The Portal to Boomeranger World

Boomers Become Facebook Friends--Banish Depression and Loneliness

Building Community

After some reluctance, I am now a big fan of Facebook and will be setting up my Twitter account soon.(In fact, I am going to tweet a novel I have been thinking about for a long time and never seem to have the time to write, what with all the www.thimbleberrypress.com writing, business building and development, and parenting my kid, laundry, cooking, shopping, gardening, bill paying--whew! it is a lot for one person. BUT I think I can handle 140 characters.

So stay tuned for that project and I hope you all will give suggestions as I go along. anyway...) I invite readers to come to Facebook and become friends. I have found old friends and classmates from high school and college. Long lost friends--one who is now in Geneva. Had brunch with another who lives across the river from me. Went to classmates.com today and found another 10 or so former classmates/friends and asked them to come to facebook. Love that it is free. Love that you can communicate privately or to the whole group of friends. I'm even starting to love the pictures--need my kid to teach me how to upload and edit, etc. I took a pic on her macbook last week. she has edited it and we'll upload it on sunday night to my facebook profile.

For someone who sits alone in her house most days, staring at this screen, facebook is really wonderful. I feel I am starting to have again what I had as a kid--a big community. I really get it now. I get why my kid loves facebook and IMing. why she is a maniac about texting--I think I will have to get a bigger keyboard or an iPhone or similar touchpad phone to text.

There Is Only Here Now

 The internet has erased time and space--and there is no more there there, there is only here now--we are all one in the internet cloud. The ramifications for us Boomers is profound. Kids grow up and scatter. Friends move away--as I did to far flung parts of the world--all over the US, then to China for several years. And while I needed to shake the dust off my small town feet, my roots got parched because I could never really stay in touch with friends and family in an easy way. Facebook has changed all that. And when I found my drama department pals from UNC-Ch, I was so happy. I began to feel grounded again.

Baby Boomer Depression and Loneliness

 Many Boomers are suffering from depression and loneliness precisely due to severed human connections--they are no longer at their jobs, their elders are dying, their kids are going, their ages are bringing new issues to the fore. But the new social networking platforms are a tonic to depression and loneliness. Anthro 101 and Psych 101 are very specific that human beings are social animals. We travel in packs. We like to congregate.

But some of the conditions of contemporary society obviate our most basic needs and means keeping us connected and happy.  The new social networking platforms are a great anti-depressant.

Join me as a friend on Facebook

www.facebook.com. It's really simple even for a pretty tech mini knowledge person such as I. You go to Facebook, open an account--it's free and you are set. Noodle your way around. Then, go to the "Find Friends" button at the top of the page (or "Search"), fill in my name---'Virginia Cornue" and ask to be my friend. I'd love to be yours.

Here's to raising everyone's spirits!

Baby Boomer Blog Carnival # 101 -- Inaugural Reflections

Change has come to America!   Welcome to Boomer Blog Carnival # 101.  The best Baby Boomer Blogs on the web...

Gen Plus: 

You probably were one of the millions watching Obama's inauguration last week.  But did you catch "The Moment"?  There was a bit of exciting technology last week and Janet Wendy at Gen Plus brings you two must-see items. 'The Moment':
 

This Marriage Thing:

Our President is a Baby Boomer

Ponder what that means with Dina at This Marriage Thing.

Midlife Crisis Queen

The Midlife Crisis Queen says LOVE is the mightiest word!  She recalls the words from one of her favorite Indigo Girls song:
 "Learn to pretend there's more than love that matters!"  Even Puppy Love!

Don't Call Me Granny!

Life Two:

Don't Call Me Granny

 

Today's boomers don't see themselves as old and they don't want to be stereotyped as such by their grand kids. So there is a movement to eschew such traditional names as Grandpa or Nana in favor of more youthful sounding monikers. Is this and example of boomer individualism or is it just an attempt to avoid the inevitable?

 

Baby Boomer Entrepreneur:

If you have a business blog or web site, doing better on the search engines is always a concern. Andrea J. Stenberg at The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur helps solve this problem with her post How to Improve SEO by Getting Links

 

Fabulous After 40:

Is the recession cutting into your plans for a new spring wardrobe? Get some great tips for shopping on a budget at Fabulous after 40!

Shopping on a Budget

I Remember JFK:

There was no doubt about it. We Boomer kids had as much fun reading comic book ads as the tales themselves that were contained in the twelve-cent journals.

Besides giant submarines, Charles Atlas spiels, and monkeys in teacups, we also were intrigued by a little blurb hat we must have seen a million times that claimed to teach us how to throw our voices for a quarter.  Throw Your Voice

Contemporary Retirement:

Head over to Contemporary Retirement to find out why an increasing number of people are saying: Bury Me With My Cellphone!

 

Don't Gel Too Soon:

Cynthia Samuels at Don’t Gel Too Soon on the Inauguration and generational change – even at the concert:  Pete, Bruce, and Beyonce.

Generational Change

 

The Boomer Chronicles:

Can a boomer still go on a five-hour pub crawl? Find out at The Boomer Chronicles.  Boomer Pub Crawl

 

So Baby Boomer:

Boomers are up to our eyebrows in debt--consumer, corporate, government.To survive in another Great Depression, we will have to save--lots.  Retirement in another Great Depression

 

Making BoomerMade: Celebration #16

In Support of Boomers

I was raised with the precept of giving to one's community. That point of view and what you did was what marked you as a rich person. Few of my family had money of any sort. They came from dairy farmers. But they were rich in family, friends, community and contribution. So when I started writing www.vaboomer.com at the end of March, and started profiling Vaboomers from time to time, I began seeing how many people I knew who were incredibley talented. And how many of them were so shy about their talents and achievements. And that was a key inspiration for creating www.BoomerMade.com.

Heart/Art Made by Boomers

I must admit that at first, I conceived of www.BoomerMade.com selfishly...here was a way I could "publish" and distribute my own writings. I have at least sixty books in me. Perhaps more.But then as ideas will do, my concept grew in scope--first to include my neighbors--a new painter, a singer, another writer. And then it expanded to "found" artists, such as Janet Bongiovanni, who is a spectacular photographer. I found Janet when I went to see the irises at the local iris gardnen, Presby Iris Gardens. Her photographs were hanging in a small showing of the Garden's  offices. And they just shone from the walls. Janet photographs with her heart and that is why her work is so special.

Give Us Roses

Yesterday I wrote about the need for beauty--that we cannot live by bread alone

I hope that the talented boomers who are sharing their work on www.boomermade.com will be supported by other boomers. And that in the months and years to come more Boomers will share their work on BoomerMade. We would welcome it as  we are going towards the light.