

Saat denger kata autis, yang terlintas dalam pikiran gw adalah kondisi seseorang biasanya terjadi pada anak yang katanya cuma “Hidup di dunianya sendiri” tak bisa berkomunikasi dengan lingkungan dan orang-orang disekitarnya. Hmm kasihan  juga ya.

Autisme diklasifikasikan sebagai ketidaknormalan perkembangan neuro yang menyebabkan interaksi sosial yang tidak normal, kemampuan komunikasi, pola kesukaan, dan pola sikap. Autisme bisa terdeteksi pada anak berumur paling sedikit 1 tahun. Autisme empat kali lebih banyak menyerang anak laki-laki dari pada anak perempuan.
Tanda – tanda Autisme
- Tidak bisa menguasai atau sangat lamban dalam penguasaan bahasa sehari-hari
- Hanya bisa mengulang-ulang beberapa kata
- Mata yang tidak jernih atau tidak bersinar
- Tidak suka atau tidak bisa atau atau tidak mau melihat mata orang lain
- Hanya suka akan mainannya sendiri (kebanyakan hanya satu mainan yg dimainkan)
- Serasa dia punya dunianya sendiri
- Tidak suka berbicara dengan orang lain
- Tidak suka atau tidak bisa menggoda orang lain (dikutip dari wikipedia Indonesia)

Kalau ga salah hari senin 31 Maret 2008 kmrn gw nonton Oprah Winfrey Show di Metro TV yang bahas seorang Ibu yang berjuang demi menyembuhkan autis pada anaknya, sampai kemudian Ibu tersebut yang bernama Jenny Mc Carthy membukukan kisahnya dalam sebuah buku yang berjudul Louder Than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing Autism. Mungkin bukunya bisa dibaca sebagai referensi tambahan bagi orang tua yang memiliki anak penderita autis. Semoga bermanfaat

Ada artikel serupa mengenai kans kesembuhan penderita autisme, klik aja disini.

Note: Tanggal 2 April diperingati sebagai hari Autisme sedunia

I was browsing through a mag today- admittedly a gossip magazine, but definitely the most accurate and newsworthy read amongst the many various bunches of pages glued together with lies about plastic people. Week after week I see Britney, Britney, Britney, Paris, Nicole, TomKat, Brangelina, Jenny McCarthy…

Huh? Jenny McCarthy? I was immediately intrigued. The article was towards the middle of the mag, away from the papparazzi snaps of Britney, Lindsay, Paris and Mischa. The story was a feature article and exclusive interview with Jenny, listed under the sub heading “Coping.”

I have always associated Jenny as a Playboy Playmate, a FHM Covergirl, and a wickedly raunchy comic actress. I had no idea that she was a mother and a successful author of frankly funny books on pregnancy and motherhood. Also featured in the mag was an excerpt from Jenny’s latest book- a memoir describing her harrowing but ultimately uplifting journey since her son Evan was diagnosed with austism two-and-a-half years ago.

Jenny’s latest book, Louder Than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing Autism is critically acclaimed and is recognised by her peers as the first book you should read if you need to learn the ins and outs about autism.

I settled into my sofa and aborbed each word with interest -here was another mother searching for answers about her son’s condition. I never thought that I would have anything in common with Jenny McCarthy.

Then a sentence left me frozen.

“Holding my convulsing baby as he tried to breathe…from that day on, I was not who I was before…”

From that day on, I was not who I was before. Such a simple sentence, but one that completely captures the horror and heartbreak I experienced when Lance had his first hypo-induced seizure. Watching his tiny body jerk and stiffen was an experience that I keep under lock and key in my vault of ” don’t go theres.” The seizure left me distant and vacant for weeks-I was even scared in my own home, often taking a glucagon kit with me from room to room.

It is difficult for anyone to understand how I felt that day. I remember an ambulance officer attaching a minature oxygen mask to Lance’s mouth and getting pushed aside to give Lance’s name, date of birth and other relevant details to the other ambo. Words were coming out of my mouth, but I can’t remember hearing them. All that was audible to me was Lance sobbing, in between jerks and muffled attempts to catch his breath. A part of me drifted away, never to return that day, and I fully acknowledge that the carefree, laidback, vivacious girl I was is gone forever, only to be replaced with a protective, concerned and fretful woman/mother.

Through a mother’s sheer grit and steely determination, Jenny McCarthy’s son has now improved ten fold after thousands of dollars worth of treatment. She also had a very similar outlook in regards to finding a potential relationship, saying “Who’s going to love me and my autistic kid?” ( I have the same type of thoughts regularly, and I am now comfortable with the fact that I could very well live the best part of my life as a single woman.) Jenny, however, was blessed to win the heart of Jim Carrey, a man whom she has dubbed “The Autistic Whisperer” because of his ability to “speak a language that Evan understands.. beyond doubt it was written in the stars that Jim and Evan were a pair.” 

Two totally different conditions in two entirely different kids. Different symptoms, different lives,  different nationalities, different hemispheres, different Mums. ( or in Jenny’s case, Mom.)

However I “get” Jenny McCarthy as a mother and a carer. She is someone that I will never get to spend a second with, but it is evident that our best intentions and interests lie with fighting an almighty battle to ensure our boys’  have the quality of life they so deserve.

 For more information about autism, visit

aspect.org.au or autismaus.com.au