Expo Time – Crystal Gets Published – Why I like Facebook
Time again for celebrating the first weekend of Autumn at our Natural Living Expo, Sept. 25 at the Webster Groves Recreation Center. This is going to be one of the best Expos ever as we have Mark Holland and Carol Eder providing live music during the day and over 50 exhibit booths offering healthy and green resources, samples, information, products and services that will help you create a healthier and more sustainable world for you and your family. Read the article on page 4 and the discount coupon on page 5 and bring a friend for free! See you there!
When you own a magazine, you get a lot of mail, like press releases, announcements and catalogs. One of the catalogs I enjoy looking at comes from New Society Publishers. “New Society Publishers’ mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact upon the environment, in a manner that models that vision.” And the moment I opened up the most recent catalog from NSP, I was delighted to see one of our feature writers, Crystal Stevens’, new book “Grow Create Inspire – Crafting a Joyful Life of Beauty and Abundance” right there on page 3. We are so proud of Crystal for her publishing achievement and we encourage all Healthy Planet readers to go to the NSP website (www.newsociety.com) and purchase a copy of this book for yourself and your family. Your life will be filled with joy!
It took me a while to wrap my mind around the scope of social media. I resisted it like I still wonder what happened to all the Blockbuster stores. And our local Barnes and Nobel store. Gone. I loved the smell of new books when I walked into B&N. It’s the scent of knowledge and learning. It’s the same smell from my childhood when the new books came in from the Scholastic Book orders. The odor of adventure, mystery and imagination. I miss that. Now we have the internet. Some good, some not so good. But I have to admit I have become a fan of Facebook. My daughters told me I had to get a Facebook account both personally and for my business. I still wonder what happened to my My Space page. This evolution happens at the speed of light. Why do I like Facebook? Well, mostly because I can see what my friends and family are up to without having to check in with them in person all the time. I am sort of a private guy, shy at times. But I care about my old friends and family. And I enjoy seeing photos of their trips to the mountains, the seashore or foreign lands. I share some of my adventures and my moments as a father, husband and grandfather. I don’t mind sharing the upbeat stuff. But that brings me to the not so upbeat stuff. Facebook should not be used as a diary for people to share their personal traumas or just bad days. Write it down in your journal. And I am sometimes amused at the political banter on Facebook, friend to friend. Everyone can have their own opinion. And then recently it happened. One friend from my childhood reposted a totally inappropriate photo of a political candidate cropped to create a vulgar image. No longer just a point of view. It became hateful. So I blocked that old friend. Can’t we just keep Facebook to travel logs and clips of turtles helping other turtles flip over from their backs? Those amazing time-lapse videos of how different meals are made. Yum! And those animals clips. A lion and a duck cuddling. A Bulldog and a toad, best friends. Now that’s entertainment. Give me 1000 awwws!
Please Share This, J.B. Lester, Publisher