Congrats to Berkman!

I hear they're celebrating an anniversary over at The Berkman Center. Congratulations to all you Berkman folks, especially John Palfrey, Jonathan Zittrain and all my favorite fellows!

Oh Britt, Poor Britt!

I actually really like Britt, but now that she's gone through hell and back, you might notice, we really don't want her to be a flawed, messed up, vulnerable human like the rest of us! We like our stars to be perfect and shiny.

SezWho? SezYou? SoWhat? OhSheSaysTheyRoll!

I'm trying to figure out what the heck SezWho is, and I think it's a sort of recommendation layer for online communities ... tells you who's saying good things about others I guess ... honestly I don't know, but I'm gonna meet these guys later this week and I'm doing a quick study.

My teen kid is big on describing buddies in his school in terms of who "rocks" and how they "roll" -- it's nice to be an old mom and have almost no idea what the heck he's talking about -- but I know it's a kindof rating system, a social reputation ranking system unique to teens.

There's lots of research on how we tend to like what our friends like. It's interesting what this means when brand, social networks and rankings collide.

Brand figures in a big way. Your CV is a pile of brand statements. Do you feel differently about me if I tell you I went to Harvard, work at Harvard, teach at Harvard or sweep the floors at Harvard? What if I went to Middlesex Community College, work there, teach there or sweep the floor there?

I find it very fascinating how movie stars, for instance, rise and fall in terms of popularity (or infamy) on a near daily basis, and learn to handle that. It must be tough. One day you're the kid who's COOL-IN-SCHOOL, next day you go from HERO-TO-ZERO.

Smiley Miley

Really. Annie Liebovitz is like frigging Michelangelo when it comes to pix. Miley comes off like uneducated, prudish rube, saying she's "embarrassed" by this perfectly appropriate picture.

Was John Lennon embarrassed by Leibovitz' photos? Was Demi Moore? Was Bruce Springsteen? They knew enough to kiss the ground Ms. Liebovitz walks on and they should. Has the world gone mad?

The Strangest Thing Happened ...

I went by the offices of the Waltham Daily News Tribune to get a paper copy of the newspaper ... I couldn't resist ... I love ink. It was great seeing them cover our upcoming Mother's Day Concert on May 10th, 2008, but most STRANGE thing happened.

On the car radio, they were playing something lovely, I wanted to know what it was. Just as I pulled up to the curb in a blinding rain storm, the radio announcer came on to mention, "The Mother Goose Suite, by Ravel."

That's exactly what the orchestra will be playing, along with Brahms, Mozart and some other wonderful music. Coincidental? Who knows?!

Hey! We're Famous! Waltham Symphony Orchestra Take A Bow!

Yes, we're bloggers and we think blogs are great. But we sure love being written up in the real live press, by real live journalists, those guys and gals who have ink on their fingers, so thanks guys.

My favorite orchestra, the new Waltham Symphony Orchestra, where I'm a board member and great promoter, was written up today in The Waltham Daily News Tribune.

Conductor Is Playing A New Tune
by Jeff Gilbride

Patrick Botti wants his new symphony orchestra to reflect the rich cultural diversity found in Waltham.

So, as music director for the new Waltham Symphony Orchestra, Botti has grand plans to work with a Cambodian composer, incorporate Indian classical music and even jam with a rock band.

"It's basically taking a symphony orchestra out of an entrenched position and opening it up to the world," Botti said.

All of this won't happen overnight, but Botti said the foundation is in place for an orchestra that can break the mold of the traditional community orchestra.

That's the future.

For now, the Waltham Symphony Orchestra is getting ready to hold its inaugural concert at the Kennedy Middle School on May 10 at 8 p.m. The concert will feature works by composers Mozart, Brahms, Ravel, d'Indy and Daniel-Lesur.

To celebrate Mother's Day, admission to the concert will be free to mothers and grandmothers. Botti said the Waltham Symphony Orchestra is made up of some 50 musicians, many of whom are current or former city residents.

Botti served as conductor of the Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra from May to December of 2007. He said that orchestra serves a valuable role in the community, giving amateur musicians a musical outlet. However, Botti said he sought to develop an orchestra geared more toward professional musicians.

Botti said he also wanted to work more closely with area colleges and universities. Botti said the Waltham Symphony Orchestra will also offer local high school students the chance to perform alongside its professional players, and offer scholarships to those aspiring musicians so they can receive the proper training.

Botti also believes the new Waltham Symphony Orchestra will have a bigger budget to develop its programs. Botti said he does not see the two orchestras as competitors and believes there is a place for both in the community.

"Can Waltham sustain two groups like that? Absolutely," Botti said. "It is a large city."

Born in Marseille, France, Botti has served as principal guest conductor of the Central Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra and artistic director for the New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra from 1993 to 2000. He has also guest conducted a number of orchestras worldwide including the Paris Conservatory Orchestra, the BBC Orchestra and the Royal College of Music Orchestra in London and the Boston Philharmonic. Waltham's diversity and its central location make it a perfect fit for the creation of a new symphony orchestra, Botti said. "Waltham was absolutely the best place to do it," he said.

Doc Back In The Saddle

When I picked Doc up at the hospital yesterday after his all too exciting bout with a pulmonary embolism, he was bleeding a little. It was slightly heart-stopping for me, especially as I knew he was on blood thinners which have a nasty side effect of allowing you to bleed to death, if you don't staunch the flow.

I know because my mom and dad towards the ends of their lives were on blood thinners, like coumadin and warfarin (the same chemicals they use in rat poison). And ironically yesterday was the anniversary of my dad's death. All a little too coincidental for me.

Still, one must be upbeat and keep a stiff upper lip, and I think we had a pleasant ride back to his home. Home. Home Sweet Home. Home on the range. It is good to be home and out of any hospital, that's for sure.

I headed next for the drugstore to drop those prescriptions and others, then out to get some food for him and his kid, then get his kid at school, then back to get the prescriptions which had been filled, then back to Doc's. And was he resting, sleeping, taking it easy? Well, no! He was online. Duh! I should've known. I guess that shows he really is getting better!

Still, I'm a mom and I can't help being a worry wart, I admit. So, Doc, you're in our prayers, in our thoughts, and at the top of our Worry Lists! Take it easy man!

No Particular Place To Go

That's a line from a song, but I can't remember what song ... I guess I'll Google it later to remember. But it certainly describes this weekend, where I put big X's through the calendar pages, decided to DO NOTHING, just take it easy, and so far so good. My kid is with his dad celebrating Easter and I'm sure having a lovely time, so that gets me off the marshmellow peeps and painted eggs hook. I'm usually into all the celebrating, but this weekend, I decided to just it easy, read when I wanted to read, sleep when I wanted to sleep, eat when I wanted to sleep and enjoy NOT having any particular task or place to go.

I was reading the Bible, just checking on something. I wanted to read about The Last Supper ... and I was wondering, wasn't it actually a Passover Seder? And yes, it was. I read the "betray me" parts. I talked with a friend about that. I remember a lot of very busy Easters in past years where I did a lot of cooking and egg coloring and dashing to church and really NEVER had a quiet moment to read the Bible and actually THINK about this holiday. I had time to read the ingredients in malted milk ball candy-coated speckled eggs, but not the Bible.

Deep breath, deep breath again. Ah, now this is a fine holiday ... read: HOLY Day ... to very quietly inch up on this Jesus thing and try to understand it. Even in the staid language of the King James Bible, you get a sense of this man/myth Jesus person as so amazingly powerful in his spiritual knowing. He knew. He knew and believed and had the faith. He walked it.

Design, by Robert Frost

We were having a conversation about PROCESS and who we are, and what the heck we're doing here in this world. It reminded me of one of my favorite poems of Robert Frost, Design:

I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth--
Assorted characters of death and blight
Mixed ready to begin the morning right,
Like the ingredients of a witches' broth--
A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.

What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall?--
If design govern in a thing so small.

Jamais

I liked Mike Feinstein's take on NEVER-SAY-NEVER ENTREPRENEURS, today on his blog, The Fein Line:

Entrepreneur means you can't give up

Jeff Bussgang from IDG Ventures wrote recently about a breakfast sponsored by AlwaysOn to promote their upcoming AlwaysOn - East conference. Jeff points out that many entrepreneurs play 'Blame the VC' when their business plans don't get funded. It's true that some entrepreneurs are so enamored with their business plans that they feel that the VC who passes on the deal must be stupid. And, if 50 VCs pass on the deal, they all must be stupid. But, I haven't found this view to be very prevalent in the entrepreneur community.

I was at that breakfast, too (and had the pleasure of sitting next to Jeff). My view of the entrepreneurs' tone was slightly different. There were quite a few entrepreneurs who spoke up about the fact that their business plan had been funded, but not by Boston VCs. Perhaps their plan was funded by angel investors, corporate investors, or the ever looming West Coast VCs. I have some expereince helping out entrepreneurs whose plans I think deserve to be funded by VCs. Some of them have a lot of commercial traction. Despite some introductions, Boston area VCs haven't moved ahead and funded these entrepreneurs.

But, these entrepreneurs aren't deterred. They have raised money from angel groups and individual investors. They are courting VCs that are out of town. And, they have modified their plans to take less initial capital in order for them to prove some commercial viability before they go try to raise more money.

If these entrepreneurs succeed, it doesn't mean that Boston area VCs are dumb. Maybe they are too conservative. Maybe they don't understand the market segments that these entrepreneurs represent. Maybe they are unwilling to back first time CEOs or willing to build out a team after they fund the company. Maybe they can't justify a small initial investment. The best entrepreneurs won't let this stop them.

Instead, these top entrepreneurs with their strong plans will let the marketplace show who is right. There is a lot of capital out there from many sources. A great entrepreneur has to be a great sales person. If you can't sell your plan to anyone, then either you aren't good at sales or the plan really is flawed. The whole world can't be dumb, can it?

Since we are raising money now for our new investment fund, I have a front row seat for these types of meetings. Some of our target investors have strategies that don't line up with ours. Others only look for funds with a certain profile that perhaps we don't meet. It's our job to find investors who are the right match for our fund. There seem to be more than enough out there of this type that we can get our fund off the ground. We're very encouraged by the response and optimistic about our success.

But, if we aren't successful, it will be because of a shortcoming of our team or strategy, not the fault of our target investors.

Spitzer, Sex and Stand By Your Man

I can't decide what part of this torrid tale we like best ... is it the high and mighty falling far and falling fast part ... or the lifestyles of the rich, famous and badly behaved part? There is so much to love here.

As Maureen Dowd suggested this week in her editorial, the Spitzer scandal at least let us leave the dullness of delegate counting behind for a while, and focus how how many diamonds we rate. Still, even a nice sexy scandal can't help reminding one of the current Presidential battle ... maybe it's the betrayed wife standing by her man theme ... it really does have haunting suggestiveness.

Here Comes The Rain Again

We've been on the edge of our meterological seats all day with a sky that gets more and more grey, a breeze that blows more and more humid and a atmosphere that's just threatening buckets of rain.

Okay, we get it.

Got your message, thanks.

Okay, where is it???

Come on, we're ready.

Do we get the whole enchillada -- lightning, thunder, crashing, booming? Alright already! Just do it!

Online Community Managers

I remember a long time ago filling out a tax return and putting "Blogger" in the box that said "profession." My accountant looked at me sideways ... we changed it to "Writer" since he wasn't at all sure what anyone would make of it.

Those were the days. You told people you were a blogger at a party and you could stand there counting the blank stares. But everything's changed, hasn't it?

Within one week, I've been asked by two very different organizations to help them find a talented, well-connected, ubernetworking "Online Community Manager" -- definately a job that didn't exist, say, 5 years ago. Actually, five years back, it probably existed as a concept in the minds of political organizers. And four years back, we saw the effect of online grassroots community managers in a few key political races.

Now everyone wants to get their communities rallying for a cause (name any cause, often NOT a political one either) and the need to play touchy-feely with their constituency is right up there at the top of the list. And as for making recommendations for the perfect Online Community Manager, now it's really a job, it really exists as a role in an organization, it really matters, but it is really hard to find such a person.

My Most Wonderful Cool Kid

I gotta say, as challenging as teenagers can be (and I'm learning all about it), I have the greatest kid. He's just the best.

You get so busy taking care of a baby (Maryam thinking of you!) and you barely get to raise your head up and look around and all of a sudden you have a teenager, full of fun, seriously opinionated, sometimes willing to do stuff around the house, quickly wronged, but fast to forgive, in other words, you suddenly realize, "I've got a real almost-fully-grown person here!" It's amazing.

Blog Passwords

I always think it's funny that there's all sorts of security and passwords on blogging software. I mean, really, it would be a great day if someone wanted to jump on here and do some blogging for me. It's like worrying someone might start depositing money in your bank account. How bad would it be?