Lizzy Scully's Blog

I've moved to a new site

2012-01-17T14:21:00.001-08:00

Hi, I no longer post on this blog. Please visit my new website/blog, www.LizzyScully.com, if you want to continue to read my work and/or see what I'm up to. :)

Yosemite Adventure

2011-10-10T11:02:00.001-07:00

I read, with great interest, a recent post by my friend, writer Kelly Cordes. He traveled to Pakistan on an expedition with Kyle Dempster and Hayden Kennedy. He discusses various details of life in basecamp and his bike excursion around Pakistan, but what struck me the most was this statement: "In between smaller climbs, bouldering, and nursing myself back to health, the simple life in base camp provided a beautiful place to make peace with my disappointment. Maybe I need more time, or maybe this is my new reality; we don’t always get what we want in life, and I haven’t forgotten that I am a fortunate man." Kelly traveled to Pakistan on an expedition with two young, super talented climbers. He was forced to stay in base camp, while they went after it in the mountains. Yet, he doesn't complain, but rather reflects on the great things he enjoys about life.

This struck me because, I recently found myself in a similar position. I arrived to Yosemite National Park late September, intending to climb various long, moderately difficult routes with my 24-year-old, hardcore climbing buddy Sarah Shaw, only to find I could not climb. I had been receiving texts from my excited friend for weeks. She was in the Sierras (Sept. 15 text: "I climbed the Hulk 6 times! And did one route twice because it was so good!") and then in the Needles (Sept. 19 text: "Should I try Romantic Warrior?"), and then, finally, in Yosemite (Sept. 23 text: "OMG. Can we sleep on a wall, please please?!").

It was hard not to absorb her youthful exuberance. So I didn't try. Instead, I just got psyched. I arrived, and we started out trip by cragging at the Cookie. I jumped on hard 5.11s right away and sent a sweet climb I'd longed to try for years. We followed that with a day of long, easy climbing. And after a few rest days (well, I took some rest days), we climbed more. Awesome! So psyched. But then my reality quickly changed. My shoulder flared up. I trained for months to climb in Yosemite and then Zion, only to find that sport climbing didn't prepare me for the shoulder-twisting cracks. I'm strong--stronger than I have been in my life--but my shoulders are not.

Fortuitously, my physical therapist (Michelle Harris) happened to be climbing in the Valley that same week. Though in pain, I squeezed one more climb in before she saw me. I knew what she would say.

"NO Astroman."

"OK, fine. No Astroman this year. How about Zion in a few weeks?"

"Maybe."

So, now I'm home. I drove and hot springed my way back to Colorado a few days later. I figured I might as well get some work done so that when I heal I can get back out again as soon as possible. I tried whining about it, but my friend/climbing coach Jimmy Redo set me straight: "At least you are in a beautiful place!"

And, I was in a beautiful place, with awesome people, staying in a charming cabin, with my beautiful partner. Our last few days in the Valley, a wet, heavy snow blanketed the landscape. We cuddled in front of the fire at our friend Greg's awesome house in Yosemite West, and then slept in the Sunset House, an abode he renovated really for friends. It overlooks miles of forested mountains. Other days we dined with friends in their Sprinter van, I danced in the woods to Brandi Carlile, made delicious dinners of venison and apple torts, soloed easy routes on Manure Pile Buttress, and laid in the Meadow looking up at the Capitan. So I can't climb Astroman.

"It's not going anywhere," my driving partner, Dan said as we drove out of the Valley. No doubt.

Besides, I get to live vicariously through my excitable young friend. Her first time in the Valley, everything is new and awesome. The day (& day after) we were supposed to do Astroman, she wrote various texts.

October 8, 2011

Lizzy: 9p.m. "How much fun did you have?"

Sarah: 11:05p.m.: "So much fun! Got my ass kicked. So good! Slot feels like wrestling an ape. Super fun! Totally unreal."

Lizzy: 11:10p.m. "What pitches did you get? I'm so jealous!!! Psyched for your send!"

Sarah: 11:15p.m.:"I got most of the wide stuff. Fell outta the slot once. I gotta take it right side in. It was long. So much harder than the Rostrum."

October 9, 2011

Sarah: 11 a.m.: "And I found myself a little ranger... :)"

Lizzy: 11:01a.m. "What? No way!!! Yosemite is heaven. Hehe. Keep sending me texts. It's awesome to hear about your adventures."

Sarah: 11:54a.m. "Totally unreal. Resting for at least a day. Steck Salathe Tuesday or Wednesday. Going to try the Alien Roof tomorrow I think... So tired though..."

Sarah: 1:30p.m. "I think I'm going to do a wall!"

I smile every time I hear from her.

Life

2011-08-25T15:22:00.004-07:00

Life is good. I'm busy busy. Mad and I just moved back to Lyons, to a freshly painted house (done by my good friend Marc Hemmes). I'm currently sharing an office with Arn Hayden, who just launched Two Rivers Foods Inc., which makes the delish, healthy snack food SolBites. I'm doing a bit of PR work for them. Should be easy with such a great product!

The Lyons Folks Fest was this past weekend. It was awesome. Mad's parents and sister came into town for it. We enjoyed good food, wine, and good music all weekend. I also got a great interview with Ellis Delaney, one of the artists, which I will finish editing here in the next week or two and post. I also spent a day attending and filming classes at Song School, which is always a pleasure. I got to hang out with Mary Gauthier again. What a lady! And I spent a lot of time sitting in the river because the temps were SO hot.

I continue to feel better physically, though I had a small setback last week when I went up to climb D7 on the Diamond. It was a bit much for me. I can't deal with all that stress in my mind and body right now. So I'm sticking to sport climbing until this fall, at which time I plan on doing some long routes in Yosemite and Zion. At least there will be minimal hiking.

Our new kitties are very happy. In fact, I must go home soon to put them back inside.

xxoo to all my dear friends and family!

Best Buy's Recycling policies are wesome!

2011-08-25T15:22:00.001-07:00

Best Buy

What: Multi-media projectors, printers, car audio, home audio, PDAs and hand-held devices, mobile electronics (GPS, cell phones, MP3 players), various game systems, televisions, monitors, laptops, ink cartridges, CDs and DVDs and rechargeable batteries

Need to know: Consumers pay $10 for recycling each TV, monitor and laptop, and in return, receive a $10 Best Buy gift card. All other items accepted through the program are free to the consumer. The program does not accept appliances, TVs larger than 32”, or console TVs of any size. All hard drives must be removed from laptops and desktops before they are accepted for recycling.

New videos: folk musician Mary Gauthier, $$ raised for Girls Ed on the MAD Tour, & other cool stuff going on in my life

2011-06-28T17:21:00.001-07:00

I have not written much on this blog lately primarily because I have so many other social media sites to maintain. However, I know that my friends and family come back to this blog again and again to see what I have been up to. I'm doing very well these days. My business is actually booming. I have two contracts, one major and one smaller, but still very important with a Denver-based bank. I'm also creating videos. I have just created a neat Facebook page/YouTube "program" called Climb! StoryCorps, on which I'm going to post video interviews with climbers of all shapes and sizes. Check it out by clicking here.

In other news, Madaleine and I raised about $2500 for Girls Education International thanks to various awesome sponsors, attendees, and shop/gym owners. Our sponsors included Evolv, Rab, Maxim Ropes, Stonewear Designs and Sierra Designs/Kelty. I so appreciate their ongoing support.

As well, I regularly write on my work blog, which can be accessed here. This is my most recent entry.

Two years ago at the Lyons Folks Fest, I had the privilege of interviewing numerous artists who were performing at the festival and also teaching at Song School the week prior. Mary Gauthier inspired me because of her honesty, love of song, and her original style. So, out of the dozen or so interview I did, this is the first one I have put together. I hope to assemble more in the upcoming weeks. Thanks Mary Gauthier for allowing me to interview you. Thanks also to Tim Benko, the fellow who did the filming, and also to Planet Bluegrass, who gave me back stage passes and encouraged me to talk with as many artists as possible. I have an amazing life.

Yoga and Rock Climbing

2011-06-05T16:03:00.001-07:00

From yogaclimbing.com:

Be clear in a movement; Move with intention; Be pure in your decisions; Have no doubt. The Bhagavad Gita explains that, “If your mind is unsteady and wandering, many branched and endless are the thoughts and choices. When your mind is clear and one-pointed, there is only one decision.” Such clarity is required in climbing.

Dictator of New Guinea among top ten worst perpetrators of human rights abuses

2011-05-31T06:56:00.001-07:00

It saddens and angers me that our government selectively castigates countries that commit major human rights abuses based on how much oil they supply us. Equatorial Guinea is one of the 10 worst countries in re: human rights abuses (read NYT article by clicking here). Money from oil goes directly to the family of the dictator of 30 years. On the other hand, I still drive, thereby indirectly supporting our oil policies.

Not surprising (an excerpt):

“You can have a debate about every one of the statistics,” Ambassador Alberto M. Fernandez said. The American presence here is discreet but vital, and Mr. Obiang professes great love for the United States. Chevron, Marathon Oil and Noble Energy have substantial interests in Equatorial Guinea, onshore and off, and American oil workers are easily spotted at the diminutive airport at the edge of town. The sea around Bioko Island, where Malabo, the capital, is located, is dotted with telltale flares from oil company installations.

The presence of M.P.R.I., the Virginia military security company led by the retired general Bantz M. Craddock, the former supreme allied commander in Europe, has raised eyebrows among human rights groups and local dissidents. The State Department vetoed the company’s work here because of Equatorial Guinea’s poor human rights record , but finally acceded under President Bush in 2005 amid promises of reform by Mr. Obiang’s government, according to Human Rights Watch.

Lizzy's video adventures and a short multi-media film of Madaleine Sorkin sending Freeline, 13b, R

2011-05-24T15:42:00.001-07:00

I'm getting more and more excited about creating videos. I don't know much yet, but I just spoke with my friend Scott Simper. He's selling me one of his previous-used camera set-ups so that I can really get after it. I'm very excited, and am planning on reading various books that he suggested and also taking a class at Metro State this fall, if possible. Life is good.

Lizzy's life

2011-05-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

I'm currently working with various clients on a variety of interesting projects. I'm setting up the entire social media program for a Denver-based bank; I'm working on sending emails and will be doing some website work for the Vajra Vidya Center in Crestone; I'm working with the marketing director of a Front Range-based climbing gym to help them develop a social media/online web presence and strategy; and I just jumped in last minute to help out the Lyons Outdoor Games with their social media efforts.

What I have learned is that it takes a while to build a solid social media fan base. People (including myself) often think that if you build it, people will come. And, that is true to some extent. However, there are a whole lot of steps in between building it and enticing people to join. You have to develop a reasonable traditional marketing/PR plan that supports your social media efforts; and your social media and traditional marketing/PR have to be inextricably intertwined. The messages that you send must be consistent across the board...

Ok, so that's what I'm preaching these days. If you want to read more about my business and check out what's happening with The MAD Tour, visit my work blog or website.

Here are some fun photos of the past few days. Mad and I just set out on our road-trip, fund-raising adventure for Girls Education International. We started out by driving 25 hours from Boulder to the New River Rendezvous. We didn't do a show there; we just wanted to climb and hang out with friends. Now we are in North Carolina, visiting her uncle and aunt. Tomorrow we have the first of a series of five shows. We planned to do six shows initially, but one has fallen through. I'm OK with five. It actually seems like quite a lot to do five, despite the fact that we have an entire month in which to do the shows. I think the reason is we are traveling a heck of a lot (four days on either end plus a full week with family leaves only 2.5 weeks for the shows and climbing). In addition, I have to work with my new clients (which I am very excited about, but which does take up time :)

Anyhoo, here are photos...
(#1: Jeff & Madaleine at Jeff's tiny cabin by the New River Gorge; #2: Madaleine and Maura of Water Stone Outdoors; #3: my van's tire suspended over a ditch just after Madaleine ran it into a ditch and just before Jeff pulled it out with his Subaru, ripping off the siding and denting the bumper. Bleh; #4: Madaleine somewhere in Indiana; #5: The MAD Tour promo poster).

Madaleine Sorkin slide show tour, Girls Education International Fundraiser & other cool things I'm up to...

2011-05-09T06:35:00.000-07:00

I woke up super early this morning to put new social media icons on my business website. I become slightly obsessive when trying to figure out how to make all the pieces fit together with my new business: facebook fan page with social media icons, links from my site that open in new pages, html, css... There are so many pieces to the puzzle. But, I think this is the perfect business for me. I'm constantly multi-tasking!

In other news, Madaleine and I are about to set out on a multi-media slideshow tour to raise funds for Girls Education International. I'm not going to put too much info on this blog because I'm writing a bunch on my fan page, the Girls Ed facebook fan page, and my twitter page. So, if any family/friends are interested, become a fan of my page! Click here, and then click the "like" button. Thanks!

Check out these new handycons that I downloaded for free. They are now placed on my site. I'm finally using Twitter regularly, and I just recently created my fan page.

My sweet house

2011-04-04T22:21:00.000-07:00

Many joyful things to celebrate

2011-04-01T08:41:00.001-07:00

I am celebrating many things right now. I have started my own business. Called MergeThis Media, my goal is to help organizations and businesses merge their media needs.

As well, the HUMIRA is working well, and the pain in my body has abated significantly. I am still having problems with my ankles, especially after a week of climbing cracks and hiking in Southern Utah. However, I am thankful that I can now sleep through the night, without pain!

I'm also moving back to Lyons this August, which is exciting. I will be teaching a full load of Communications classes at Metro State College next fall, which I'm looking forward to. I enjoy teaching my Beginning Editing in the Age of Convergence class, and I am looking forward to teaching some general intro classes and my Women's Voice in the Media class. I worked with the Women's Studies Department at Metro to develop the WVM class and will be fine tuning the curriculum over two semesters in hopes to be able to bring the class abroad. More details to come.

Madaleine and I are doing well. She is such a wonderful woman. I feel so lucky to have her in my life. We just spent a week in Southern Utah climbing and hanging out with my family. The whole trip was great. I'm so in love with my cousins' kids. Maya, Azia, Luca and Enzo. They are such wonderful, snuggle bunnies. I have never had a kid fall asleep in my lap before. It was a wonderful, sweet feeling.

Let's see... what else. Oh yeah, my last official day at the Office of Institutional Advancement at Metro State was yesterday. Despite the bumps, it was really an incredible experience for me. I so appreciate all that I learned and so many of the people I worked with. I also am proud of my accomplishments--helping the Annual Fund raise $30K with their first e-mail ask campaign over Christmas; establishing some pretty awesome e-newsletters for Women's Studies, Alumni Relations and the Center for Visual Arts; developing an organized and efficient e-mail program that is now being used by seven departments; establishing analytics for all communications with alumni (to gauge what they are reading, where they are clicking through to, etc); developing and implementing a social media program that got more than 3,700 alumni engaged via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs; and just making so many neat connections with alumni, faculty and staff.

There's something else good happening... What was it? Oh yeah, I'm going climbing today with my friends Steve Murchie, now a board director for Girls Ed. and Keven Garvey, who is on the Advisory Board (along with me) for Girls Ed. And it's sunny and gorgeous out.

I have no illusions that everything is going to stay hunky-dory for me. But I am thankful for the respite from pain and exhaustion.

Lots of love to my friends and family,
-Lizzy

Humira

2011-03-08T20:15:00.000-08:00

After a year of trying every natural way of healing my body as well as trying NSAIDs and Prednizone, I have finally given in to the fact that I will have to take real arthritis drugs. Thus, later this week or early next week I go on HUMIRA, an immune suppressant. I have to inject it in my leg epi pen style every two weeks. It costs $1800 per month (if you don't have insurance.) I wonder how in the world people in this country pay for drugs like that. Most people are poor. It makes me really wonder why people are so against Obama Care. I don't get it... why do people cut off their noses to spite their faces? Anyhoo, I'd pay more taxes to have universal health care. I'm 100% supportive of that, now that I have really seen how ridiculously expensive health care is. Luckily, for now I have good health care.
Good night.

Hi

2011-02-21T16:18:00.000-08:00

Hi friends & family,
I have created a new Wordpress blog that I will use for all work-related things. I will continue to write more personal accounts on this blog from time to time. My new blog is www.lizzyscully.wordpress.com.
Much love,
Lizzy

Update on Lizzy's life

2011-02-14T20:55:00.001-08:00

Hi friends and family,
I have been out of touch lately because I have been working overtime. I teach now on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I usually grade papers and/or do assignments for that class another five to eight hours each week. My work schedule is a bit overwhelming, and I am pretty much always exhausted. I don't get to exercise or meditate as much as I would like. I know I can't continue at this pace indefinitely as my health will not allow it. I received a bit of bad news today from my physical therapist. She said that my body just can't handle rock climbing and the high levels of inflamation that I currently experience because of the arthritis. This is a bummer because climbing is one of the few things that totally relaxes me and fills me with joy. Thus, it is emotionally difficult for me to stop climbing. However, this pattern of existence isn't going to be my reality for that much longer. My contract at Metro State is over at the end of June. I'm not sure what that means exactly (i.e. I don't know what kind of work I will be doing, if I will be working full time or part time, if I won't be working at all, etc, etc). I do have some other opportunities on the horizon, so I'm not feeling hopeless. However, you never know what will happen. I sure don't.
Time for bed. Good night!
-Lizzy

Yow

2011-01-18T10:23:00.000-08:00

Yow, someone just tried to post a super nasty post on my blog. Luckily I moderate before allowing postings. If you don't like what I write, don't visit my blog. There is no need to use profanity or cruelty. We can't all agree with each other about everything.

Successful email fundraising campaigns and e-newsletters

2011-01-14T22:27:00.001-08:00

This is the latest Metro State Alumni & Friends e-newsletter. I worked closely with the designer and IT people at Metro State's Office of College Communications to create this and build it out in html format. Our open rate increased by two percent when we launched this new format. In addition, we saw a 100 percent increase in click-throughs.
We currently utilize Blackbaud's NetCommunity Grow product to mail out our emails. Utilizing NetCommunity Grow, we are able to collect some excellent analytics. The analytics allows us to evaluate the open rates for emails, bounce rates, and click-through rates. As well, when we do campaigns, we can assess the conversion rates.

This was the second version of our e-newsletter, which I created without any assistance. The e-newsletter that the Office of Alumni Relations has used for six or seven years prior was a basic text email with no graphics or photos.

These are email "asks" that I created working closely with the Annual Fund staff. Our campaign netted more than $30,000, which will pay for scholarships for students in need. The first email we sent out included a Thanksgiving Thank You video that I edited. Click here to watch the video.

Magdalena, Michoacan and the drug cartels: once upon a time...

2010-12-27T09:05:00.000-08:00

*names changed to protect the individuals in the story*

Magdalena has grey-streaked brown hair, the type that is always slightly frizzy because she often lives in a tropical place. Her eyes crinkle when she smiles, and her straight, almost-white teeth are like the off-white coral beads that she sells as earrings in markets around Mexico and the United States. Magdalena has the smile of someone who has known and befriended people of all colors, shapes and sizes; she speaks English and Spanish fluently. She and her son, Luis, are crashing with us right now, upstairs in my dad & Laurie’s suite, until they sell enough jewelry at the downtown market to return to Michoacan, their home base. But, they don’t want to go home yet. Maria's Argentinian husband (Luis' dad), who brings her the jewelry and stones that she sells, has been watching the news from his family’s home in Argentina. He says to stay away from Michoacan for a while. “Why”, my family asks incredulously? And then she tells us a story.

“They didn’t kill anybody,” she explains, “but they took so many cars and se queman! The narcos closed off every entrance to the city with burning cars as barriers, sending a message to the Mexican government that they were in charge.” They wreak havoc, she adds. But what is worse is that now military men are everywhere, too. They raid homes without reason, or so it seems to the locals.

“Sometimes there will be only an old woman in the house, alone, and they do whatever they want, tear the house apart, abuse the woman...” pipes in Luis, Magdalena’s 17-year-old son. His eyes are bright and excited when he tells these stories from beneath the hood of his sweatshirt, which he seems to hide under. I’m not sure if he’s afraid or not. But Magdalena is.

“I don’t let him hitchhike anymore,” she says. “You never know who is with the narcos. You could be driving, and ‘bang!’ they kill you because you said something wrong, or maybe you talked with the wrong person. His school is 45 minutes away, but sometimes he calls me if he doesn’t play football, and I drive down to get him.”

There is silence for a few minutes. Then my father asks in the characteristic Scully way, “Are you pissed off at the Americans for funding and arming the war?” 90% of the guns used by the narcos are from the United States (read more), and with 114 million Americans using (or having used) drugs, our country fuels the fire, fans the flames, keeps the bowl going ‘round.

Magdalena just shrugs and smiles. “Pass me un otro Indio,” she says. “The dark beer es muy bueno.”

Hello from Mexico!

2010-12-27T09:03:00.000-08:00

I am in Sayulita, Mexico. I’m still very tired, but am surfing nonetheless, along with sleeping, meditating, doing yoga, and listening to all the crazy noises of this country—waves crashing, birds of all sizes and shapes, children playing with ratty kittens in the streets, dogs that bay all night long from loneliness and fear of the dark, drunks that yell for the same reasons, Merengue music emanating from every corner of town, hummingbirds that make loud crackling noises when they change direction, roosters that start crowing at 4a.m.

CU considers hiring misogynist, homophobic Bill McCartney to be football coachn

2010-11-24T04:20:00.000-08:00

Good morning David Clough, Phil DiStefano, and Mike Bohn,
I learned some very disturbing news today. Is it true that CU is considering hiring Bill McCartney as the new football coach at the University of Colorado? I think this man is a very poor role model for young people as he is not only homophobic and misogynistic, but he also doesn't hesitate to use his position of power to negatively influence the young men that he leads. I think CU would be making a terrible anti-gay statement, as well as an anti-woman statement if you hire this man. Do you honestly want to foster a climate of hate and discrimination against gays and women? This man referred to homosexuality as an "abomination against Alimighty God" in Sports Ilustrated! And he founded the Promise Keepers, an all-male evangelical Christian group that promotes the subordination of women. I can't believe you are seriously considering hiring this man. Please do not. This is scary stuff.
-Lizzy Scully

Hello!

2010-11-16T20:10:00.000-08:00

Hello! It has been a few weeks since I have written. My life has changed again, pretty significantly. My job has just ramped up to a pretty huge degree, which is exciting. I'm enjoying it immensely despite the fact that I'm working overtime a lot. I think this week I will not have to work OT though, which is nice since last weekend I worked on other projects through the weekend (writing job for Alpinist and a 3.5-hour board meeting for Girls Education International).

My life is good. I am tired often and am still learning how to balance work, exercise, healthful diet, meditation and being with friends. I haven't quite got it yet. The last few days I felt wiped out from the weekend. On the other hand, despite the tiredness and not quite getting it, I'm still full of joy often (except when I get really tired).

So, life is good. Lots going on these days...

I am well. Climbing is going well also. I finally sent my project a few weeks ago. My first solid 5.12. It was lovely. Hopefully I'll have more photos to come.

Oh, I am learning how to build websites (that is another thing I do on weekends--html class). Check out my first page: www.lizzyscully.com/resume.html. It's my resume page. As of a few weeks ago, I thought my job at Metro State was long term. But it turns out that that my position is still only guaranteed through next June. Sadly, I will have to start searching for a new job this spring. I will be teaching at Metro this spring, and I will likely teach for some time there since I love working there. We shall see.

Love and hugs, Lizzy

Me not sending in Thunder Ridge, but having a damn good time

2010-10-19T20:31:00.000-07:00

The Cleanest Line-Kelly's take on our Thunder Ridge trip

2010-10-18T15:59:00.000-07:00

Hahaha! This funny The Cleanest Line blog post that Kelly wrote comes with a great video.

And, FYI, he didn't shave the "stach" and Katy still liked him! Match made in heaven.

No 12c send for me!

2010-10-17T20:26:00.001-07:00

I didn't send my project today, but I had A LOT of fun trying harder than I've tried on a route, maybe ever. So much fun. I was so tired, not feeling 100%. I think I pushed it too hard last week climbing hard two days in a row. But still, so much dang fun. Climbing with Beth Bennett is always a blast. And I don't think I've ever had this much fun rock climbing. I hope to go back next week!

I did get mildly annoyed with a couple yahoos who came along and insisted with all seriousness that the 12 I was working on was in fact "just 5.11". I thought it was funny as the one who was so insistent actually fell or hung on every bolt.

Building a website

2010-10-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

I just started an HTML class and am learning how to build a website. It will be: www.lizzyscully.com, and I will use it as a sort of resume... sort of. I'll post fun things I do at work and with climbing. I'll reserve this blog for the more personal entries to family and friends, since that is what it has turned out to be. My new website will take a few months to really get going.

Global Giving Open Challenge Results

2010-10-16T07:11:00.001-07:00

I want to extend a very special thanks to all my family and friends who donated a significant amount to this challenge. I'm sorry I can't publicy thank you all again on Facebook. I have taken a break from the site for various reasons, the main one being I spend too much time on social media platforms for my job and am burned out. However, if you are reading this, you know I love you!
-Lizzy

We raised $7,095 from 99 unique donors!!!

Since we reached (and far exceeded) the minimum fundraising goal of $4000 from 50 unique donors, we have secured a permanent spot on the GlobalGiving website. This is great news for us as it allows us to connect with many new donors and corporate sponsors who may otherwise not have heard about us. If a donor knows he or she wishes to support girls education, a quick search will turn up many possible organizations, of which Girls Education International is one. If a donor specifically wants to support girls in Pakistan or Liberia, it won't be long before they are looking at our page and then browsing our website! This is wonderful news for us as we move forward with our girls education programming.

Huge THANKS to everyone who supported us in this challenge by spreading the word and/or donating to our cause.

As we gain recognition and support, we will also grow. Girls Education International is planning to discuss our strategic plan at our upcoming October board meeting. We are considering expanding our impact into additional developing countries where girls continue to represent a very small percentage of the student body. Stay tuned for updates!

TEILHARD DE CHARDIN

2010-10-16T07:10:00.001-07:00

Some day, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, . . . we shall harness . . . the energies of love. Then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
-TEILHARD DE CHARDIN

"It Gets Better" Rally to be held at Auraria Campus, Wed, Oct. 20 at the Tivoli Commons Area

2010-10-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

In response to the recent incidents of youth taking their own lives because they were teased or bullied for being gay or perceived as such, we are organizing a campus-wide rally to express our outrage at how these youth were treated. Additionally, we are hosting a resource fair with information from both campus and community resources to show these teens that they are not alone, that there are people out there that do care, and that they have resources available to them to support them in their struggles.

We are combining the ideas of two national campaigns into one themed event: It Gets Better…Because I Give A Damn. The It Gets Better project was started by Dan Savage, and the I Give A Damn campaign is from Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors Foundation.

The event will be held next Wednesday, October 20 from 11:00 – 12:30. The rally will be held in the Tivoli Commons area, and the resource fair will be held in the Tivoli Multicultural Lounge. Our event is being held in conjunction with a national movement on Facebook to Wear Purple To Help The Fight Against Homophobic Bullying.

The rally will feature speakers from the administration of all three schools, as well as community resources. As part of the resource fair, we will be showing videos from the “It Gets Better” campaign, as well as have stations where members of the Auraria campus can record their own “It Gets Better” messages.

Please wear purple next Wednesday, October 20, and join our efforts to battle bullying and youth suicide!

Thunder Ridge, South Platt

2010-10-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from the South Platt. I recently climbed with one of my favorite friends, the ridiculously silly Kelly Cordes down at Thunder Ridge. (I've been trying to set him up with one of my many, beautiful and bright single girlfriends, but he insists on having a "stach" and is growing mullet sprouts for his upcoming trip to Argentina... ewwww... I'm hoping he shaves the ugly ass thing off before he meets Katie!)

Anyway, Kelly and I lucked out and found this awesome cave with a stack of beautiful, steep 5.12s. I onsighted my first 5.12a in like a decade... I've only actually onsighted two prior to this and those were years ago. It was exciting. I also got on this 12, which was one of the most stellar and most difficult routes I've ever tried. I am pretty sure I'll get it next Sunday when i go climbing with my friend Beth Bennett (check the Alpinist sometime in the next few months as I"m writing a "local hero" article on her).

Life is good. Love to all my friends and family.
-Lizzy
This is me procrastinating my third attempt on the 5.12...

Lovely autumn leaves...

Life, health, climbing

2010-10-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

My health continues to improve, more rapidly now that I'm not working quite as hard. Luckily I have sufficient sick days so that I have been able to take a day off each week for the past 3 weeks. Plus, the directors at Marpa House are working with me such that I don't have to do dinner cleanup until I'm healed. It's pretty extraordinary that with just an extra day each week and my evenings to myself (to meditate and get to bed early) that I am healing faster. I am able to get more exercise and take care of the things I need to take care of so that I can get to bed at a reasonable hour the rest of the week.

Another sign of progress is that I'm able to walk more without ankle pain. I began to understand a few weeks ago that my arthritis is probably pretty much controlled because of the care I take with my diet, but that my ankles suffered so much trauma that they still hurt all the time, especially after I walk a lot. However, I had a massage last week that focused on my ankles, and that seems to have made a pretty big difference. This past few weeks I have basically felt better than I have felt in 7 months, and I can't tell you how exciting it is!

As well, I'm getting stronger climbing, and am now doing easy 5.12s on my 2nd or 3rd try, which is pretty dang cool. I've never climbed this hard. But I know I can climb much harder. I haven't really tried that hard yet. Once I figure out the moves, I can often do the climbs with ease. I'm almost ready to really start trying hard. I think I need to do a bit more healing first, however. Today I realized that I have perhaps been pushing it a bit too hard. My body hurt when I woke up, but I still went climbing. Now my body hurts more. I'm taking 3 days off.

My heart still hurts, but I continue to let go of the fixation day by day. I'm not letting go of the love I feel, but rather the grasping at the projections of what I thought relationship was supposed to be. I realize new things every day, such as I have been judgmental in my relationship of my ex. She is where she is, and I am where I am, and I need to respect that. We think differently about relationship... or rather we just have different experiences with relationship because we are in different places in life. Rather than judge, criticize or be angry with her for not being like me, I just needed to let go long ago or figure out how to be at ease with the fact that we are on different paths. But it was so hard to do because I was in love! Such is life. Confusing. Perhaps some day I will be able to totally accept every person... I think that is true compassion--accepting people for exactly where they are... But then there is also accepting me exactly where I am. Those things are hard to do.

My new van rocks. I put a foam "bed" in it today. I'm pretty stoked that came into my life. If fact, I'm really excited about all my awesome climbing partners, the new girlfriends I have been hanging out with, the new climbing partner I found today who has some of the same goals I have (Moonlight Buttress!!!), and on the fact that things have settled down at work and now I can HOPEFULLY get back to developing my project. Oh yeah, and teaching, i'll start next spring. Woohoo.

Sweet dreams to all the friends and family in my life and especially to my ex. I feel so incredibly lucky to be alive. Love, hugs, kisses... Lizzy

Pain

2010-10-01T15:11:00.001-07:00

I think perhaps the thing that is most painful for me in this world is being shut out of someone's life who I love deeply. I suppose that is a pretty universal feeling. I'm sending out hugs and love to all the people who feel very sad because they have been shut out of someone's life. Hugs, Love. :)

Learning the video ropes

2010-09-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

I'm learning how to make videos. Cool stuff. I have done quite a few of these little, Flipmac videos (one is pasted below). They are really basic though, and I have to do them quickly as I'm pretty busy here at work all the time. However, I am also working on some bigger projects with a film guy named Jose. We will be creating short videos of Metro State alumni who are doing cool things. I'm also working with a journalism professor (Kenn Bisio) and a guy from the technology center (Scott Houck) on a 45th Anniversary documentary. It's very cool. They are shooting, and I'm doing the interviewing right now. We will all partake in the editing in 2 or 3 weeks when the shooting is finished. And next spring I'll be taking a video editing class. This fall I'm taking an html class to learn how to make websites. All neat stuff. I'm stoked.

I did this one before I had the software to create credits:

This is one I did the final edits for. It's not what I wanted, as the section that I'm in is less than ideal. However, it's OK and has some interesting info on social media.

Ahh, finally a break

2010-09-28T08:25:00.000-07:00

The past four days I have felt a sense of peace and calm that I haven't felt this year. I am still sad, but also joyful. The fall days have been gorgeous, warm, sunny and crisp with inevitable winter. I have sat one to two hours per day in the Marpa House Shrine Room, surrounded by flowers, cushions, and the sounds of dozens of birds that love to visit the back courtyard. I feel so lucky to sit in quiet, with cool air blowing through the windows, and streaks of sunlight shining through them onto the hard wood floors. I'm even excited about chanting for the first time. Where I used to think of the chants as worship, now I understand they are just reminders of the Buddhist teachings. Reminders that people who are on the path I'm on are committed to finding peace and groundedness within themselves so that they can benefit others. I know all this sounds pretty cheesy, but it's what I believe. And sometimes, when I get a glimpse of that peace and feel love and compassion for people more than I have felt before, well, I guess I just appreciate that.

Ahhh, finally some peace. I know it won't last. Life is change. But I am so incredibly thankful for now.

In other good news: I'm buying a minivan!!! Woohoo. Travel, yard work, no more biking in the winter. And I sent my first 12b ever, and it wasn't that much work. I did the crux a few times on TR and then sent the route first go on lead. I have such a different perspective on climbing after being sick & riddled with arthritis. First, when I could walk up and down the stairs without pain, I was thrilled. Now I'm climbing 12b, and I can't tell you how it just makes me want to cry.

"The energy of Passion without grasping is the wisdom that sees all angles." Pema Chodron

I memorized this quote as a mantra as a way to say goodbye to the sweetest & most beautiful woman I have ever known, my now ex. I repeat it over and over and now I am just starting to enjoy that energy I have for her without holding on too tightly. There is freedom from stress and a feeling of more love and also joy. I had this overwhelming feeling yesterday that I cannot wait until my attachment is gone so that I can be friends with her again, climb with her again, and just hang out with her. I miss her so much! It will still be a while, but it is in my future. Lucky me for knowing and loving her! And lucky me that we still love each other. :)

OK. Time to work!

The illusion of relationship: never there and now it's gone

2010-09-20T15:54:00.001-07:00

My life feels pretty empty without a partner, without my lover. I know I'll get over it. And I recognize I have so many wonderful and fulfilling friends and activities in my life, and so it will only feel empty at times, not always. But it is true that now I have no one with whom I want to share my deepest love, my daily thoughts, all that good stuff. It makes me so sad. It sucks lemons. It will pass though. I will feel fine eventually. It's all just an illusion anyway. It was always just an illusion, my projection of what I hoped for and wanted. It was never there, and now it is gone. How ironic.

The Buddhist path is painful & sad

2010-09-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

I never imagined how difficult it would be to confront all the pain that lies in my heart and in the energy field of my existence. Along the way while dealing with this pain, sadness and accompanying suffering, I have definitely felt incredibly moments of joy and delight in life (such as while climbing in Rifle the last two weekends, seeing my favorite woman again for a whole day, and not having ankle pain for a week). However, right now I am experiencing more pain and suffering than joy in general. I've just realized I can no longer avoid the pain, the things I don't like about myself... anything. I can no longer BS myself. I can't hide, and whenever I put up walls, they will crash around me. I can't get away with anything anymore. So frustrating.

On the bright side, I am friends with myself now. I love me, and I'm being kind and gentle with myself. Also, I am getting stronger. I can bike all the way home from the bus stop more often than not, I was sick for only one day the past 10 days, I am becoming a better climber, and I am feeling more at peace most of the time than I have ever in my life. I have great sadness still because my relationship with my sweet lady does not seem able to survive all these changes. But even that is OK as she would be taken away from me at some point anyway, whether through death or whatever. Impermanence. It does suck sometimes. But there is always joy.

OK, back to work. Lots to do today :)

My nonprofit is part of the Global Giving Challenge!!! Please donate if you can!!! :)

2010-09-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

Hi family & friends,
If you have a chance, please donate to Girls Education International this month (September 2010). We are part of the Global Giving Open Challenge. If we get 50 or more people to raise $4000, we earn a permanent spot on their Web site, which is just awesome for us as it will give us many opportunities to raise funds for our educational scholarships for girls in Pakistan & Liberia. Please donate. Even $10 will help!
:) Lizzy
Click here to support our 30 Pakistan girls!

Overview & 8/25/10 diary entry: Sangha Retreat at Shambhala Mountain Center with Pema Chodron

2010-09-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

So many people have asked me about my trip to Shambhala Mountain Center that I'm just going to type up the diary entries I wrote while there. In summary: it was an amazing experience. I had numerous Buddhist (Shambhala) teachings from three pretty incredible teachers, and I meditated a minimum of 5 hours per day. I also did yoga daily for 1.5 hours mostly outside as the weather was perfect (a bit hot at times), and I bonded with some really amazing women in my deleg (groups of people organized by where they were sleeping). I met beautiful Anna (originally from Spain) with whom I talked about relationships and dharma; I got to know the very cool climber gal Katie, who is just very new to the dharma and curious about how it was transforming her life over the week; and I spent a lot of time walking with a sexy, often smiling lesbian from Denver named Danielle. I also met a bunch of other very neat people whom I'm excited to see at future retreats.

My first entry that I wrote first thing when I arrived is too personal to record here, but was mostly about the breakup I experienced four months ago that still sometimes feels fresh. Another positive aspect of this retreat is that I got some space from that breakup... or rather, the feelings about my ex and all that happened became more spacious, and I was able to be kinder and gentler to myself about it. I haven't made any sort of decisions about anything, and I'm feeling just like sitting with what is for now. Ok, onto the diary entries...

8/25/10
I am so exhausted from working overtime at Metro, doing wedding stuff from my friend Amber, and trying to fit climbing and exercise in for the past month. However, luckily I could only find a ride to the Sangha Retreat this morning at 6a.m. Thus, I didn't have to work today. Yay! Nice surprise. As soon as I got to the land, I found my tent, ate a bit of food, and then slept from noon until 5:30. Ahh. Now teachings and meditation at 6:30.

8/26/10 Sangha Retreat at Shambhala Mountain Center with Pema Chodron

2010-09-03T16:32:00.003-07:00

8/26/10
Powerful day with Pema & sitting meditation. What I recall:
1. Don't hold onto the banks of the fast moving river (i.e. the reality of life today) lest I be torn apart by suffering.
2. Learn to go with the flow.
3. Settle into myself and be grounded, and then I can open my heart to the world.
4. During these times, don't take anything personally.

I'm so tired. My body is tired. I meditated a lot, and all I have been able to think about since 3p.m. is sleeping.

I cried when I saw Pema today. I have devotion for her, but I think perhaps she is too old and tired to be my teacher. So how do I find a teacher? Perhaps I have to wait for another lifetime...

I am really tired.

8/27/10 Sangha Retreat at Shambhala Mountain Center with Pema Chodron

2010-09-03T16:32:00.001-07:00

8/27/10
Today was intense. Lots of emotions. Lots of discussion. Much sitting. Best of all was the realization that many of my questions about Buddhism & Shambhala were answered just by my being here at this retreat. I met Acharya Galen Ferguson after class. He and the other Acharya Adam Loebel were walking and talking. I so wanted to ask one of them this question that has been burning in my mind about finding a teacher, but I didn't want to invade their space. But then I decided, yes, I'm going to ask him, and just as I did, he turned and walked straight toward me. Cool. So I asked him about the teacher(guru)/student relationship and how I might find one. He offered me some good suggestions. Basically, if I continue along this path, taking these various classes and going on retreat, and I really want to be devoted to a teacher (a scary concept), that I would find what I needed. I believe him.

I am thankful for this experience.

8/28/10 Sangha Retreat at Shambhala Mountain Center with Pema Chodron

2010-09-03T16:30:00.003-07:00

8/28/10
I'm not supposed to write because all day we have practiced letting go of non-discursive thoughts (or is it not having discursive thoughts???). It actually has worked. My mind has been pretty clear all day. No dwelling on relationships, work or any of that stuff. Though still there are lots of thoughts bouncing around my head, they are mostly mundane. I am hungry. The wind is howling. The herbs in the garden smell nice. It's cold. It's hot. Where's my shawl. I have to go to the bathroom. My back hurts. Are we nearly done yet. Mmmmm... the tomatoes and basil leaves I ate in the greenhouse were sooo good. The hummingbird moths are cool. I saved one from the kitchen tent. I got to hold it. Cool. Stuff like that.

Time to read some dharma.

8/29/10 Sangha Retreat at Shambhala Mountain Center with Pema Chodron

2010-09-03T16:28:00.002-07:00

8/29/10
Today I reconnected with my joy fully. It was awesome. Also I got numerous questions answered, and one directly by Pema. She offered me an answer to prevent the feeling of absolute overwhelm that I sometimes experience while doing Tonglen. I have been unable to practice the "sending" part of this "sending & receiving" practice, whereby you take/breathe in other peoples' suffering and send/breathe out relief. She said I should focus more on the person rather than really internalize their suffering. We had to partner up with someone to practice, and I partnered with Suzanne (sitting next to me). We talked for 3 minutes each about the things that caused us the most suffering, and then we practiced facing each other. I was actually able to do Tonglen facing her by just really focusing on her and her pain. I visualized taking her pain into an endless open space (rather than into my own heart, which is what I used to do). And then I visualized offering her relief in the form of that vast space.

And then, amazingly, later that afternoon at the Stupa (which is the giant Buddhist temple sort of thing on the land), I saw Pema. So excited, my first instinct was to bow to her. So I did. Then she came right over to me and asked me if her suggestion had work. It had worked. Wow. What a day.

8/30/10 Sangha Retreat at Shambhala Mountain Center with Pema Chodron

2010-09-03T16:28:00.001-07:00

8/30/10
I don't know what to do with myself. We sat for 3.5 hours today. I did rota for an extra hour in the kitchen. I don't feel like reading. I'm just in limbo, bored. Oh and I exercised for 1.5 hours. Yoga. So what now? Next is more sitting from 3-5, then from 5:3- to 6:30, then from 8-9. Jeez Louise. 7.5 hours of sitting otday? Holy Moly. Ok reading. I'll try.

8/30/10 (later)
Well I didn't sit as long as I thought. It was about one hour less than expected. Instead of sitting we watched the life story of the Sakyong (Miphong Rinpoche sp?). I reluctantly have more respect for him than I originally did. I also have a different perspective on Shambhala. I still want Pema to be my teacher, but I am also more committed and interested in following the Shambhala path. I had a difficult time with it, but what strikes me the most about this reality, the sangha, the teachings, etc, is that they are wholly focused on bettering the plight of the planet and all sentient beings. It basically teaches what I have believed for a long time now... that the most important thing in life is to help other people and make the world a better place.

What is even more significant for me is that I can now say I want to do these things without feeling that strange sense of self doubt and self loathing I have always felt. I never believed in my own goodness. I always doubted my own desire to give back, as if it was somehow wrong or shameful. But now I'm looking at that view and wondering, "what the hell was I thinking? What could possibly be bad about dedicating my life to the benefit of all people?" Why couldn't I believe it? It almost seems crazy for me to have been so convinced that something was wrong with me? Anyway I'm really excited about this week.

ps. I feel like I've transformed more this year--in just the last four months--than ever in my life. Wow.

9/2/10 Sangha Retreat at Shambhala Mountain Center with Pema Chodron Post Retreat Blues

2010-09-03T15:41:00.001-07:00

9/2/10
Back to work. Back to reality. Back to these foolish games...
I'm so unsettled all over again. Running from retreat to work to mom's house, flying across the country, trying to feel out my previous relationship, quickly losing the peace of mind I had last week. But I will be gentle with myself. Perhaps I will sit just for a few minutes before sleep. I am so tired, and I feel sad. But not too sad. I'm OK.

The end...

Higher Rez version of "The Improbable Line (aka Fido's Butthole)

2010-08-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShR7HwXXpus

The Improbable Line (aka Fido's Butthole): Lizzy & Heidi in Pakistan

2010-08-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

Heidi Wirtz and Lizzy Scully attempt to climb the Ogre's Thumb, Biafo Glacier, Pakistan, 2006.

Emily Harrington on overcoming her fear of climbing 5.14

2010-08-15T20:54:00.003-07:00

I took this video to accompany an article I wrote for Petzl, which they never published. So here it is...

Summertime in Boulder

2010-08-14T16:38:00.000-07:00

I love Colorado in the summertime. In fact, despite the heat, I love being in Boulder right now. I miss my Lyons home and the community/family I have there, but I have spent my summer Saturdays meditating, doing yoga, eating delicious food at Marpa House (often with friends), and hanging out by Boulder Creek. Today I biked to Movement Climbing Gym to do a class with my new favorite yoga teacher, Brent. He does wonders with shoulders, and I'm learning a lot about how I really should hold myself both in yoga poses and in life. After yoga, the air still felt cool on my bike ride home (fall approaches). I ate a hearty breakfast of eggs & avocados and then went downtown with my friend Paul to meet Jim Yensen, a dear friend and one of my Buddhist teachers. We talked and just hung out. Now I'm playing with social media. Typically I stay away from my computer after a long work week, but I feel good today and am excited to learn how to better create videos and take higher quality photos for my current job and for future reference.

I am actually excited about life in general right now. After experiencing probably the most difficult time of my life these last five months, my perspective on reality has changed drastically. I am more grounded than I have ever been, and I am more appreciative of every moment I spend by myself, with family and friends... in fact, I am just incredibly appreciative of every moment, period (though sometimes when I'm really tired I forget :)

I have had to stop drinking. I had one drink earlier this week, and it kicked my butt for two days. It was like two wasted days. I felt sick and exhausted. So no more drinking. It defeats the purpose of my life right now, which is to heal, be at peace with myself, and climb harder than I ever have (just because I can and it's so much fun!).

Life is good. I took this short video of Jim Yensen

Social Media for Newbies

2010-08-04T14:35:00.001-07:00

By Lizzy Scully
Social Engagement Manager
Office of Alumni Relations

If you run a business or other organization, you can no longer afford to ignore social media when creating your marketing plans. Thousands of your potential customers (your future “fans”!) flock to social media sites. In fact, more than five million people actively use Facebook now, with 50% signing on daily(1). Plus, more than six million people utilize Twitter. Social media sites have proven to be one of the most significant ways you can engage your customers or constituents. When the Office of Alumni Relations first embarked on its social media journey, we spent extensive time researching what other colleges and universities were doing and we formulated an extensive plan accordingly. Here are seven tips & tricks we learned along the way:

Planning: Do significant planning prior to launching any social media plan or starting your social media sites. As with any marketing/public relations plan, define your goals. What do you want to accomplish? Who are your fans (i.e. who do you want to engage)? Do some research on which sites might best fit your needs. I have discovered that Metro State alumni use LinkedIn to communicate about career-related topics and to network with each other, while they check out Facebook to link to event coverage or fun articles about other alumni or faculty/staff members. They also regularly read our Job Blog, which has job listings and helpful career advancement tips.

Voice: Establish the “voice” of your social media sites. Typically, social media sites offer a more personal, in-depth perspective of your business/organization, while your website has static, tidy information. (For more on types of voices you can use, click here). The Office of Alumni Relations maintains professionalism in that we treat people who visit our sites respectfully and as we would if they came into the office. However, we have balanced that with informality. For example, our responses to people who pose questions, suggestions, or musings are informal and friendly. As well, we post fun, interactive articles and videos on our blog that aren’t necessarily perfectly well made.

Coordinator(s): After you figure out your “voice”, choose one or more coordinators who will regularly post on the social media sites you utilize. This person should not hide behind an alias, but should be open about his/her relationship with your business. I am the main person posting on the Office of Alumni Relations social media sites and interacting with visitors. I strive to establish trustful relationships with our visitors, and have developed numerous in-person relationships with people. Even if I never meet someone in person, my goal is for that person to feel welcomed to all of our social media sites. On the other hand, you don’t have to mix business with pleasure. It is not necessary for you to invite all the fans on your Facebook Fanpage to be “friends” on your personal page.

Listening: Cultivate relationships with your constituents. In order to be effective with social media, you have to regularly engage your fans, which means posting daily or weekly, answering questions posed by fans, and addressing issues they bring up. I check all the social media sites five days per week. If a negative comment surfaces, for example, I can address it immediately. (Read more on tips for addressing negative comments here).

Flexibility: The beauty of social media is its flexibility. If something isn’t working, you can change it instantly. Build all your social media sites and then see which ones are most popular, and then modify your activities accordingly. We discovered that our MySpace page and the LinkedIn page we created were both mostly worthless. However, I found and began to participate on an unofficial LinkedIn page that was far more active. I befriended the alumnus who created it, and now we manage it together. We have regular interactions, and new people joining every day!

Analyze the data: Dozens of analytics tools exist that can help you track traffic to and from your websites. The Office of Alumni Relations currently uses Google Analytics and StatCounter on our website and blogs, and Bit.ly to shorten and track our URLs. None of these programs are perfect, so utilize many and analyze all the results. By doing so, you will figure out what links are being clicked on most and what people avoid, thereby refining how you distribute your content.

Integration: Finally, to be full successful, your social media strategy must be integrated with and supportive of your overall marketing plan. One of our most successful endeavors this year was our Official College Ring Launch and Facebook Ring Contest. The contest drew in plenty of contestants because it was a fun and engaging way of finding out why people loved Metro State. We asked people to tell or show us why they loved Metro State. This resulted in people posting poems, stories, and great photos about their experiences at Metro State on our Facebook fan page, which in turn drew more people to our fan page. However, it was only part of a greater strategic plan that included advertisements in the College newspaper, flyers, mailings, emails sent out to students, and plenty of social media notifications.

These are just a few of the things you should consider when launching a social media plan. For more information of if you want to ask me any questions based on this article, come to the LAS Lunch & Learn on Tuesday, August 10th. For more information or to register for the event, click here.

Today is a good day

2010-07-29T20:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun photos of a ladies night I organized at the Shakespeare Festival.

Today was the best day i have had in a week, physically. My ankles finally stopped hurting, and I even felt reasonably energized. Yay!
I did have a nice week last week with my cousin, Maya, who visited me after her 2-month climbing road trip. We spent a lot of evenings just talking, went out with my brother Friday night, went to Rockygrass Festival on Saturday (and saw Doc Watson!) and went climbing Sunday. It was a really great week, though I pushed myself too much and then suffered the last four days. However, I have been working diligently to heal this past week, sleeping more, eating better, stretching and exercising, and meditating. Plus, I now can work from home on Thursdays, which really made a big difference today. I think I wil be able to go to work tomorrow and not feel terrible. Still, it has been a bit of a struggle... I have had to really focus on not being irritated despite being exhausted. It is a daily practice, to be where I am, and even if that place is not ideal, to be OK with wherever I am. I am OK.
Life is good. I appreciate every moment.

I feel better!

2010-07-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

Finally, I feel better. I hiked yesterday for a few miles and climbed all day. My ankles hurt a bit, but they feel so much better. My doctors have not come to any hard conclusions yet, but they think that I don't have any diseases other than the HLA-B27 gene, which causes inflammation in the small intestines and reactive arthritis. They say the pain in my ankles should pass in a few more months and that as long as I'm strict/careful with my diet, the inflammation in my digestive system should be easily controllable and not lead to further negative reactions. Good news all around.

In other news, this past weekend was wonderful. I worked the MERGE: Metro State Alumni Exhibition 2010, which had some fantastic art. I talked with many of the artists and got some fun, short videos (I'll post one I did with this half-Portugese/half-Japanese alumna Luzia Ornelas). Saturday I went tubing (sort of--one of our tubes popped within five minutes of getting in the water), but it was still fun. And, we did a ladies night at Shakespeare, which was just fantastic. I'll post photos later! Sunday, I climbed all day with my dear friend Marc. We went to the Wizard's Den up at the Crags, and it was cold! I went from 100 degree temps in Boulder proper to not having enough clothing and shivering all day in the shade at 8,000+-feet. Yay! Wonderful weekend. And, last night, my cousin Maya showed up at The Marpa House and will be there for a week or two. Fun stuff. Life is good. I'm feeling very relaxed and joyful right now.

Things to look forward to: training to climb 5.12 with Jimmy Redo in the upcoming months; RockyGrass next Saturday; more climbing; hanging with family and friends; and my retreat with Pema Chodron at the end of August; visiting my mom over Labor Day. There are other joyful things in my life as well!

Relief

2010-06-15T21:51:00.000-07:00

Wow, finally all my anger at my partner has melted away. I'm not sure why I felt so much. I sent her a note the other day, and used this story to relay how I felt...

I'm hanging on the edge of a cliff by my fingernails, barely holding on. Madaleine stands off in the distance watching me. I'm crying out, "don't leave me! I need your love! I need your joy!" She thinks I'm crying to her, but she is actually just the person standing there. As she turns and goes the other direction, my fingers open up, and I fall into the abyss.

Really, this past year or few years has been incredibly difficult for me. I've lost or nearly lost everything--my cats, my house (though I have that now), my finances, my health, my lover, and all the conceptions of who I thought I was. I'm not straight; I don't want to date or have sex with men. I'm not a woman who has no boundaries, who allows people to step into her space because she doesn't want to hurt their feelings. I'm not a woman carrying the pain, guilt, suffering of her parents. I'm not a woman who carries the pain of her childhood any longer. I'm not so many things. I'm really just learning who I am. And that is scary. Falling into the abyss was the most difficult thing I have probably done in my life. Watching Madaleine walk away, the last thing for me to lose, really made me feel absolutely, wholly desperate. I lost it. I was so angry, and I blamed her. But, of course, because of my meditation practice, I finally realized that none of this is her fault. She is just where she is; and I am just where I am. And for me, groundlessness isn't as scary and awful as I thought it would be.

I feel more relaxed and relieved that I perhaps ever have in my life.

Love to all my friends and family and especially to Madaleine. If it hadn't been for you and the relationship we shared, I would not have discovered this peace in my heart and this love for myself. Thank you. I hope you find peace, joy and love for yourself. Know that I love you always.

Heidi and I are off to New Hampshire in less than two weeks

2010-06-13T19:53:00.000-07:00

Heidi and I are off to the International Mountain Climbing School's Women's Rock Weekend in less than two weeks. We are both really excited to climb in New Hampshire with organizer Sarah Garlick and also to be teaching for both days of the weekend. The event includes: two days of women's climbing clinics taught by professional women guides, plus an après-climb community party, dinner, a slideshow, and a silent auction that benefits Girls Education International (our organization!). This is the organization's 18th year running the event, making it one of the longest-running women's climbing events in the country!

More info from their website about Heidi's slide show. I will be doing a five-minute introduction of Girls Education International.
:) Lizzy

Come to the Annual Women's Rock Weekend slide show by Heidi Wirtz and get inspired!

Heidi Wirtz will be giving this year's slide show for Women's Rock Weekend. Just in case you haven't heard of her - this is one incredibly talented woman with a dedication to philanthropy that is as great as her climbing ability. The North Face athlete has climbed all over the world and the slide show will be about her trips to Pakistan, Australia, Nepal, and Morocco. She will also highlight her "proudest send" - the first all-female free ascent of the South Howser Tower of the Bugaboos in Canada.

After visiting some schools for girls in the countries they were climbing in, Heidi and Lizzy Scully, another one of our guides for the weekend, formed Girls Education International. This organization supports educational opportunities for girls and women in underdeveloped regions of the world.

The slide show starts at 7:30pm and will be held at International Mountain Equipment. Tickets are $5.00 and there will be a raffle and silent Auction. Part of the proceeds will go towards Girls Education International.

every day is different

2010-06-09T21:46:00.001-07:00

every day is different, and i appreciate all the days. even the 15-hour work day i had yesterday and the 6-hours of doctor/therapy appointments today. every day i'm learning something about myself, reality, the truth of my existence. today i realized how bad i have always been at setting boundaries. i've always felt guilty/bad about hurting other people's feelings, to the extent that i betray my own self/desires to ensure other people feel OK/good. but i'm not going to do that anymore. i need first to feel good about myself, and then i can empathize with others, but not to the extent that i don't feel good about myself. i can't help anyone without first loving myself. so, to the fellow on the bus who invades my space all the time, despite the fact that i'm clearly not interested in you, (i don't want to date men!), please respect my space and leave me be. don't sit next to me anymore. i don't like it. you don't make me feel good. leave me alone.

and to the people who tread over me thoughtlessly, respect me and my space. do not take me for granted. do not treat me carelessly. it is unkind and unloving.

dang, it's hard to say that and to do that. my instinct is to always try to help people feel better. but why when i am not 100% confident about myself? i'm not sure. i have never really thought about it before. but through therapy, through serious meditation, through amazing dharma and non-dharma, but very self-aware friends, i'm realizing it now. i am cool; i am beautiful; i am loving. i do not deserve to have people not treat me with 100% respect and love.

thanks so much to all of the family and friends who have been so incredibly loving and supportive of me. i appreciate you more than you know.

much love, lizzy

lost

2010-06-08T21:44:00.000-07:00

Feeling lost and sad without my partner...
Ugg, what a pain it is to break up.

Aw, I'm in love!

2010-06-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

This is Elijah. What a cutie. He's the son of my friend, Melissa Love. I got to hang out with them last weekend at a nice park by the river. I was pretty sad that day, but it's hard to sustain sadness with such a cute baby around. :)

Hello

2010-06-03T15:47:00.000-07:00

Hello family, friends, and random people who end up on my site,

I'm doing OK right now. My heart is broken, and my days are definitely missing something really significant. But, I don't feel empty or lonely. So many friends and family members have really supported me through this tough year. I just want everyone to know that I'm really taking care of myself right now. I meditate daily for an hour or two, eat very healthy foods, exercise regularly (climbing now on the weekends and yoga during the week), and I'm starting to get out more with friends. I'm especially enjoying walks around Boulder in the evenings. The smells of springtime fill me with joy. It is tempered by sadness. But, I'm beginning to realize that to be present with those things is really opening my world. I can't explain yet, but I feel more grounded and relaxed than I have ever. I still have much to work out, many lessons to learn, and many more hours to meditate, but I'm not in as much of a rush to get these things done. As with my sadness, it will change over time. I'm no longer worried about being unmotivated. My high levels of motivation and energy will never go away. As one of my Buddhist teachers told me a few years ago, "Lizzy, you will still get a lot done, but you may just be more relaxed about getting those things done." He was right.

On a very positive note, I am going to spend 8 days on a meditation retreat with Pema Chodron, a Buddhist nun who has been incredibly influential on my path. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to a women's rock weekend in New Hampshire, organized by Sarah Garlick, and for which I'll be teaching (along with my good friend, Heidi). And, I'll be visiting my brother in NM and climbing at Paradise Forks over the July 4 weekend. Fun stuff! I'll start posting more photos and fun stuff then.

I'm thinking things may slow down for me for a while. Of course, you never know, and I'm trying to "abandon all hope of fruition," but I feel a deep sense of relaxation impending. Ahhh...

Much love to you all,
-Lizzy

Lizzy's Life update, May 2010

2010-05-23T20:31:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and family,

Things are improving for me. I had my birthday last week, and it was a fabulous day full of love and fun. I lunched by a river with my friend Tom, weeded my patio and visited with my favorite kitty, meditated, did yoga, and had a party at the Marpa House with my Buddhist friends and my Buddhist teacher. It was lovely lovely

As well, my body is working much better. I still have big ups and downs. Last week I was sick all week, I think from eating poorly and overdoing the exercise last weekend. I never know from one day to the next whether or not I'll be walking just fine or whether or not my belly will feel OK. But, if I take care with what I eat and drink, avoiding red meat, dairy, gluten, soy, too much sugar, too much alcohol and overeating, I feel OK. And, I've been climbing again. Woohoo! I can't overdo it. I did last weekend and suffered the entire week. As long as I go easy on myself, I'm fine. I have pain when I climb, especially when I put a lot of pressure on my ankles. It's much easier for me to climb steeper terrain. Hiking is OK as long as I don't go very far.

It's very interesting to watch myself slowly slowly heal. I've become very in tune with my body. When I ignore it, I have pain and I suffer. If I pay close attention to when I'm hungry, when I need to exercise (I do yoga four days per week), and when I need to rest, I feel OK. As well, taking care of my mind is incredibly important. Despite experiencing a very painful and sad breakup with my favorite person in the world, I'm actually feeling balanced. I'm present with the pain, for the most part. On occasion I go off on tangents, blaming myself or her or getting angry. But overall, I find I'm just sad. And it's OK. I love my Buddhist practice for what it has taught me--some peace, balance, harmony with myself, love for myself.

I think also the Travacor and Excitacor I'm taking has done wonders to balance my brain chemistry, making it easier for me to actually be balanced. These natural aminos/vitamins help raise the levels of seratonin, epinephrine, and dopamine in my brain. My life-long struggle with depression likely is a result of low levels of these things, according to my naturopath. And, considering how OK I have been throughout the process of my illness and breakup, I think there's a lot of validity to her diagnosis and prescription. It's awesome that I feel OK.

Love and hugs to all my family and friends,
-Lizzy
ps. I'll be doing some cool things this month. I'm heading to New Hampshire for a women's climbing weekend, where I'll be teaching. I'll be sure to post a bunch of photos.
pps. thanks so much to all the people who have been so supportive of me through this process. Much love!

Today it's hard to be with myself

2010-05-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

Today, all day, I had a hard time being with myself. I wanted to run away from the pain, but I couldn't. I tried to blame the pain on something, but I couldn't do that either. There's no blame. It's just pain and sadness. There's nothing to do but be with it. I think sometimes that I need to feel another way than I feel right now, or I need to do something other than what I'm doing right now. But the reality is I am just who I am right now, and as long as I'm not harming others, I need to really just experience who I am at each moment. There's nothing to change or to do. My dharma friends say that this is being on the path.

Does this sound circular? It sure feels like it. The last week I have watched my emotions go all over the place. They are like crazy little people running around my head. One minute I deeply smell the purple iris blooming outside and the next I can't stand the moment and I try to think of various ways to avoid it.

Gawd, I miss my partner. She is just the coolest person I have ever met in my life. The pain and sadness of her absence is unbearable at times. I know it will pass, as it always does, but it sure sucks right now. But while it sucks, I'm spending as much time as I can meditating so that I can really, deeply experience nowness. I meditate on my rolling and roiling emotions. I meditate on how so many millions of other people are feeling what I'm feeling right now, including my sweet ex-partner. And I meditate on the fragrant orchids.

Heidi Wirtz and GEI featured in Climbing magazine!!!

2010-05-08T03:59:00.000-07:00

This is just great news for our nonprofit!
-Lizzy

Check out the 40th Anniversary, May 2010 issue of Climbing Magazine for an excellent feature article on Heidi Wirtz and Girls Education International, by Chris Weidner.

Doing better

2010-05-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

Hi family and friends,
I'm doing much better. I'm off all nasty drugs and am only taking "natural" drugs. And I'm being really careful with my diet because, apparently, that has a very real effect on the pain I feel. They ruled out Ankolsing Spondylitis and now think I have reactive arthritis. I have more tests to take. Back to work! I'm in the process of building out the new Office of Alumni Relations website for the College. It is loads of fun! Back to work. :)
Have a wonderful day everyone.
With love, Lizzy

10 ways to use social media to get a job

2010-04-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

This excellent article really lays out some simple, creative ways to promote yourself with social media. It's from New Grad Life, which is probably the best site I've found to help graduates find jobs. I often retweet or repost articles on the social media sites that I maintain for Metro State. Our graduates are primarily concerned with finding jobs.
-Lizzy

Traditionally it was employers who had to make themselves visible when looking to fill vacancies – posting adverts in the press, then choosing a pool of candidates from a veritable tsunami of applicants. But not any more.

There's mounting evidence that personnel specialists are now scouring social media sites and job boards for potential employees.

If you're wondering how to draw attention to yourself in the right way on social-media sites, help is at hand. We've put together a comprehensive action plan for you to follow:

10 expert tips on using social media to get the job you want:

Step 1: Set up multiple accounts

The first rule of successful professional networking is to keep business and pleasure strictly separate. Multiple social networking accounts will help you to present your best face to recruiters.

The first and easiest strategy is to use business oriented networks like LinkedIn, BrightFuse and Naymz for work while reserving MySpace and LiveJournal for mates.
FRIENDFEED: You can update and manage multiple social media accounts via FriendFeed

However, with Facebook and Twitter accounting for the lion's share of media attention and internet traffic, that approach will exclude access to a lot of influential contacts. Setting up two separate accounts for friends and business on these networks will enable you to compartmentalise your image.

To stop all these accounts getting out of control, use tools that are capable of managing more than one account. Both TweetDeck and Twhirl let you post to more than one Twitter account without the need to continuously log in and out.

Seesmic Desktop does the same job, and it handily also allows you to update your Facebook status at the same time.
Step 2: Use Facebook's privacy settings

While it's good practice to create business profiles on business-oriented social networks, Facebook is the undisputed hub of the net's social activity.

So, here's an alternative to multiple profiles: tweak Facebook's privacy settings so that work contacts aren't able to see any of your friends' pictures of your latest debauched night on the town.

Click 'Friends' on the main menu bar in Facebook and then click '+Create' in the Lists section of the sidebar. Call this list 'Work'. You'll be given the option to add existing friends to this list.

Create a second list called 'Mates'. Once created, you can add anyone who requests friendship to either list. To make people on your Work list see a professional looking profile, go to 'Settings | Privacy | Profile'. The options here allow you to choose exactly who sees what.

As an example, let's say you only want people on your Mates list to see your photos. Click on 'Edit photo album settings', choose an album and make sure only your friends can see it. Then in the 'Except these people' box, type in 'Work'. Now you'll be able to share all the amusing photos you want to with your mates, safe in the knowledge that the people on your 'Work' list can't see what you get up to after hours.

Step 3: Be careful what you say

Separating your work and personal lives is only one part of the process of creating a professional image for yourself online – a technique named 'personal branding'.

You need to present a 'best version' of yourself using the whole range of social-media tools available. "My key Twitter advice to BBC colleagues (is) don't say anything you wouldn't say on air," BBC Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan Jones recently tweeted.

WATCH YOUR WORDS: It's easy to tap out a poorly judged message in the heat of the moment, but it's much harder to delete the evidence

That advice holds true whether you're blogging, tweeting or changing a public Facebook status update. "It is very easy to build your reputation and credibility using social media. Unfortunately, it's just as easy to damage it irrevocably by being careless and whimsical in its use," says Judith Germain, Managing Director of leadership consultancy Dynamic Transitions.

"One thing to remember is that everything that you do on the web is permanent, even in 'closed' networks." The website Tweleted and the Google cache mean that even deleted posts can be easily found. So think for a second before pressing that 'Update' button.

And if you do find yourself participating in an argument, make sure you're polite – or just anonymous.
Step 4: Promote your expertise

Another important part of the personal branding strategy is establishing yourself as an expert in a particular fi eld or subject. Social-media sites offer plenty of opportunities to promote yourself as a leading light in your area.

"Align yourself with good content and share it with others by answering difficult IT questions on user forums and social networks," advises Judith Germain. LinkedIn's Answers application is a great place to put this into practice.

Browse through questions that other LinkedIn members have posted in your area of expertise or search by keyword. The more good-quality answers you provide, the more visible you become.

If you're willing to invest more time, consider joining Experts Exchange, a site where people post IT-related queries. Join as a volunteer and accrue points towards 'expert' status through providing solutions.

Step 5: Don't be a spammer

Blog articles with titles like '10 Reasons I'll Un-follow You on Twitter' cite aggressive self-promotion as the fastest route to lose friends and alienate people, so avoid things like pushing your website with every status update or spamming hashtags with inappropriate information just to get yourself noticed.

The key to keeping followers and impressing recruiters is to balance your activity. "Engage with your network," says www.mashable.com contributor Atherton Bartleby. "Genuine engagement with your followers will ultimately ensure that your mobile number is retained and not 'lost' at the end of that fabulous party, and it will ensure that you don't (too often) commit any serious faux pas."

So take part in the conversation on social-media sites – just like you do at real-world networking events. When you have something useful to share, share it. Reply to other people, find out about them and make friends. Let the networking happen organically.
Step 6: Follow the right folks

Here's a great tactic to ensure you make the right contacts: put together a list of companies you've got in your sights, find out who works there and, if possible, who's in charge of hiring. Then make friends with or follow them on social-networking sites.

Some corporate sites list personnel in their 'About Us' section – so try that avenue first. Search LinkedIn for company names if you hit a brick wall with the first method, and back that up with a search of PeekYou, Plaxo and Spoke. These are all social media directories aimed at business users.

A multipronged approach like this should yield a lot of names – and you can make friends with people on all these networks. Once you have concrete names, search for them on Twitter and Facebook.

Click 'Find People' in Twitter, then enter first name and last name as keywords to find everyone registered under that name. Facebook is trickier – a name search may pop up a bigger list of false positives – so search by email address instead.

NOWHERE TO HIDE: Pipl searches social-networking sites to uncover profile details that are hard to find

If you haven't found anyone in your initial search, try a people directory like Pipl – a search engine that specialises in digging up data from 'the deep web', including social network profiles and blogs. This will also reveal other social-media sites your target is signed up with.

Finally, use Technorati or Google Blog Search to track down your target's blogs – and when you can comment on a post, do it.

Step 7: Join specialist groups

Don't just rely on your virtual friends for leads – join specialist groups and communities online to get an inside track and promote your expertise. Even mainstream social-networking sites have a lot to offer in this respect.

"Look to existing networks, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, where there will be groups that discuss the industry and specific technologies and practices within it as well as dedicated forums and communities for the sector," says Rachel Hawkes, one of the brains behind Social Media Portal.

"The IT specialist should look to become engaged with the communities and establish a presence that adds value to the other community members by offering opinion, advice and leadership." Doing this properly requires some commitment, though.

To get the best from specialist groups, you should check in and post regularly. It's sensible to follow the old school rules of 'netiquette' when joining any new group. Lurk for a while and get a feel for the tone of conversation before you join in with a comment.

Some groups may require you to post an introductory note, for example. Others may frown on long, self promotional signatures. It's worth searching out specialist communities that match your expertise outside of the obvious choices, too.

As an IT specialist, you'll find social networks running on message boards, mailing lists, Yahoo Groups and Google Groups.
Step 8: Do a job search

Once you're hanging out in the right online neighbourhood, you'll hear about some of the best jobs going. That doesn't mean you have to stop being proactive, though.

"In a recent survey we conducted, when asked which tools they considered most important when applying for jobs, 40 per cent of IT candidates referred to using skills-specific job boards and 32 per cent said they would make direct contact with a company," says Teresa Sperti of The IT Job Board.

"Seasoned or specialist IT professionals candidates often favour skills-specific job boards, with only four per cent of candidates seeing generic job boards as very important to their job search."

In other words, using sites that cater specifically to your area of expertise pays dividends. At The IT Job Board – and most other sites – you can sign up for an email summary matching a keyword search.

A great way to keep tabs on job sites is an RSS feed, which is easy to add to your iGoogle front page or check in your favourite feed reader. For example, search by keyword at job site Computing Careers and you'll find an RSS feed link at the bottom of your returned results.

Step 9: Make a video resume

Hopefully your efforts at making yourself visible in a good way to the right people will not have gone unnoticed, and your name will start to surface when positions need to be filled. If that's the case, you need something more than your various social-network profiles to surface when somebody Googles your name.

Owning a website is an obvious first step, but another idea that is gaining momentum at the moment is the video resume. Thousands of people have posted CVs on YouTube, although the quality is highly variable.

If you can't afford professional production costs, keep things simple. Use the best quality camcorder you can, and make sure the lighting's natural. Record sound separately, using a decent condenser microphone if possible. You can do the latter directly into Audacity, an open-source sound-editing tool.

Many of the best video resumes feature a fixed shot of the subject talking about themselves to camera, but it's still fine to use software like Windows Movie Maker to add photos and clips too. Though making a video resume is still a fairly new idea, it's catching on as a trend – so you'll have to work a little bit harder to come up with something that stands out.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT: Mike Anderson's clever CV earned him a lot of attention online

Mike Anderson's produced his CV in graph form – and got to the front page of Digg and almost 200,000 hits on Flickr.

Then there's Australian games designer Jarrard Woods, who launched his freelance career by building his resignation letter into a Super Mario Bros level.
Step 10: Measure your impact

Keeping up a presence on lots of sites can be a drain on your time – so measure your success with people by measuring traffic from each site, then ditch the ones that don't work.

You can use web analytics tools like Webalizer and AWStats to see where hits to your blog or online CV are coming from. Both programs summarise referrer sites in tables for you – but there's a lot of static to work through.

A more effective method is to encode URLs you tweet or place in social profiles with a shortening service like Bit.ly. Every time you post a shortened URL, Bit.ly will track how many clicks it generates.

Create a different version of the URL for each of your social networks and you can instantly see which ones are performing best for you.

Video for mom

2010-04-16T17:20:00.001-07:00

Hi mom! Here's a short video I made for you. Love, Zuk!

Metro State Presents the Musical, Rent

2010-04-14T12:06:00.000-07:00

I always enjoy going to plays, so it was with great pleasure that I attended Metro State's latest Theater Department musical, Rent. I wrote this review for the Office of Alumni Relations blog. Enjoy.
:) Lizzy

By Lizzy Scully

The Pulitzer Prize winning musical Rent opens Thursday, April 15, at the King Center, Auararia Campus, presented by the Metro State College of Denver Theater Department.

The stage is set, a gray and metallic cityscape. Ladders and wire fencing hang off scaffolding, multi-colored posters are plastered on the walls, and Christmas lights are strung haphazardly over everything. The bleak scene evokes urban neglect and decay. But when the young artists and musicians—the main characters of the play—assault the stage, their frenzied and desperate energy also inspires hope and idealism. Many have HIV/AIDS or are or were drug addicts, they have no money to pay the rent, and relationships are complex and fraught with pain. But these young folks also have the will to fight for the rights of the homeless, start life support groups, revel in their diversity and live according to their ideals. This is Rent, a rock opera by Jonathan Larson and based on Giacomo Puccini’s opera La bohème. And, despite the complexity of the script and score, Metro State’s Theater Department does it justice.

The play opens with the narrator of the show, filmmaker Mark (played by Chris Russell), beginning to shoot a documentary of the bohemian lifestyle lived by himself and his friends, starting with his best friend, the reclusive, reformed drug addict and musician Roger (played by Winston King). The men, who both have lovely resonant voices, sing about their sundry problems, but most specifically their current landlord—Benny (played by Patrick Wills). A former friend and roommate, Benny married into a rich family, bought the building in which Mark and Roger live and the neighboring property where the homeless live, and is now pressuring the two men to pay the rent. The premise of the film becomes their refusal to pay the rent or support Benny’s efforts to develop the property.

As the play progresses, the two men are eventually joined by various eccentric characters, including: Collins (played by Curshion Jones) and his gay lover, transvestite Angel (played by Tyrell Donaldson); Mimi Marquez (played by Lauren Baird), an exotic S&M dancer who becomes Roger’s love interest and the person who eventually brings him out of his depression; and Maureen (played by Erika Kae), Mark’s sexy ex-girlfriend, who is now in a relationship with lawyer Joanne (played by Courtney Capek).

The story is painful to watch as the subject matter is harsh, but I found myself smiling throughout the performance. Choreographer and alumna Jenna Hawkins allowed for a certain amount of anguish to come out in the various dance performances, but she also encouraged a strong sense of playfulness between the characters and audience. With her outrageous rendition of “Over the Moon,” Maureen’s desperation to become famous and her fun, tawdry side come out through dance and song. And Angel’s hilarious, flamboyant strutting and posing provided sufficient comedic moments throughout the play.

The lyrics heightened that sense of light heartedness for me. I particularly enjoyed “Tango Maureen,” during which Mark and Joanna are forced into an unwanted confrontation, but then end up dancing and discussing Maureen’s infidelities and quirks. As well, though not the final song, “La Vie Boheme/I Should Tell You” wrapped up the theme of the show for me. Sung by the entire company, it illustrated the point that reality is a messy mix of neurotic and enlightened experiences, both of which contribute to the richness of life and both of which contributed to the richness of this musical.

Rent runs in the King Center’s Eugenia Rawls Courtyard Theatre from April 15-17 and 22-24. Shows start at 7:30p.m., and on April 25 at 2:30 p.m. For more information, click here.

Back from Retreat

2010-04-11T17:03:00.000-07:00

Hi family and friends,
I returned from my meditation retreat and am feeling much better. My new medication (another type of steroid) is working very well, and the pain has abated significantly throughout my body. I just spent the last five days sitting in hot springs, meditating for five or six hours per day, doing yoga, walking (I walked 2 miles yesterday!), eating salads, not talking much, and playing my mandolin. I learned how to pick my first tune--Nine Pound Hammer, and I have a few new songs down. It was a lovely retreat. I need to do more of those to remind myself of what is important in life--not dwelling on unimportant things and focusing on my Buddhist practice.
Much love to all who have supported me so much through this life-changing experience.
-Lizzy

Good news

2010-04-01T20:13:00.000-07:00

I had another rhematology appointment today. The doc clearly knows his stuff. I was there for a full hour+ talking about the past ten years of my life and such. The good news is I may not have Ankolsing Spondalytis, but rather Reactive Arthritis, which is better. I have to have x-rays and such and then see him again in a month. This will be a long-term project figuring out what is going on in my body. The even better good news is that I barely had any pain all day. The day started out well, and then just got better. Now I'm on predizone. The doc thinks this will make the pain go away in a couple weeks. That sure would be nice.

In other news, I feel pretty positive right now. I struggled the last few days with pain, but I know it's not the end of the world. I have many wonderful things to feel positive about--Madaleine, the fact that I get to exercise, the really awesome people I live with at the Marpa HOuse, and my very cool job. I've met so many amazing people at my job. It blows me away. I'd like to be a long-time employee of Metro State College of Denver. What a very cool, diverse school full of passionate people.

Ok, signing off. Good night. :)

update

2010-03-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

I continue to experience significant pain. I'm not sure I'm getting better. It's difficult to say. I only take one anti-inflammatory per day now because they make me feel sick to my stomach. So, my stomach definitely feels better. But I do hurt more. I continue to exercise regularly, though the last two days I haven't been able to. I see another rheumatologist on Thursday. He is supposed to be really good. I'm hoping he can shed some light on what is going on.

My attitude has been significantly better the last four or five days. I know this isn't the end of the world, and I really enjoyed the sunny weather and playing my mandolin this weekend. It is a bit difficult for me to be upbeat at the moment because my whole body hurts. But I expect I'll have more good days, and then more bad days, and then more good days.

On the other hand it is mildly terrifying not knowing what is happening with my body. I lie in bed and just look at my legs. They are so small now--I've lost 8 or 9 pounds and am not gaining it back. I look at my body. I am still strong from exercising, but I can barely walk some days. It is so strange.

I read about the alleged disease I have, and I think, "OK, I can really deal with this if I change my diet, exercise regularly, do what the doctors say." And then I hurt really badly for a few days. It really does put life in a new perspective for me. Wow. Luckily I"m not depressed. I feel like, despite how sucky this is, that this is a positive thing. I feel as if I'm living in the present moment like I never have before in my life. The pain brings me back again and again. I can't make plans. I don't even know how I will feel tomorrow. So, I am here now.

Please pass the healthcare legislation & thoughts about athritis

2010-03-21T06:56:00.000-07:00

Please pass the healthcare legislation. I never thought it would be so important to me. But, if they don't pass it, I'm looking at not have health coverage for the arthritis I have. It will be a pre-existing injury by the time I get new health insurance when my current contract job is finished end of November.

A bit on arthritis...

For the first time in my life I'm actually looking at old age, sickness and death in the face. I have been injured often from my climbing endeavors, but always in the back of my mind I knew those injuries would heal. Now, I have a disease that will not heal or go away. According to three doctors, I have Ankylosing Spondylitis. Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) refers to inflammation of the joints in the spine. AS is also known as rheumatoid spondylitis or Marie-Strümpell disease (among other names). I have a gene that indicates this, plus I have many symptoms that indicate this. I have one more appointment with a rheumatologist next week, but it seems likely that he will make the same diagnosis.

The experience has already significantly changed my life. I can't say I have been happy about it. It's devastating. It is difficult and often incredibly painful to walk and sometimes to just sit (like now as I sit in my bed writing this). It mostly manifests in my ankles and my right hip, but if I push it too hard, it seriously affects my back and neck. I have been pretty depressed and anxious the last 3 weeks.

On the other hand, I have a new and fresh perspective on reality. I don't actually care if I can't go rock climbing. I was overjoyed to be able to swim two days ago. I swam for 15 minutes and had to stop, but I will work my way up to swimming for longer periods of time. I can also stretch. Vigorous yoga is out of the question, but I can do triangle pose, downward dog (sort of), and various other invigorating poses. Plus, I can lift weights as long as I don't do anything that might stress my ankles. I'm not really even thinking about climbing right now. My good days are days when I have minimal pain in my ankles. And you wouldn't believe how appreciative I am of those days. Walking is a joy. Walking is a privilege. Thank Budda, God, Allah, and anyone else I can thank--I can walk!

As well, I view old people or disabled people differently. When I see old people walking with canes, ever so slowly, I can honestly say, "I understand." When I see someone who clearly has difficult walking because of some disability, I actually have a glimpse of what their lives are like. And I laugh at myself because those same old and disabled people are passing me on the street because I'm so slow.

Spiritually, like I said, I'm perhaps getting a hard and clear view of sickness, old age, and death. I have no choice in this matter. No matter how much I work out or will away this disease, it will be with me the rest of my life. And no matter how alive I feel, I could be dead tomorrow. And even if I'm not, I likely will be in pain. So, I'm crying right now because it is so painful to think about. I am tired, I hurt, and I am incredibly sad. But on the other hand, I have had this weight lift off my shoulders with this knowledge. I have no choice in this matter. I will become old, and I will die. So, perhaps I should just lighten up a little bit and appreciate things more. Hear the birds more, be present with myself more often, love and trust myself more deeply, smile at and love other people more easily, acknowledge and alleviate other peoples' pain as much as possible. When I meditate on those things, which I do every day, this doesn't seem so bad. Being alive is really a wonderful thing. So I hurt, but it's springtime, and the birds in the courtyard sound so pretty :)

I have a ways to go before I'm at peace with this disease and with myself. Letting go of my clinging to so many things--climbing, my health, my pride, how I want things to be, my ego, etc--is harder to do than dealing with arthritis. But, in the end, it will lead to me being a kinder, gentler human being. I guess at this point, denial is out of the question. I'm welcoming this new stage in my life with compassion and love.

Wish me some luck.

Jonathon Stalls to walk across America to raise funds for micro-finance org, KIVA

2010-03-05T15:25:00.000-08:00

I love my job when I get to write articles like this. (By the way, I'm healing well :)
by Lizzy Scully

Remember Forest Gump, long hair strewn about as he ran and ran across America. When asked why, he responded: “When I had to go, you know, I went.” Recent Metropolitan State College of Denver Alumnus Jonathon Stalls (Independent study ’09) is going on foot across America this year, too—walking from the East to the West coast, in fact. But he’s not doing it just ‘cuz. Stalls is on a mission. He’s raising funds for the nonprofit, microfinance organization, KIVA. Plus, it’s something he just had to do.

“I sat with myself on my birthday prior to graduating, and I said to myself: ‘this is something I would love to do. I don’t know when, but I’m going to do this.’” Now, just six months later he’s on his way. He left Monday, March 1, and plans to travel well over 5,000 miles. He’s using the southern portion of the American Discovery Trail (ADT) as “a tool in carving a route for this trip.” He plans to reach the heart of the Rocky Mountains by July and so will have to take some shortcuts. His final destination is California.

The seed for this trip, he said, was planted on a visit to Europe. “I interacted with all kinds of on-foot travelers in hostels. The freedom and flexibility of their mobility and travel was this new thing for me. I recognized I was very jealous of a life like that.” Then he came back to the States and “stumbled” across Peter Jenkins’ book, “A Walk Across America,” and he met a guy in a coffee shop late one night who further influenced him.

“He sat next to me and started talking about how he was walking across the country and was on the last leg,” recalled Stalls. “The stories that came out of his mouth paralyzed me.” Soon after that night, Stalls took an extended trip to Honduras, where he “bounced around on chicken busses.” That cemented things for him, and he began to check out weather patterns and routes across the United States.

However, the trip planning couldn’t complete until he figured out one more thing. He wanted to give back somehow. While taking a social entrepreneurship class at Metro State, he learned about the organization KIVA, which offered microfinance as a solution to poverty.

“I went online, researched KIVA and just fell in love with how they organized people to get involved in microfinance,” Stalls explained. He also liked how they “met our growing online social capacity.” KIVA utilizes social media platforms—Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter—to cultivate an online community that syncs with their interests. Stalls is taking a Blackberry with him so that he can do regular updates on the walks, the people he meets, and anything else he’s thinking about. Though he’s only been walking less than a week, his social media efforts are already paying off. He has already raised three-quarters of the $12,000 that he needs to make the trip happen, and he has more than 500 Facebook friends. He hopes this translates to real-world interactions with people.

He is looking for people to host him along the way, to walk with him on highways or through the mountains, and for whom he can do presentations and facilitate inspirational talks about microfinance.

“Join me on this trip,” he says. “Put on a pack and take in your environment. Slow down a bit. I’m really looking forward to meeting and connecting with people.”

For more information, please visit Stalls’ website. As well, the Metro State Office of Alumni Relations will regularly keep track of Jonathon in our “Where’s Jonathon” updates. And we are spending a day walking with him in the Colorado mountains as he passes through. We encourage other alumni and students to join us on this journey. Please contact Brian Ferguson at fergusob @ mscd.edu if you are a student or alumnus who wants to walk with KIVA.

Crazy story about the most hardcore person I've ever read about in my life--Jan Baalsrud

2010-03-03T07:45:00.001-08:00

Gawd, I feel like such a whiner!
-LS

There must be many reasons for Norway’s excellence, but some of them are probably embedded in the story of Jan Baalsrud.

In 1943, Baalsrud was a young instrument maker who was asked to sneak back into Norway to help the anti-Nazi resistance.

His mission, described in the book “We Die Alone” by David Howarth, was betrayed. His boat was shelled by German troops. Baalsrud dove into the ice-covered waters and swam, with bullets flying around him, toward an island off the Norwegian coast. The rest of his party was killed on the spot, or captured and eventually executed, but Baalsrud made it to the beach and started climbing an icy mountain. He was chased by Nazis, and he killed one officer.

He was hunted by about 50 Germans and left a trail in the deep snow. He’d lost one boot and sock, and he was bleeding from where his big toe had been shot off. He scrambled across the island and swam successively across the icy sound to two other islands. On the second, he lay dying of cold and exhaustion on the beach.

Two girls found and led him to their home. And this is the core of the story. During the next months, dozens of Norwegians helped Baalsrud get across to Sweden. Flouting any sense of rational cost-benefit analysis, families and whole villages risked their lives to help one gravely ill man, who happened to drop into their midst.

Baalsrud was clothed and fed and rowed to another island. He showed up at other houses and was taken in. He began walking across the mountain ranges on that island in the general direction of the mainland, hikes of 24, 13 and 28 hours without break.

A 72-year-old man rowed him the final 10 miles to the mainland, past German positions, and gave him skis. Up in the mountains, he skied through severe winter storms. One night, he started an avalanche. He fell at least 300 feet, smashed his skis and suffered a severe concussion. His body was buried in snow, but his head was sticking out. He lost sense of time and self-possession. He was blind, the snow having scorched the retinas of his eyes.

He wandered aimlessly for four days, plagued by hallucinations. At one point he thought he had found a trail, but he was only following his own footsteps in a small circle.

Finally, he stumbled upon a cottage. A man named Marius Gronvold took him in. He treated Baalsrud’s frostbite and hid him in a remote shed across a lake to recover.

He was alone for a week (a storm made it impossible for anyone to reach him). Gangrene invaded his legs. He stabbed them to drain the pus and blood. His eyesight recovered, but the pain was excruciating and he was starving.

Baalsrud could no longer walk, so Gronvold and friends built a sled. They carried the sled and him up a 3,000-foot mountain in the middle of a winter storm and across a frozen plateau to where another party was supposed to meet them. The other men weren’t there, and Gronvold was compelled to leave Baalsrud in a hole in the ice under a boulder.

The other party missed the rendezvous because of a blizzard, and by the time they got there, days later, the tracks were covered and they could find no sign of him. A week later, Gronvold went up to retrieve Baalsrud’s body and was astonished to find him barely alive. Baalsrud spent the next 20 days in a sleeping bag immobilized in the snow, sporadically supplied by Gronvold and others.

Over the next weeks, groups of men tried to drag him to Sweden but were driven back, and they had to shelter him again in holes in the ice. Baalsrud cut off his remaining toes with a penknife to save his feet. Tired of risking more Norwegian lives, he also attempted suicide.

Finally, he was awoken by the sound of snorting reindeer. A group of Laps had arrived, and under German fire, they dragged him to Sweden.

This astonishing story could only take place in a country where people are skilled on skis and in winter conditions. But there also is an interesting form of social capital on display. It’s a mixture of softness and hardness. Baalsrud was kept alive thanks to a serial outpouring of love and nurturing. At the same time, he and his rescuers displayed an unbelievable level of hardheaded toughness and resilience. That’s a cultural cocktail bound to produce achievement in many spheres.

The worst has passed

2010-03-02T07:39:00.000-08:00

Today the pain in my ankles has diminished significantly. I won't be needing any painkillers. I still can't walk well as there is still joint pain and quite a bit of swelling. They also look ugly--cankles at their worst. I am thrilled that I can walk. I have a significantly deeper understanding of what it is like for people with arthritis and/or old people. It has also renewed my sense that I need to eat better and take much better care of myself. I aspire to live a long life without significant pain. It truly sucks lemons.

Alinia, aka nitazoxanide

2010-03-01T15:57:00.000-08:00

I read through the potential side effects of Alinia, and I thought I'd offer a real-life perspective of how it felt to be on a 10-day regiment of the drug. It was nasty. Here goes:

I have a hard time believing Alinia is "well tolerated" as some doctors say. It sure sucked lemons for me. I'm not sure how much worse it could have gotten--I lost weight from diarrhea (after every meal + some), I got severely depressed with suicidal thoughts for a few days (I don't recommend this drug if you are depressed), my eyes and nails started turning yellow by day 8 (jaundice), I was exhausted and in a bad mood (normally I'm pretty cheery and positive), I had no threshold for stress, and I had terrible cramps and stomach pain. It was really awful.

It appears that it actually got rid of the protozoa parasite that I had, and so I don't regret taking it (that much), but if you have liver problems and/or severe depression, you might want to try something else.

Got joint pain?

2010-03-01T07:29:00.001-08:00

I woke up middle of the night Friday with an incredibly swollen and painful right ankle and leg. I thought I had pulled a tendon or muscle, and so I didn't pay too much attention to it. Madaleine and I went to Carter Lake, and I hobbled around and did a bit of yoga while she bouldered. But I also called a friend of mine and told him about my ankle. He suggested I visit the hospital, and so after Bouldering we headed there. By that time, my left ankle was also hurting, but not too badly. They did blood tests found my organs were functioning fine and sent me home. Their theory was that I was having an allergic reaction to the Alinia I had taken from Feb. 16-26 to get rid of the Blastocist hominis (protozoa) I picked up in Pakistan/India years ago, or that it was some sort of autoimmune response because all the blastocist died (sort of a die off thing). But they didn't really know. They sent me home and told me to RICE.

So the next morning I get up, and I can't walk. Both ankles are hideously swollen. A friend who does accupuncture comes over to check out my ankles and offers to do some work on them. But by the time I got to her office three hours later, my ankles had gotten much worse. She took me to the hospital.

After wheeling me in, a series of nurses and specialists (regular doctor, Infectious Disease doc, arthritis doc) examined me. I resisted the morphine at first, but eventually the pain because sort of unbearable. In conclusion, they still don't really know what is going on, but the latest and most likely assumption is that I am having some sort of arthritic reaction--possibly to the Alinia or possibly to something else. The arthritis doc actually thinks there's a good possibility that I do have arthritis.

The bad news is I still can't walk. The good news is the pain is like 50X less than it was yesterday. I don't think I've ever had that much pain. I thought my ankles were going to explode. They put me on morphine. And then they put me on valium because they had to stick needles into my ankles. That was perhaps one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life. Here I have these enormous, swollen, discolored ankles, and this doctor is sticking this fat needle into it, moving it around, trying to find the joint. She didn't end up finding what she needed either.

Long time no chat... climbing, work, and personal brand..

2010-01-28T10:31:00.000-08:00

I have been working so hard on the social media strategy for Metropolitan State College of Denver's Office of Alumni Relations that I haven't written much on my own blog.

Life is good. I'm enjoying my job immensely. I'm learning an incredible amount, but I'm also really applying all that I know to this job. It suits me perfectly. I multitask constantly. I have some huge projects (writing and implementing plans), but I also have the daily projects (writing for the blog) and daily interactions with social media users (alumni & friends of Metro). It's quite a balancing act. Today I'll spend the afternoon working on my overall marketing strategy. I didn't realize the scope of my project here at Metro (starting social media and launching a new website) was so huge until just a few weeks ago. It warrants a complete plan and calendar. It's a bit of a daunting project, but I think it will help me clarify things.

So, life is good. Climbing is great, the Marpa House is lovely, I am taking a class on the Lojong Teachings (watching & discussing Pema Chodron's teachings on the subject), and Madaleine and I are happy.

I hope all my friends and family are smiling often.

Here is an article I wrote for the Metro State blog that I started and administer:

Personal Brand: marketing yourself may be the key to finding a job during hard times
By Lizzy Scully
This is the first of a three-part series...

Business owners write detailed brand strategies when developing their organizations. Without a unique brand identity that communicates the essence of the business, customers would have nothing to identify with. So shouldn’t most job seekers brand themselves as well?

“Definitely,” says Metro State alumni and Your Brand Plan owner David Sandusky. “People need to understand who they are, what they stand for, and what their voice and purpose are.”

Business plans fail because people don’t understand their brand first. It’s no different with individuals, Sandusky adds. “Your brand should reflect your core values and passion. That is what gets potential employers on board.”

The next step is marketing your brand, says Sandusky. And what is the most productive way to do that? “Establish a communications strategy using social media platforms,” he says. “It is required for your ability to be successful. The new definition of marketing and public relations is online. People who aren’t engaging their community and developing their network are going to find it difficult to do business.”

Sandusky recognizes social media platforms can be intimidating for Internet newbies. But, they are very easy to use. Just click on one of these (the most popular social media platforms) and sign on: Facebook, LinkedIn, or MySpace. Facebook is the most popular site with more than 350 million users, while LinkedIn is the most commonly used by professionals who are networking for jobs. If you’re still confused, send an email to the Office of Alumni Relations Social Engagement Manager, Lizzy Scully, at escully@mscd.edu. Or, visit the Office’s social media site, and click on any of the social media links.

“It’s new and scary,” says Sandusky, “but people’s lives turn around entirely when they realize what they are supposed to be doing.”

See next month’s Enewsletter for the second of this three-part social media series, “The rise of the citizen journalist: blogging 101.”

Lizzy's new job!!!

2009-12-06T20:19:00.000-08:00

I got a job. yay! I'm the social engagement manager for Metro State College Denver's Department of Alumni Relations. I'm basically building a network of alumni using Facebook, Twitter, and a variety of other social networking platforms, along with an internally-based platform that Metro is implementing. It is about the coolest thing that has happened to me lately. I'm thrilled. Other cool things in my life...
I'm living at The Marpa House, a Buddhist community living center in Boulder. About 30 people live here. We share dinners, and we share in cleaning duties. It's quite lovely here. People are nice and mostly pretty mellow.
Madaleine and I continue to have lots of fun, peppered with figuring out how to have a relationship. It is always challenging, but she is the coolest person I've ever met, so that makes it easier for me to navigate the tough stuff.
For Thanksgiving we visited with my brother at his house in Tempe, AZ, and my dad and his wonderful wife, Laurie. We climbed a few days, including The Mace in Sedona, which was great fun, and we ate a lot on Turkey Day. Then Mad and I made the long trek back to CO, where we hit the Joyful Journey hot springs and soaked for a few hours before coming home.
I've just finished a group meeting with Marpa and am now going to head over to the house's spa. Yes, lucky me. We have a steam shower and Japanese hot tub. Yeehoo!
Love to all my friends and family!
-Lizzy

United States doesn't make top ten best places to live for women

2009-11-16T21:47:00.001-08:00

Best and Worst Places In Terms of Women's Freedom
Sun, 03/16/2008

I got this off Digg.com.

The world that humanity lives today faces critical changes in various fields, be it human rights, environment protection or information technology. For centuries people fought for their rights and during the whole history of human existence women were considered inferior to men. Today women have more freedom and are granted more power than they had in the past, but still, the image of a contemporaneous woman, who is self-confident, successful and surrounded by the glowing feminine aura, is greatly spoiled in some of the countries.

A lot of women today have to face violence, discrimination and ignorance that prevailed long time ago. According to Taina Bien-Aime, executive director of New York-based Equality Now, not one woman of the 21st century can feel fully free. Surely the world shows significant progress in terms of women's rights. There are improved laws, better education and ability for women to earn more money. These improvements, however, were not able to reach some of the globe's regions, were old problems are still on, and where women cannot feel protected.

afghanistan_womanMost of problems for women occur in poor countries. But it is worth mentioning that no matter what country a woman is in, if she is a refugee then she is very vulnerable. Women face so many issues that finding the top 10 worst places were they hardly feel like women or don't feel like that at all is quite difficult. The list shown below points out the countries with such severe violations of women's rights that even murder is considered to be something usual.

According to Cheryl Hotchkiss, who works as the campaigner for women's rights at Amnesty International Canada, there are lots and lots of obstacles that women have to face in order to receive proper education. Despite the free education some mothers refuse to give their daughters to school due to the fact that their girls can be kidnapped and raped.

Taking care of pregnant woman is a great issue as well. Very often women in poor countries are forced to marry very early. In addition from a young age they get pregnant. A very serious problem for women is linked with infections with HIV/AIDS.

Because women cannot control their own destiny, their lives may be forever affected since early childhood. The worst places for women are considered to be:

1. Afghanistan

2. Democratic Republic of Congo

3. Iraq

4. Nepal

5. Sudan

6. Guatemala

7. Mali

8. Pakistan

9. Saudi Arabia

10. Somali (especially its capital Mogadishu)

Women living in some of these countries face domestic violence, rape and in addition the upper mentioned countries register the highest rate of HIV/AIDS. Mali, for instance, is the place where most women suffer from genital mutilation and where one in ten women dies during pregnancy or childbirth. Pakistan is where men's crimes are punished through gang-rape of their women.

In terms of life expectancy, level of education and standard of living, some of the best places for women are considered to be:

1. Iceland
2. Norway
3. Australia
4. Canada
5. Ireland
6. Sweden
7. Switzerland
8. Japan
9. Netherlands
10. France

The data provided in this article is taken from the UNDP Gender-related development index. The full list is available at: http://hdrstats.undp.org/indicators/268.html

Iceland surpassed Norway as the most favorable place for women, and generally speaking, as one of the wealthiest countries in the world, Iceland is considered to be the most desirable place to live in. Such opinion was presented in the annual U.N. table, which was published on March 11, 2008.

The United States have the 12th place. It is worth mentioning that last year the country was 8th in the U.N. Human Development Index.

Moving Mountains Magazine issue #0

2009-11-16T10:38:00.000-08:00

Kids' Show--Adventure Film Festival! Check out Tori Allen, Scott Cory, and Hans Flourine on El Capitan

2009-11-11T03:44:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a blast. The film is older (Tori might even be finished with college by now!), but I'm really looking forward to seeing it. What a hoot--put an 11-year-old and 13-year-old sport climber on El Cap with one of Yosemite's most accomplished climbers, and what happens? I'm not sure. I look forward to finding out :)

And don't forget, some folks from Girls Ed will be at Adventure Film on Saturday to answer any questions you might have!

Check out our latest KGNU radio interview with Nikki Kaiser

2009-11-09T14:55:00.001-08:00

Here is a cool interview I did with Nikki Kayser of KGNU September 21, 2009. I set the interview to photos of GEI's girls in Liberia, the girls who inspired the nonprofit from Pakistan, as well as some photos girls from other countries.

Girls Education International to be at Boulder Adventure Film Fest this weekend

2009-11-09T10:16:00.000-08:00

Hey all, Heidi and I will be at Boulder Adventure Film this Saturday all day to answer any and ally questions people might have about Girls Education International. We hope to see you there! Adventure Film has been incredibly supportive of Girls Ed. They brought a variety of films to our Beats for Books events, and they've made us one of their featured nonprofits. We'd love to support them in turn! This is one of the shows that is especially appealing to me:

"FAMILY/KIDS SHOW"- fun for the whole family!
Join rock climbing Legend and mother, Lynn Hill as she introduces and presents this fantastic climbing film and shares with the audience some inspiration on climbing, life and family.

Wall Rats- 60 min
Directed by Steve Edwards

Tori Allen, 13, and Scott Cory, 11, are sport climbers who've excelled at international competitions. Speed climber Hans Florine thinks that their small stature might allow them, as a team, to make the second free ascent of the Nose, a famous route shooting straight up Yosemite Valley's El Capitan. Neither of the kids have much outdoor climbing experience or have ever been more than 100' off the ground. How they'll respond to a multi-day adventure up a 3,000 foot wall is anybody's guess, not to mention... no one that young has ever climbed El Capitan! With very little planning, they embark on a 5-day adventure into history.

See you this weekend!
-Lizzy Scully

Photos from Beats for Books

2009-11-09T09:40:00.000-08:00

Photos from Beats for Books!

Malcolm Daly and the live auction of athletes. Malcolm worked the crowd up to bidding $225 for Madaleine Sorkin.

Emily Harrington and Katie Brown brought in a nice $280, which pays for nearly three Liberian girls to go to school!

Malcolm chat with Girls Ed Co-founder Heidi Wirtz.

Malcolm got the audience to bid $225 for Kelly Cordes.

Malcolm and Lizzy thank Eric Noll and Carolyn McHale for being the "most helpful volunteers" for Girls Education International.

Patrick Megeath, aka Dirt Monkey, played beats for Beats for Books.

Lynn Hill speaking at Beats for Books and teaching climbing clinics. We want to extend a huge thanks to Lynn for supporting our girls in Liberia and Nepal! Thanks!

Silent Auction

Justin working the silent auction booth.

Justin and Carolyn McHale working the silent auction booth, Beats for Books.

Beats for Books a success!

2009-10-28T12:25:00.001-07:00

I wrote this recap of the Beats for Books event for our Girls Ed blog.
-Lizzy Scully

Wow, we really had a great turnout for Beats for Books, as well as an enthusiastic crowd. Before costs, we've cleared $6000, but it could be closer to $7000 as many people haven't paid for their silent auction items yet. This is fantastic. We are thrilled. We have so many people to thank... where to start?! I'll list all the amazing people below. First a recap of the evening.

We started out a bit late, with clinics beginning around 6. Oskar Blues beer and food from Sherpas and Whole Foods was served around that same time, as well as wine generously donated by Market Square Liquor and chai donated by Third Street Chai. Lynn Hill's fun and engaging presentation began around 8 or so. She showed video footage of an early ascent with Beth Bennett, along with footage of the Nose, and then, finally and most hilarious, a clip of her night on David Letterman. I always love when Lynn speaks because she captures everyone's attention within minutes. All she has to do is start talking and showing slides, and people stop what they are doing to watch. I want to extend a special thanks to Lynn for helping us out! She also taught a clinic, which received great reviews. I wish I could have taken it, but I was running around like a madwoman trying to answer questions every 2 minutes or so. Madness. But fun madness.

After Lynn's show, Heidi did a very short presentation on Girls Ed, and then Malcolm Daly, owner of Great Trango Holdings, led the Live Auction bidding. He was hilarious. He interviewed each of the athletes present and managed to get the audience to bid a minimum of $100 per athlete, but in some cases close to $300. Go Mal!

The silent auction opened when the doors opened. Few people bid initially, but by the end of the evening we had close to 100 people bidding, and that brought in a huge chunk of cash. Malcolm Daly and Isaac Savitz made the highest bid for Janet Guenther's painting of Jonny Copp with the Indian Guru. Thanks to all three of you!

Last but not least, Patrick Megeath, aka Dirt Monkey, played incredible music all night. The evening ended around midnight with volunteers still enthusiastically helping clean and put stuff away, while boogying to Dirt Monkey's beats.

Oh yeah, and I must not forget to let everyone know that this was a very low-waste event. We used all corn-based, compostable cups and utensils as well as compostable napkins and paper plates. We also recycled all the beer cans, Izze bottles, and pretty much everything. My truck is completely packed with stuff (and is also now totally covered with snow because of this monster snowstorm that just hit the Front Range). Thanks to Eco-Cycle for providing the zero-waste bins for free.

Special thanks to Eric Noll and Carolyn McHale for putting a ton of time into the event. We really appreciate your efforts!

Also, special thanks to our title sponsors...

The North Face has been a long-time supporter of Girls Education International, consistently donating high-dollar items for our silent auctions. In fact, they have donated the most high-dollar items to Girls Ed since we started. The North Face rocks!

The Spot Gym not only donated their space and their employees, but they also donated some money for silent and live auction items. Thanks so much Dan Howley, Jackie, Alex, Andrew, Brett, and Ashley Woods. You guys and gals are amazing and generous, and you have a rockin' bouldering gym!

Oskar Blues has been supportive of Girls Ed for the last year, supplying beer on a small scale to meetings and small parties. We welcome them on board as larger donors. Thanks especially to their marketing guy, Chad Melis. He served the beer and auctioned himself off, bringing $120 in to Girls Ed. Lucky winner Kevin McGarvey will be spending an afternoon with him mountain biking and then touring the Oskar Blues Brewery and drinking beer.

Thanks also to the following volunteers and athletes!
Justin Voorhees, who is the CFO for Girls Ed, and Brook helped out throughout the evening.
Madaleine Sorkin auctioned herself off, raising $225 for Girls Ed, and she taught a clinic and helped throughout the evening.
Annette Yuan made the delicious desserts and helped during the event.
Cary Jobe donated a beautiful picture and served wine.
Russell Holcomb took all the video and helped run the slide show & video presentations.
Roshan Roghani donated the fine Boulder Balm products and helped out at the event. Plus she is on our Board of Directors.
Melissa and Joel Love donated one of Joel's photos and spent half the night in the silent auction room with their adorable son, Elijah.
John Lloyd took photos all night.
Boulder Adventure Films provide films and Sam to help run them all night.
Katie Brown and Emily Harrington brought in close to $300 for the live auction, auctioning themselves off as a team.
Robyn and Shawn Ebesfield-Rabotou taught a clinic
Lisa McAlister, who is on the Girls Ed Advisory Board, spent a few hours in the silent auction area and helped close out the auction.
Eddie Clark donated a day of action photography.
Kelly Cordes raised $225 by being auctioned off for a day of ice climbing.
Caolan MacMahon spent Sunday afternoon with Girls Ed at Whole Foods and helped out at the event.
Malcolm Daly did a fantastic job of being the auctioneer for the live auction.
Alex Honnold donated a day of his time to climb with a lucky person from The Spot Gym. He brought in $225.
Chris Weidner brought in $100 to support girls ed by auctioning himself off for a day.
Majka Burhardt brought in $100 in the live auction as well.
And thanks to all these volunteers for being available throughout the evening: Victoria Mata, Mike Newlands, Aly Nicklas, Heather Swallow, Sarah Watson, Brook from Lulu Lemon, and Kestrel Hanson.
And thanks to the Boulder Rock club for loaning us tables and selling tickets, and to Neptune Mountaineering for selling tickets.
Last, but certainly not least, thanks to all our donors and sponsors: Clif Bar, Stonewear, Neptune Mountaineering, Boulder Balm, Eddie Clark Photography, the American Alpine Club, Jetboil, Green Guru, Izze, Hugger Mugger, Julbo, Boulder Rock Club, Ames Adventure Outfitters, Manduka, Evolv, Climbing Magazine, Adventure Medical Kits, Glassworks of Estes, Boldface Design, Pacific Outdoor Equipment, Suunto, Market Square Liquor, and Third Street Chai. The art donated by: Suspended Stone Designs, Dan Gambino, Topher Donahue, Pattie Lee Becker, Janet Guenther, Emilie Lee, Renan Ozturk, Joel Love, Celin Serbo, Keith Ladzinski, Cary Jobe, and a wonderful man named Tim (whose last name I did not get, sorry Tim!). He brought two paintings in last minute.

I'm sure I'm missing some people. So sorry if I am, but you know who you are. All of you are ensuring that Girls Education International can maintain our programs in Liberia and Nepal and start our new program in Pakistan in 2010.

HUGE THANK YOU!

Photos to come soon.

Joel Love photo, "Eldo," to be auctioned off at Beats for Books fundraiser

2009-10-26T20:17:00.001-07:00

KGNU Interview with Lizzy Scully

2009-10-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

Here is a cool radio interview I did with Nikki Kayser of KGNU September 21, 2009. I set the interview to photos of our girls in Liberia, the Pakistani girls who inspired Heidi and I to found Girls Education International, as well as girls from other countries. Enjoy!

Buy a Girls Education International T-shirt

2009-10-26T09:16:00.001-07:00

You can now buy Girls Education International T-shirts. We have cute, feminine V-necks and scoop necks and standard men's Tees. Check out the button on our blogs, or go to our website.

3 days until Girls Ed's annual Beats for Books fundraiser!

2009-10-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

Photo by Keith Ladzinski to be auctioned off on Tuesday night.
A number of world-class professional climbers will be teaching clinics at the Beats for Books event this Tuesday, October 7th. Among them are Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou, Lynn Hill, and Madaleine Sorkin. Thanks ladies for donating your time to Girls Education International. For more information read full article.

Clinics are open to people of all abilities, from beginners to advanced climbers. Kids from 4 up and families are welcome. Sign up for the clinic of your choice when you arrive and purchase your ticket.

Planet Bluegrass has donated two tickets to the silent auction. These are the folks who put on the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Thanks! Plus, Stonewear Designs will be providing two complete outfits worth about $160 each. And certified massage therapist and baker Annette Yuan will be providing on-site massages as well as delectable desserts. Amee Hinkley has also donated three massages! Cary Jobe just offered one of her powerful photos up for auction. And Peter Beal donated a gorgeous painting of Lake Haiyaha.
Photo of the oil painting is Lake Haiyaha by Peter Beal, and the photo of hands is by Cary Jobe.

Sweet hemp bag for auction

2009-10-23T16:51:00.001-07:00

Check out this sweet Green Guru Hemp Bag they donated for the Beats for Books silent auction. Thanks to Davidson Lewis for the donation. Thanks also to his enthusiastic employee Eric Noll for donating so much of his time to help out with Girls Ed!

Cool stuff that Lynn Hill is doing

2009-10-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

Legendary rock climber Lynn Hill is helping to raise awareness this weekend. She's calling on all rock climbers and others to make a statement about climate action. Check out what she is doing below.
:) Lizzy

A letter from Lynn Hill...

A Bike Ride for Clean Energy and Climate Justice
24 October 2009 - 9:30am
October 24th marks the 350 global day of climate action, which calls for reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere to 350ppm. Here in Boulder, we'll come together to celebrate bike culture and demand a decarbonized world, based on local solutions, sustainable economies and democratic communities. We'll move through town in a festive bike parade and bring people power to the Valmont coal plant in East Boulder. The ride will finish in downtown Boulder and join the main 350 rally. See you there and spread the word!
Bring Bikes, Banners, Boomboxes, Noisemakers!
Don't forget your helmet and some water.
Meet-up Time: 9:30 a.m. for coffee and bagels
Ride Time: leaving Boulder Bandshell @ 10:00 a.m. sharp!

Once at the Coal plant (if possible), I invite climbers, environmentalists, and outdoor enthusiasts to unite in a symbolic human 350 formation as a visual statement that I plan to photograph and possibly video tape.

Please come if you can!!!!

The following is the letter I received from the 350.org staff and why I decided to do what I can to help spread the word:

"Dear fellow climbers:

We have access to parts of the world few of our fellow citizens ever see, and we have a particular set of skills not many share. We're asking you to bring those two things to bear next Oct. 24 in a one-day project that we hope will have some measurable impact on changing the world.

Because you've been up high, you're aware that global warming is fast melting the world's glaciers--here's an example from the summit of Kilimanjaro
check out this link: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=3054. In fact, scientists who have drilled glacial cores around the world tell us this melt is growing ever faster, to the point where in the lifetimes of all of us it may endanger not only the alpine world but also the billions of people who live downstream and depend on these glaciers for drinking and irrigation. So far, though, the political response to climate change has been too slow.

Now, with the crucial negotiations looming on the horizon in Copenhagen, we can do something to help change that. The world's foremost climatologist, NASA's James Hansen, and his team last year declared that 350 parts per million co2 was the most carbon we could safely have in the atmosphere. That's a tough number, because we're already past it. At the moment, the atmosphere holds 387 ppm co2, which is why glaciers and Arctic sea ice are melting. Indeed, this research team cautioned that unless we got back below that number, then eventually the earth might well be ice-free.

The planet will scrub some of that co2, but only if we stop pouring more in. To move political leaders to take this seriously, 350.org is organizing a huge global day of action on Oct. 24, designed to drum that number into every head on the planet. Churches will be ringing their bells 350 times, people will be hanging banners from iconic sights from the Taj Mahal to the Eiffel Tower, people will be joining hands in great lines along the world's beaches. There will even be 350 scubadivers down off the Great Barrier Reef, itself succumbing to higher ocean temperatures. But there's no place that captures the public imagination more thoroughly than the peaks and cliffs that we climb. So: we urge you to get up somewhere high and visible on October 24, and figure out some way to make tht number visible. Maybe stomp it into the snow, maybe hang a great banner off a rock face--you will know what works best where you happen to be. What we'll need by, day's end if possible, is a photo, uploaded to the web, of whatever you've figured out to do.

If you're on an expedition, or the weather won't cooperate, a few days beforehand or a day or two after will work as well--the goal is simply to take this obscure number, arguably the most important number in the world, and make it the most well-known 3 digits on the planet. If we do, then it will set the bar for negotiators. At the very least, we'll have helped let the rest of the world know what the crucial reality facing the planet is."

I was also asked to speak for a few minutes at City Hall on behalf of climbers and outdoor/environmentalists:

The following email explains why this is an important topic in our city of Boulder:

"Hi Lynn and Waylon,
Thanks so much for your interest in being involved!!! I've already let Waylon know that we'd love for him to speak and be a sponsor of the event and help us get the word out. We'd love for you to speak also, Lynn, if you're interested.
The organizers of the bike ride (which leaves from the band shell Sat. morning at 10am, goes to the Valmont Coal Plant for a photo op there with the press, and then returns back to the rally at noon), were hoping that you guys might also take part in that. If you do, Lynn, and you could speak to the impacts of ozone and other pollutants from burning coal at the Valmont Plant on athletes, that would be fantastic. I could send you info on the amounts of various pollutants from the Valmont Coal Plant, but probably the most important fact to know is that Boulder received an "F" grade for ozone pollution by the American Lung Association this past April. Ozone is particularly bad for athletes who excercise outdoors (not to mention children and the elderly). And this is saying nothing of the the impacts on visibility in our national parks (for hikers, skiers and climbers) or amount of carbon emitted by coal burning. We have fantastic renewable energy resources here (which could generate local green jobs), so it makes no sense to continue polluting ourselves and sending our energy $ to Wyoming for dirty coal.
If you could speak to some of this from the perspective of a well-known and admired athlete - that would be fabulous! Please let me know. We have a large number of speakers, so we're just asking folks to speak for about 3 minutes, so if you want to speak, you don't have to prepare anything long, just short and motivating! :)
I look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks again for your interest!
Micah
504-258-1247"

Beats for Books Schedule of Events

2009-10-21T04:32:00.000-07:00

The Front Range-based nonprofit, Girls Education International is holding its annual Beats for Books fundraiser bash at The Spot Gym on Tuesday, October 27. Proceeds will fund two scholarship programs for girls. GEI supports 47 high school girls in Bong and Margibi counties, Liberia, and is starting a scholarship program for 30 secondary school girls in the Punjab Region of Pakistan.

Schedule of Events
5:00-6:00 p.m. Climbing clinics taught by Lynn Hill, Madaleine Sorkin and other professional athletes.

6:00-7:00 p.m. Mingle, continue climbing, drink Oskar Blues beer, taste wine, eat appetizers from Sherpas and Wholefoods, bid on the fine art at the silent auction.

7:00-8:15 p.m. Presentations by Girls Education International and legendary rock climber Lynn Hill, and a raffle and live auction with 10 famous mountain bikers and rock climbers. Bid on climbing for a day with Katie Brown or Alex Honnold or mountain biking with Chad Melis and others.

8:30-11:00 p.m. Music and Boulder Adventure Film movies start

9:00 p.m. Silent auction ends.

For more information, please contact Heidi at heidi@girlsed.org or 303.908.7795, or check out: www.GirlsEd.org. $25 advanced-purchase tickets at The Spot and Boulder Rock Club, $30 at the door. Student discount available with a valid ID.

Chad Melis speaks Beer, Bikes, Oskar Blues and now girls’ education

2009-10-20T08:32:00.000-07:00

When avid mountain biker and Oskar Blues owner, Dale Katechis, approached his friend and cycling partner Chad Melis a few years ago about developing a mountain biking team to market the company’s canned beer, Melis jumped at the chance to be involved. A long-time rider, single-speed mountain bike competitor and avid beer drinker, he says, “I was a natural fit to be spokesman. Plus, it didn’t start as work. It was more like a relationship. There’s no marketing department at Oskar Blues. It’s all very hands-on. Dale said, ‘here’s beer, go spread the gospel.’ I just do what I love to do, and it translates.”

In 2007 the idea evolved, and Oskar Blues began sponsoring mountain biking events throughout Colorado and a competitive team that participated in those events. The team quickly grew to include nearly a dozen members. Various members of the team are actually world-class athletes. Melis, a former pro athlete sponsored by Sobe and Cannondale, was the 2007 Colorado state cyclo-cross single speed state champion.

Now, Oskar Blues has decided to expand beyond bikes, brews, and music to delve into some charity work. They recently partnered with the nonprofit, Girls Education International (Girls Ed), which was founded by The North Face climbing athlete Heidi Wirtz and Lyons-based writer Lizzy Scully. They are one of three title sponsors at Girls Ed’s annual Beats for Books fundraiser, to be held at The Spot Gym in Boulder, Colo., on Tuesday, Oct. 27. Funds benefit girls’ scholarship programs in Pakistan, Liberia, and Nepal.

“It’s an organization born and raised in Lyons, Colorado,” says Melis of Girls Ed. “That is what initially caught our interest. Then I began to get to know Lizzy. Her passion for educating girls is inspiring. I wanted to support her venture.”

“We’re really excited to be aligned with Oskars,” Scully says of the new partnership. “Beer is an essential part of any event that involves climbers. Providing excellent beer at our fundraisers will only draw more people, and thus we’ll be able to raise more money for our projects.”

In addition to donating 300+ cans of beer, Melis has offered to be auctioned off at a live auction of famous athletes that will be held at the Beats for Books event. Not only will he spend a day biking on the Front Range with the highest bidder, but he will also take them on a tour of the brewery in Longmont. Professional mountain bikers Sonya Looney and Stephanie Nychka will also be auctioned off, along with Mountain Flyer photographer, Eddie Clark, who is donating a day of action photography.

“We’d love to spread the gospel about our beer among climbers,” says Melis. “And I can’t think of a better way to do it than by supporting the children Girls Education International is helping.”

For more information on the event, please visit Girls Ed’s website, www.GirlsEd.org. For more information Oskar Blues, please visit their blog at www.oskarbluesbrewsbikes.blogspot.com.

A Brief Chat With Legendary Rock Climber, Lynn Hill--8 days until Beats for Books fundraiser!

2009-10-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

A conversation with Lynn Hill…

Legendary rock climber Lynn Hill will be doing a presentation and teaching a clinic at the annual Beats for Books fundraising event at The Spot Gym, Tuesday, October 27th. Funds for this event will support Girls Education International’s scholarship programs for girls in Nepal, Liberia, and Pakistan. Hill will be teaching a clinic from 5-6:15 or so and then between 7 and 7:30 she will speak and show video clips documenting her life in climbing, including footage of her doing a first ascent with Beth Bennett in 1981 and her climbing over a hot air balloon in flight for ‘That’s Incredible. Girls Education International recently sat down with Hill to chat about what she’s up to.

GEI: What are you up to these days?
Hill: Right now I’m putting together a presentation for a show I’m doing in Italy. I have slides from beginning of my life as a climber. I have pictures of Joshua Tree, climbing in Arizona and Las Vegas, and then my travels to Europe. I moved to France in 1988. I wanted to learn another language and culture. It opened my mind to a lot of things I didn’t know about climbing. Then I speak about my time in Yosemite. I decided to quit comps and apply all my skills and experience to big wall free climbing. I had no idea free climbing the Nose would be the big deal that it was. I just had this idea that I would combine traditional and sport climbing … put those things together on this masterpiece climb. That launched me on a whole new aspect of my career that I didn’t anticipate.

GEI: What did that new career look like?
Hill: I realized it wasn’t going to be as big a deal as I originally thought to be a top competitive climber. It’s a branch of climbing that isn’t as well respected as doing something significant in the real environment—the natural world. Climbing the Nose gave me a lot of opportunities to travel and do even bigger climbs, such as in Kyrgystan, Morocco, Vietnam, and Thailand.

GEI: How did that shape your climbing career and life?
Hill: It became really clear to me that I didn’t want to become an alpinist, doing the biggest mountains in the world. That was never my focus. The media wanted that from me, but I said no to it. I learned to stick with what I loved to do and not to be convinced to do something because the marketing department liked that image of me!

GEI: What are some of the most notable things you have done since you climbed the Nose?
Hill: I wrote a book as a way to document the history of climbing from a woman’s perspective. It’s good for young girls, or anybody really, to have those role models. I didn’t have many. Writing a book had a lot to do with that perspective … it was exciting to be a part of that era of climbing development. Then I had a baby. That has been a big journey.

GEI: What are you working on now?
Hill: I’m working on a climbing technique video, which will use video graphics. I’m trying to show visually how I think about climbing, and how to break down climbing so that people can better understand the mechanics of movements. It will be a teaching tool, but also entertaining and pretty to look at. Teaching climbing camps really convinced me that videoing people and going it over the video with them was a good idea. To me it’s really obvious when people are making mistakes, but it’s too hard for them to tell while they are climbing. Video gives people a conscious, rational way to look at climbing and then they can try to incorporate that on an intuitive level. They have to understand it first before it can be intuitive about it.

GEI: What else are you up to?
Hill: I’m a full-time mom, I travel for speaking engagements, I do design and events for Patagonia as an ambassador, I do one or two things for Petzl each year, and I’m working on this book thing with John Long. I teach, on occasion.

GEI: Well, thanks a lot Lynn. See you in a week!
Hill: I’m looking forward to it.

As part of her work as an ambassador for Patagonia, Lynn is also trying to rally people to join events happening all over Boulder, Colo., that are raising awareness for the issue of climate change. On October 24, people from all over the world are taking a stand for a safe climate future. For more information on Boulder activities related to this cause, please visit the 350.org Website.

For more information about what Lynn is up to, please visit her blog.

South Platte--Big Rock Candy Mountain

2009-10-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

Madaleine and I climbed Childhood's End on Big Rock Candy Mountain, South Platte, on Friday. We missed the trail on the way in, but found the rock easily as it's the biggest rock in the landscape. We also found the base of the route easily by noon or so. The hike in was mellow. The route, however, was not mellow. It was gripping. I can't imagine doing it with crappy bolts. At least the bolts were all shiny and new. But, dang, the runnouts were incredible. Madaleine sent the 5.12- pitch, which was this really technical, thin underclingy thing to a small, crimpy roof. Fun stuff. The 5.10 pitch after was terrifying. I haven't been so scared in years. It was also a bit strange... In fact, both Mad and I thought it was pretty stupid. It starts out just fine in a water runnel (there's a photo of me climbing it), which is awesome fun, and then it busts out left onto this really blank terrain. I actually skipped a bolt (which sucked as they were already 20-30 feet apart) because it made absolutely no sense to wander so far left, when the terrain heading straight up was the clear and obvious path. I think someone should put a variation on this pitch, perhaps staying in the water runnel. We topped out around 6 and hiked out in the dark. We ended up trying to follow a trail, but it wasn't right, so we approached some hunters who pointed us in the right direction (stay a bit to the left of the Big Dipper and just go straight toward the shadow biggest mountain you can see). We got to within 100 feet of the van. What a day. We spent the next day sleeping in and visiting the hot springs. I am still sore!

Pattie Lee Becker to donate art for Tues., Oct. 27th Beats for Books and more!

2009-10-15T09:15:00.001-07:00

Less than two weeks left until the Girls Education International Annual Beats for Books Fundraiser, sponsored by The North Face, The Spot Bouldering Gym, and Oskar Blues!

Pattie Lee Becker just offered to donate a piece of artwork for the Girls Ed fundraiser! Thanks Pattie Lee. Check out her cool stuff at her site.

Ammon McNeeley, big wall climber, has also just agreed to auction himself off for a day of climbing in Yosemite. But because we have so many amazing people to auction off that we may save him for our California Beats for Books event. We'll let you know early next week. Thanks Ammon! Visit Ammon's website by clicking here.

Visit the Girls Ed website early next week to see complete bios of all the athletes to be auctioned off, plus photos and descriptions of all the silent auction items, from artwork to outdoor equipment.

Girls Education International highlighted on Rock & Ice website

2009-10-14T10:57:00.001-07:00

Girls Education International on the "front" page online news on the Rock & Ice website today. Check us out by clicking here.

We're on Mountain Project!

2009-10-13T12:53:00.000-07:00

Check out a link to an article about Girls Education International on MountainProject.com by clicking here.

Oct. 7 2009, Girls Education International to hold annual fundraising event, Beats for Books, at The Spot Bouldering Gym on Tuesday, October 27,

2009-10-11T10:41:00.000-07:00

CONTACT: HEIDI WIRTZ, 303-908-7795, HEIDI@GIRLSED.ORG, FOR MORE INFORMATION ON BEATS FOR BOOKS EVENT

Oct. 7 2009, Girls Education International to hold annual fundraising event, Beats for Books, at The Spot Bouldering Gym on Tuesday, October 27, sponsored by The North Face and Oskar Blues brewery.

The Front Range-based nonprofit Girls Education International (GEI) is holding its second annual fundraiser, Beats for Books, at The Spot Bouldering Gym on Tuesday, October 27, from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Highlights include: a presentation by legendary rock climber Lynn Hill, music by Dirt Monkey, a silent auction with fine art by local and regional artists, and a live auction during which the highest bidders can win a day climbing with some of the country’s most famous rock climbers—Madaleine Sorkin, Alex Honnold, Matt Segal, Kelly Cordes, and many others.

Also included with ticket are two-hour climbing clinics for people of all ages and climbing abilities, a series Boulder Adventure Film movies that will be played throughout the evening, unlimited Oskar Blues beer (with ID), and fine Nepalese food, donated by Sherpa’s and additional food donated by Whole Foods. Items donated for the silent auction include: hand-blown glass bowls, oil paintings, and photographs. Outdoor equipment will also be auctioned off, including rain jackets, athletic shoes, and gear and clothing from more than a dozen companies in the outdoor industry. Plus, the first 25 people who enter receive goodie bags.

All proceeds after costs will fund two girls’ scholarship programs in Liberia and Pakistan. The mission of Girls Education International is to provide educational opportunities and support to under-served girls in remote and undeveloped regions of the world. For more information or to BUY TICKETS for the event, please visit their Website: www.GirlsEd.org. Tickets can also be purchased at Neptune Mountaineering, The Spot, and the Boulder Rock Club. Tickets are $25 presale and $30 night of. Student discounts available with valid ID. One ticket pays for one half of a girls’ scholarship, so bring a friend and pay for one girls education for an entire year!

This event is possible only because of generous donations made by dozens of sponsors. Title sponsors are: The Spot, The North Face, and Oskar Blues. Other sponsors include: Clif Bar, Stonewear, Neptune Mountaineering, Boulder Balm, Eddie Clark Photography, the American Alpine Club, Jetboil, Green Guru, Izzy, Hugger Mugger, Julbo, Boulder Rock Club, Ames Adventure Outfitters, Manduka, Evolv, Climbing Magazine, Adventure Medical Kits, Glassworks of Estes, Boldface Design, Pacific Outdoor Equipment, Suunto, Market Square Liquor, and Third Street Chai. Art donated by: Suspended Stone Designs, Dan Gambino, Janet Guenther, Emilie Lee, Renan Ozturk, Joel Love, Celin Serbo, Keith Ladzinski, and more.

19 days until my nonprofit's annual fundraiser

2009-10-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

There are just 19 days left until the annual fundraiser that Heidi is organizing, and that I am doing the PR for. Many other great folks are helping as well. I'm so impressed with the new board of directors at Girls Ed. The women on board inspire me!

Renan Ozturk print of the Ruth George, Alaska Range, to be auctioned off.

This year's annual Girls Education International fundraiser, Beats for Books, will have fine art by numerous local and national artists, including Emilie Lee, Dan Gambino, Celin Serbo, Renan Ozturk, Kate Rutherford, Glassworks of Estes Parkm, and many others.

Handblown glass bowl donated by Glassworks of Estes Park.

Girls Education International to hold annual fundraising event, Beats for Books, at The Spot Bouldering Gym on Tuesday, October 27, sponsored by The N

2009-10-08T15:11:00.001-07:00

For immediate release

CONTACT: HEIDI WIRTZ, 303-908-7795, HEIDI@GIRLSED.ORG, FOR MORE INFORMATION ON BEATS 4 BOOKS EVENT

CONTACT: LIZZY SCULLY, 303-903-2768, LIZZY@GIRLSED.ORG, FOR MORE INFORMATION ON GIRLS EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL

The Front Range-based nonprofit Girls Education International (GEI) is holding its second annual fundraiser, Beats for Books, at The Spot Bouldering Gym on Tuesday, October 27, from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Highlights include, a presentation by legendary rock climber Lynn Hill, music by Dirt Monkey and a live auction during which the highest bidders can win a day climbing with some of the country’s most famous rock climbers.

Other exciting additions to this annual event include Boulder Adventure Films that will be played throughout the evening on various screens, showcasing skydiving, kayaking, climbing, and other adventure sports. Plus, the first 25 people who enter receive goodie bags, and all attendees will have unlimited Oskar Blues beer (as long as you have an ID), and fine Nepalese food, donated by Sherpa’s and additional food donated by Whole Foods. Numerous local and regional artists have donated items for the silent auction, including hand-blown glass bowls, oil paintings, and photographs. Outdoor equipment will also be auctioned off, including as ski boots, rain jackets, athletic shoes, and stuff from more than a dozen companies in the outdoor industry.

Family climbing clinics for children and their parents are offered starting at 5 p.m. Sign up upon arrival. There will be kids classes available, as well as bouldering classes, and more advance technique classes for adults. These will be followed by a presentation by Hill and then a live auction of some locally- and nationally-based rock stars. Spend a day ice climbing with Kelly Cordes, or rock climbing with Madaleine Sorkin, Alex Honnold, Matt Segal, and many others. A late night dance party will follow the auction with local DJ Dirt Monkey.

All proceeds after costs will fund two GEI scholarship programs for girls in Margibi and Bong counties, Liberia, and in Khara, Pakistan. Lizzy Scully and Heidi Wirtz founded girls Education International in November 2006. The mission of their organization is to provide educational opportunities and support to under-served girls in remote and undeveloped regions of the world. For more information or to BUY TICKETS for the event, please visit their Website: www.GirlsEd.org.

Only because of generous donations by dozens of sponsors is this event is possible. Title sponsors are The North Face and Oskar Blues. Other sponsors include: Boldface Designs, Evolv, Stonewear, Neptune Mountaineering, the American Alpine Club, Jetboil, Hugger Mugger, Julbo, Boulder Rock Club, Ames Adventure Outfitters, Manduka, Clif, Glassworks of Estes Park, and many others!

2009-10-08T11:01:00.001-07:00

21 days until Beats 4 Books!!! And climbing on Lumpy!

2009-10-07T21:08:00.001-07:00

Madaleine and I climbed on Lumpy Ridge today. It was a dreamy, perfect fall day. The highpeaks were capped with snow, and the landscape was a tapestry of auburns and burnt yellows. The sun shone through the yellowed aspens, burning them gold, and the birds were going nuts. Perfect, perfect afternoon, which we topped off my drinking margs at Kelly's house. Go Kelly and your margs! Yum.

In GIRLS EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL NEWS!!!!

There are just 21 days left to buy tickets for the Girls Education International Beats 4 Books fundraising event at The Spot Bouldering Gym. This is going to be a huge event, with fun climbing for the entire family, plus late night dancing, beer/wine, and a silent auction. Also, there will be a live auction of famous climbers, some of whom will be present at the event. The live auction will take place after Lynn Hill's presentation.

Kelly Cordes to be auctioned off at Girls Ed International's annual Beats4Books fundraiser,

2009-10-06T22:19:00.000-07:00

Kelly Cordes to be auctioned off at Girls Ed International's annual Beats4Books fundraiser, The Spot Gym, Oct 27! Go ice climbing with Kelly (or rock climb if you prefer). Bids will start online at the Girls Ed Website! A live auction will be held the night of the event after Lynn Hill speaks!