Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

After patiently waiting 101 days, Surrey’s turn to celebrate the Olympic Torch Relay finally came to Holland Park on Monday night. Twenty thousand people meant twenty thousands bums. Even though Darrell and I were close to the front, we could see nothing, not even the large screen. Well, nothing except for bums.

People didn’t move to let us through in our wheelchairs. I even tapped a cop on his arm and asked for help, but he brushed me off.

I was very disappointed, having wanted to see the torch live. In the last moment I did stand up to see whatever I could. But I felt guilty because my husband could not stand up; he saw nothing, except bums.

In my eyes, the only redeeming aspect of the evening was gold medalist wrestler Daniel Igali lit the community cauldron. Daniel also attended my alma mater Simon Fraser University; I felt that connection.

Not too often in life do we get a second chance, an opportunity for a redo. However, Tuesday morning I had such an opportunity – and I snatched it without second consideration!

The Olympic Torch Relay continued through Surrey, a few blocks from home, on its way to New Westminster. I took my place on the street corner, like millions of other Canadians have during the longest Olympic Torch Relay in history. This time I actually saw the torch!

And even managed to shoot this video on my little Nikon Coolpix:

Today efforts are being made to include people with disabilities in the classroom, in the workplace, in the community. So, why in hell is the world’s largest sporting event still segregated into the Olympics and the Paralympics? Are sports stuck in ancient Greek times?

If the Olympics were divided along any other lines – gender, race, religion, economic – there would be an outcry worldwide! Yet, segregation based on ability or disability is acceptable?

Not only are the Games segregated, but the Paralympic Games and athletes do not receive anywhere near the attention as the Olympic Games do. My main mission for last week’s Pre-Olympic Photo Walk was to capture signs that the Paralympics are also coming to town. I found only two!

First, on the opposite side of the Olympic countdown clock, I was pleased (and somewhat relieved) to see an official clock for the Paralympics. Interestingly, watching people taking photos in front of the Olympic clock, they did not then go to the backside for photos of the Paralympic clock. And, those people coming across the plaza didn’t realize that was Paralympic clock and were confused there were 44 days to go.

The second sign I found was a banner in an office tower window that read, in part, “TMX, proud sponsor of the Canadian Paralympic Foundation”.

Those were the only two signs I found that elite athletes, albeit with disabilities, are also coming to Vancouver. How welcomed will they feel?

Watch the Games official sponsors’ TV ads. How many include Paralympians? The current ad by Bell, Premier National Partner and Exclusive Telecommunications Partner for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, does not show any Paralympic events or athletes. Furthermore, the ad says the Games are 17 days. Do the math: February 12th-28th + March 12th-21st is not 17 days!

The Olympics will be broadcasted ad nauseam; the Paralympics? You will likely have to wait until the Late Night News for a 30-second clip of the day’s highlights.

Even February’s issue O magazine has two articles related to the Olympics. What are the chances the Paralympics will receive the same space in March’s issue?

Why have segregated Games? I’m not saying have combined events with both able-bodied and disabled athletes. Although, watching Roberto Luongo and his professional athlete buddies play against the Paralympian sledge hockey team would make for a far more interesting game rather than another NHL-style gold medal game! But, combine the Games, like the how the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, United Kingdom, included a handful of Para-Sports. Granted, there were only ten events in which elite athletes with disabilities could compete, but a step in the right direction was taken. The Parade of Athletes, athlete village and such were inclusive. 

Brian McKeever, a member of Canada’s cross-country ski team who also happens to be legally blind, will be the first-ever athlete to compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. In an interview, Brian said, in part, “…shows what Paralympians are capable of doing, that they’re training at the same level as able-bodied athletes…” How will his two experiences compare? Will he receive similar sponsorship, media attention and public attention at both Games?

What do we tell our youth with disabilities?

Work hard and try your best, and one day you could go to the Paralympics too! You may not receive the same sponsorships, the TV cameras may not be there, and the spectators may be fewer, but all of that doesn’t really matter. Just do your best, kid, and you’ll go far.

There has to be a better way!

Believe it or not, not all of my news and happenings end up here on my blog!

For this reason, I’m launching Thumb-sized News Bytes – a brief, newsy email sent 1-2 times per month.

What’s in it for you?

An email packed full with:

• links to my guest and paid posts on other blogs,
• Glenda Around the Web – other bloggers who blog about me,
• other short news bytes,
• and more!

However, Thumb-sized News Bytes will only be sent to email subscribers!

Haven’t subscribed yet? It’s not too late! Sign up today. The first issue will go out as soon as I put it together.

(If you are reading this in your email, you’re set to receive this exclusive newsletter. The first issue will be arriving shortly.)

A special thanks to Cameron Engel for his assistance with the newsletter cover. Thanks Cam!

Yesterday Darrell and I unplugged from our computers and headed out for a photo wheel – a photo walk on wheels, of course! – to capture signs the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2010 are, indeed, coming to Vancouver!

The first stop was, naturally, the countdown clock. At that moment, the Olympics officially begin in 16 days, 4 hours, 39 minutes and 49 seconds, precisely!

On the opposite side, which many people likely don’t check and, hence, miss, is the countdown clock for the Paralympics – one of the very few signs I spotted that the Paralympics are also coming to Vancouver, but I’ll save that rant for another post! These segregated games begin in 44 days, 4 hours, 32 minutes and 42 seconds.

These lantern trees were made by Taiwanese children for the Taiwanese art display – part of the Cultural Olympiad.

Looking up at these paper lanterns drawn by children half a world away, I realized these Games are touching millions of people around the globe. And, despite the protests, the budget overruns, the road closures and other annoyances, for better or for worst, these two world events are going ahead. We might as well as enjoy the party while it lasts – the bill will come soon enough. This is our chance to show off to the world what we, the locals, already know: Vancouver and surrounding area is the best city to live in!

Who says Canadians aren’t patriotic, eh?

I like how this downtown building is wrapped in a gigantic Canadian flag.

My lunch date! Ain’t he handsome?

I love spending time with him, being with him. We can talk for hours – and we do! – about ideas we have, projects we want to create, and whatever else is on our minds.

This last photo is my favourite from the day. I learned nighttime photography with a slower shutter speed and jerky cerebral palsy are not the best of friends. But, after several shots and extreme patient (by both myself and my husband), I finally had an amazingly clear photo of this eagle sculpture – part of the Eagles in the City project by the Lions Club Society.

Determination and perseverance do pay off!

Visit Flickr for many more shots from the photo wheel.

For 2010, I have chosen streamline as my word to focus on; as in streamlining my lines of communication. Giving this much thought, what I am truly seeking are ways to get my social media and networking efforts working seamlessly and smoothly; in essence, efficiently managing my media empire.

The first step is to inventory my media empire, visually represented in this diagram (click on the image to enlarge):

As I see it, my blog is the center of my media empire with seven smaller territories or outposts: Twitter, FaceBook, Linkedln, YouTube, Flickr, StumbleUpon, and Email Broadcast.

The next step is where the process becomes intriguing and takes me back to my university courses in Mass Communication – it’s all about cross-media promotion! Think what you will about her, but Oprah is an awesome example of someone who has built a media empire and uses cross-media promotion to keep the whole thing humming seamlessly: she mentions her magazine on her TV show, her magazine points readers to her website, her website provides details about her satellite radio station, etc. Brilliant!

Those of us blogging and using various other social media and networking tools are striving to do the exact same thing, albeit on a much smaller scale (at least, for the majority of us!).

Taking my social media empire diagram from above, I then add red arrows indicating the flow of information, the cross-media promotion efforts. In this diagram (click on it to enlarge) the dotted red arrows indicate a manual effort or action and the solid red arrow indicate an automatic action.

The numbered arrows indicate the following:

1. Manually tweet when I publish a blog post, bringing people to the blog.
2. New blog posts are automatically added to my Facebook Notes and Networked Blogs. (Need to manually hit publish on Networked Blogs, but then it appears twice on my Profile page. A setting somewhere?)
3. Tweets are fed automatically into my Facebook status line.
4. Linkedln profile brings people to the blog, in theory.
5. Videos posted on YouTube bring people to the blog.
6. Manually stumbling posts brings people to the blog.
7. Blog posts are automatically sent to email subscribers.
8. The recently added TweetMeme (currently located in the upper left corner of posts) that enables readers to manually tweet out about that blog post. (I’ve noticed these tweets aren’t appearing in the twitterstream; rather, only the TweetMeme website. Another setting somewhere? Or, would another plugin be better for this? )
9. Currently, the TweetMeme feature is also include in the email broadcast so the email readers easily tweet about the post.

Representing my social media empire in this way I find exciting and I can now see where the gaps are. This year I aim to experiment with ways to connect and to strengthen my empire, ways for cross-media promotion. Some experiments will succeed, other will bomb. I intend to share what I learn in an ebook later this year.

Have you mapped your social media empire? What have you discovered?