Clearly I have a problem. I quit my job almost two years ago and I can't seem to stop making more work for myself. I am supposed to be eating bon-bons and watching soaps, right?! RIGHT?!
But um, no. Maybe I will if you give me some though.
What I do instead is wake up waaaaay too early and besides working on my own blog, I've set up this tidy little sweet spot called Down syndrome Blogs.
Truth: it's not really tidy right now. Truth: it is sweet.
The goal of it is to be something of a directory. I had this vision of clean tabs, easy categories that would dive into live rolls and links. Or lovely smorgasboards of blog buttons waving cheerfully in the breezy internet of immaculate code.
I fiddled around for hours and hours, trying to get blogger to bend to my will without the CSS whip. Haha, fat chance, right? In the end, a lightbulb went off in my head, realizing that I just have to get this project live, moving, off the ground. That's why what is there is about as basic a site as you can get. Someone a lot more capable than I will take over at some point (please, please, please) and twist this baby into the bonanza it was born to be. In the meantime – it's there. You can easily connect with a ton of awesome Down syndrome bloggers. You can add your own.
I started it, but it's not mine – it's yours, the community's – and it's only going to be as useful and marvelous as everyone makes it. I want to make that sparkling clear: I DO NOT CLAIM OWNERSHIP OVER THE DOWN SYNDROME BLOG SITE. It's for the community. It's yours. If you want to champion it, if you want to work on it, if you want to promote and spearhead it, I would be DELIGHTED. Email me. Please.
On that vein, the T21 Alliance is exactly and precisely the same. I set it up, it's currently has a few champions but it could use a lot more, especially active champions. The point behind the Alliance is very similar to the point behind the Down syndrome Blogs site – to have a neutral space in which we can share. The Alliance being by writers, it's where reviews can be found and books by members are linked.
You can join both the facebook informal or formal community (yes, there are two) from the site – please do!
Again, I started this site but my goal is that a year from now, someone (with superior coding skills, please, please, please) will be spearheading this and there will be a commited group of people working on the site. I may or may not be a part of it. Do you remember the movie, "Fight Club"? Do you remember where it had grown outside of his control and even when he wanted to stop it, he couldn't?
THAT'S WHAT I WANT FOR THESE SITES. I want them to grow into places of community, where we support one another, nurture our talent, advocate for our kids and/or ourselves. I want easily accessed and neutral places where new mothers can go to find support with communities and voices of their choice.
A note about the blogs listed: There are a lot of outstanding blogs that I read personally that I did not list. This is because the owners of the blogs have not asked to be added. I dearly want community ownership over this, and I won't add people and blogs unless they want to be included as a part of this project. Please: take a look at the site – if your blog is not there and you'd like it to be, email me the URL of your blog and the category (or categories) that you'd like it to be under.
A note about what is needed – can you help?
Blog button created for both the Down syndrome Blogs site and the T21 Alliance Site: can you add it to your blog/site? Spread the word? Code is below.
Reviews: of any and all books pertaining to Down syndrome – memoirs, reference, articles. Did you yourself write a book? Want to share the link to where it can be purchased/downloaded? Please email me your review in the body of an email with a link to your site + social media (if you have it and want to promote it).
Spread the Word: this is a more-the-merrier type of thing. Tell people about the project, link to it, include the button (when it's made, that is) on your own blog. Thank you, my friend.
Links:
T21 Writer's Alliance (- The International Alliance of Writers for Down Syndrome)
- Facebook T21 Writer's Alliance Page (formal) is HERE
- Facebook T21 Writer's Alliance Group (informal, for writing discussion/blog posts) is HERE
Code:
Blog Button and Grab-Button for Down syndrome Blogs (copy and paste in the widget/add HTML/text)
<div align="center"><a href="http://www.downsyndromeblogs.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.withalittlemoxie.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/dsblogs.jpg"></a></div>
<div align="center"><form><textarea rows="3" cols="19" readonly="readonly"><a href=" http://www.downsyndromeblogs.blogspot.com " target="_blank"><img src="http://www.withalittlemoxie.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/dsblogs.jpg"></textarea></form></div>
Blog Button and Grab-Button for T21 Writers Alliance (again, copy and paste in the widgt/add HTML/text area)
<div align="center"><a href="http://t21writersalliance.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.withalittlemoxie.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/button-for-T21.jpg"></a></div>
<div align="center"><form><textarea rows="3" cols="19" readonly="readonly"><a href="http://t21writersalliance.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.withalittlemoxie.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/button-for-T21.jpg"></textarea></form></div>
Meriah Nichols is a counselor. Solo mom to 3 (one with Down syndrome, one on the spectrum). Deaf, and neurodiverse herself, she’s a gardening nerd who loves cats, Star Trek, and takes her coffee hot and black.
Putting up buttons now!