Top Ten Things to Do in 2012
Tsadok Porter, flanked by supporting cast members of “Love Sung in the Key of Aretha.”
/
Sarasota Student Pays It Forward
You’ve heard of the butterfly effect — the concept that a butterfly fluttering its wings a half a world away can set into motion a series of events that results weeks later in a hurricane off the coast of Florida. But the butterfly effect can also describe happier circumstances of cause and effect. I heard of one such example recently — about a young Sarasota woman, a 2009 graduate of Sarasota High, named Grier Ferguson. Click here to read the full story in my Dec. 20 Sense and the City column
Welcome to the New Reality Online!
Welcome to my new website — the official website for M.C. Coolidge! This new site is one-stop shopping for all things MC — by that I mean, it’s a place where I can let folks know about my public relations business, my editing services, my writing, availability as a public speaker, website design and content services, and of course … share my “Reality Online” blog.
Wow! It’s hard to believe that just slightly over three years ago — August 2008 — I launched MC’s Reality Online blog. I had no idea whether anyone would visit my blog, much less come back for a second visit, much less care about what I had to say if it wasn’t in black and white on a printed page.
I’m grateful — so very grateful — to report that not only did many of you visit, but you came back again and again to see what I was yakking about it and share your own thoughts in the comments section. Many of you forwarded blog postings or shared my blog url with others … helping me grow the site from roughly 2,000 “unique visitors” in 2008 to over 43,000 (and counting) unique visitors in 2011.
Creative Loafing Best Blogger and/or Columnist 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2010
I started MC Reality Online because I’d moved on from the Pelican Press, which had sought to limit the scope of what I could write about in terms of national issues like the election, race, etc.
The support and loyalty of so many of my online readers gave me the encouragement to continue to push for a paid, print column and finally, in late 2010 — the Sarasota Herald-Tribune gave me a regular gig: my Sense and the City column, each Thursday in the TICKET section.
I’m still committed to keeping my “reality online” presence — though, obviously, I haven’t been posting as frequently as in days of old. If I had my way, I would write on my blog every day, but unfortunately cat chow must be purchased … so I’ve got to focus on the work that brings in the kibbles. Still, I try to find time in between everything else to sneak back to my computer as regularly as possible and post a “reality” blog worthy of your blogospheric attention. I hope to do that even more going forward.
I can’t thank you enough — everyone who’s clicked through the old MC Reality Online site and who now has taken the time to visit this new site. I invite you to — and hope very much that you will — come back and visit, or keep in touch through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, and RSS.
SENDING A GIANT VIRTUAL HUG and THANKS TO YOU ALL!
Signed, M.C., Einstein, Boomerang, and Coco
Senior Editor Einstein oversees blog postings.
Coco Chanel is the Style Editor.
Boomer-fang, cranky , whiskey-swillin', cigar-chompin' "Cat on the Street" Reporter
Merry Holidays? Happy Spending! What do you think we should say?
Last Thursday I was reading, as I do each day, the letters to the editor section of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and came across a Letter to the Editor about whether or not people should say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays.
Should we be saying Happy Chanukah too? Maybe Season’s Greetings instead? Maybe we should go with Happy Christmas? Or would we be better off saying, “Happy Black Friday Shopping!” ???
You can read the letter to the editor by clicking here (the link should take you directly to the letter I’m talking about but if not, just choose page four!)
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20111215/LETTERS/111219785/2163/OPINION?p=4&tc=pg
After you read it, or even without reading it, share your opinion here with a quick blog post!
A Girl’s Guide to Getting the Most of the Holidays
Einstein catches up on her beauty sleep before hitting the annual household Christmas party.
If you missed it in the paper yesterday, you can pick up a copy of TICKET for free in newsstands around the city or just click on the link below!
The Culture of Cheating
A good cat will never cheat! :)
You’re lyin’ cheatin’ ways …. or as I like to call it, Cain’s Complaint (for all you Philip Roth lovers out there).
All Faiths Food Bank MC Readers Drive Update — $2,565 Raised!
Thanks to everyone who took the time to donate to the MC/Ticket All Faiths Food fundraising drive in November. At the end of the Thanksgiving drive, All Faiths had received $2,565 from “Sense and the City” readers. That’s the equivalent of 4,071 meals provided to hungry men, women and children in our community. I can’t thank you enough for participating.
Total raised over the past several years by readers of this blog, my former “Reality Chick” column, and my current Sense and the City column? — $13,879! That’s something over 22,000 — TWENTY-TWO THOUSAND! — meals for people in need.
Bravo, brava and merci mille fois!!!
MC’s Guide to Make It Merry in December!
Bare-breasted women not required!
You can read it online here: MC’s Guide to Making it Merry in December.
Holiday Etiquette 101 — RSVP ASAP
If you’re planning a party for the holiday — or if you’ve received invites to mistletoe merriment, you may want to read my annual rant about the fact that people just don’t RSVP anymore!
In the TICKET — found in news boxes throughout the city today for free or online at:
Homes … and Toys … for the Holidays
Jim and Janna Konke of Venice have adopted eight children: (front, left to right) Shawn, 8; Mariah, 6; Kayla 5; Lillian 3; and Zegan 4. Back left to right: Luke, 12; Jim and Janna Konke, and newly adopted Hollister, 2, being held by new big sister Natalie, 19.
It’s also about what you can do to help children without “forever families” this holiday season.
If you’re interested, you can click on the link below to read online … or check it out in tomorrow’s TICKET in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!