Update: Success!
If you’ve spent much time reading feminist-oriented blogs in the last few years, you almost certainly know who Lauren is. Lauren has been a feminist blogger longer than many of you have been online: she started in 2000, and since then, getting in on the ground floor, has helped to set the standard for the feminist blogging world.
As many of you know, Lauren is an especially generous person. She’s generous with links — this blog is just one of many whose traffic began to pick up after a couple well-timed links from Feministe. She’s also generous with her time and with her forgiveness, as this blog has also demonstrated on at least one occasion. if more people were like Lauren, the blogging world would be a much better place.
A groundbreaking feminist blogger with an emphasis on building community really ought to be at July’s BlogHer conference, which is itself devoted to building community among blogging women. But Lauren can’t afford to go. Strange as it may seem, this Midwestern single mom in her mid-20s with a newly-minted degree and a job in the social services sector to pay for it all is too broke to go to BlogHer. I know! It’s just weird. But it’s true.
Lauren’s pal Amanda Marcotte and I were talking about this regrettable situation, and we’ve decided it’s time for Lauren to get a smidgen of karmic payback for everything she’s done for the community of bloggers. Amanda arranged for the BlogHer folks to waive Lauren’s registration fee in return for an appearance on a panel — The Grandmother Of Blogging Women or somesuch — and now all we have to do is get her there, keep her fed, and make up for the couple days worth of paycheck she’ll give up.
That’s where you come in. We figure, what with Lauren’s fan base running into the thousands and the money we need being somewhere not too far from a thousand bucks, that it shouldn’t be too hard to raise the money Lauren needs just by asking you for help.
And so we’re asking you for help. We’ve made it as easy as possible for you to help Lauren get to San Jose, California in July: just visit this Amazon Honor System PayPage with a credit card in hand, and make a donation of whatever size you feel is appropriate, from a dollar on up.
If each of Lauren’s thousands of fans gives a dollar, we’ll have enough to get her here and housed and fed, and any leftovers donated to a “women and technology” charity which Lauren will select. If one of Lauren’s fans gives thousands of dollars, same thing.
PS: If you’d prefer not to use Amazon, you can send a check made out to me (write “For Lauren” in the memo line so that I can tell it apart from all the other checks people send me on a routine basis) at:
Chris Clarke
Earth Island Institute
300 Broadway, Suite 28
San Francisco, CA, 94133
and leave a comment in this thread to let us know how much you’re sending so that we can plan accordingly. I’ll be making available a full accounting of all donations so that I won’t be suspected of running off to Mazatlan with the loot, so if you want your donation to be anonymous, include a note to that effect. But why would I run off to Mazatlan? I get to pick Lauren up at the airport, and that’s WAY more exciting.
Note:Many old comments were lost in a database crash in 2008. Some conversations may seem to make less sense than they would have. A few will make more sense now.
18 comments on "Send Lauren to BlogHer"Oh, sure, you get to pick her up at the airport. Can we get her a ticket with multiple stops along the way? Like, route her from Indiana to Minnesota to Massachusetts to Alabama to New Mexico to Oregon to San Jose, just to share her around a little more?
FYI: That Amazon account has a $50 limit, which is what I gave.
It’s all good in the hood, but I think she should have to hock that fancy-pants cat-waterer first.
I gave $50 too. Best wishes to Lauren.
Done! A worthy cause indeed…
Done, with a smile on my face!
I’m in for $50.
I can swing $25. This is such a great thing you’re all doing.
I sent along $10. I’m glad you’re doing this.
Thanks for setting this up! I’ll happily donate! Lauren’s a total feminist goddess - the least I can do is buy her dinner.
I made a donation, Chris, but I did it anonymously so you’ll never really know, will you? But I did it.
Amazon’s having some trouble. We’ll be doing this all day tomorrow too, so feel free to try later.
I sent along $20. Ive spent enough time reading feminist blogs since discovering feministe that it was money well earned by her.
Hey Chris, how ‘bout an update? Goal close at hand?
Good call, Thomas!
We’ve got enough that — looking at the plotted income curve and extrapolating to end of day today — Lauren and I went ahead, cast our bread upon the water, and bought the non-refundable plane tix yesterday evening.
In other words, we’re in sight of the goal — I’d say 75-80 percentish — people have been very generous so far, and if folks toss change our way today we’ll have some good news later in the day.
Of course, if people who were intending to donate read this, decide we’re set, put their credit cards back in their wallets and click back to Slashdot, our extrapolated forecast will be inaccurate. Which would be sad. So please don’t let my optimism dissuade you from giving, folks.
I’ll have figures later tonight! And I’ll presume enough to let you know that Lauren is profoundly touched by your generosity so far. You guys are great. Keep it up.
Well, a women and blogging conference wouldn’t be the same without one of the longest-running and most pioneering bloggers. I mean, what’s the average life expectancy of a blog? eight posts, six months? less? Lauren ran Feministe for about six years, most of that alone, with daily content, and developed a real readership, when blogs were in their infancy.
Just whant to say HI! I love this place!