Earlier today I was happily tweeting away about Metallica when things took a sharp right turn into a parallel dimension. The result? My muse and one other, that of Wendy (a.k.a Sparrowbug), are locked into a cage match. Two muses enter … one leaves …

The challenge? Post around 500 words of our current works in progress (WIP) written within the last week.

Wendy’s entry – a YA that might end up being horror – can be found here.

(…. and as a last minute challenge, Pauline a.k.a. @aspiringmama is going to enter the fray ….)

My WIP is a narrative nonfiction survival guide for parents, caregivers and supporters of ill or special needs kids currently titled Born into Battle: Surviving and Thriving Amidst a Child’s Complex Medical Situation.

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Several times over the last couple months I’ve commented here about the power of social media to bring people together around campaigns – raising awareness for Rare Disease Day, help for Haiti after the Jan. 12 earthquake, saving a favorite television show with #Heroes100. It’s a fun, easy, almost magical way to take action on the causes that matter most to you. In a few short seconds you can reach out to thousands of individuals – something that even ten years ago was almost unthinkable.

But what happens when that cause is your very survival? What happens when social media is something more than just fun — a means for isolated individuals to reach out to the world beyond their sickbed, wheelchair or hospital room?

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SpecialTeams chat – March 26, 2010 featuring @kadiera

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Team Vamp Chat – March 22, 2010 (with guest Sarah Jane Stratford, author of The Midnight Guardian)

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 With a black man holding the highest office in the land you would think America is past the race-bashing hate-mongering crap that has crippled us from within for the last 200 years or so. Sadly two recent very public events provide more evidence than I really wanted of the cancer that continues to infect our society.

This past weekend protesters associated with the “Tea Party” camped out in front of the U.S. Congress to express their dismay with proposed health care reform – exercising a constitutional right to activism and turning it into a sad public display of small-minded foolishness.

They spat at Congressmen. They hurled racial-slurs at the gay and black communities.

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For a moment there, I forgot what planet we are on. Last time I checked I was living on planet earth – but former Marine general John Sheehan seems to be stuck in a parallel dimension where demeaning gay-bashing comments are socially acceptable.

I am not a member of the LGBT community, but I was Outraged (yes – that’s Outraged with a capital “O”) to see reports of Sheehan giving testimony before the U.S. Congress that pegged Dutch troops failures to prevent the Srebrenica massacre to The Netherland’s acceptance of openly-gay individuals in the military.

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The Special Teams community is congregated over at our new Ning community!!!

 It’s a judgement-free space for parents, caregivers, advocates and supporters of ill or special needs children to gather, share and learn from each other’s journeys. Find us here:

http://specialteams.ning.com/

Please come visit, join and post any material you think is relevant!

I’ve kept the Special Teams page here on my personal blog for reference – and because I will still be blogging occasionally about related issues.

When I think of a cup of tea, I think: calm, tranquil, serene. The mental picture is two hands on a steaming cup, eyes closed while I breathe in vapors that tantalize the senses with hints of chamomile, mint or citrus smells (depending on my mood).  Now thanks to a story from the Associated Press this week on Chinese activists going online to blast “drinking tea” warnings by meddlesome authorities, I’ll never see that cup of tea quite the same way.

According to the Associated Press story:

Police have long tried to shush and isolate potential activists, usually starting with a low-key warning, perhaps over a meal or a cup of tea. Now, the country’s troublemakers are openly blogging and tweeting their stories about “drinking tea” with the cops, allowing the targeted citizens to bond and diluting the intimidation they feel.

The movement is an embarrassment for officials, who are suspicious of anything that looks like an organized challenge to their authority. And it can’t help that “drinking tea” stories seem to be spreading among ordinary Chinese, including ones who signed a recent online call for political reform.

The country’s top political event of the year, the National People’s Congress, has given the stories another bump. More than 200 people say they’ve been invited by police to “drink tea” since just Friday, when the congress began, said independent political blogger Ran Yunfei.

 That Chinese activists found ways to go around official censorship of the Internet and get their stories out to others helps increased a sense of community for those under scrutiny and reinforces the power potential of the Internet.

 As we saw in Iran following the disputed June 2009 elections and for Haiti after January’s massive earthquake social media like Twitter can simultaneously allow users to spread information about events and draw in a truly international “coalition” of people who feel the same or empathize with the challenges. Those coalition members can and have raised the profile of the issue, raised money and provided invaluable moral support to those struggling through difficult situations.

 It’s a strange kind of magic that unfolds via spells crafted of 140 characters or less. And I, for one, can’t wait to see what practitioners come up with next.