On Networks, Love, and Death: Cookie Love

I first started reading “Cog Dog Blog” by Alan Levine since his first post in 2003,  “I Blog Therefore I Am.”    Although he was blogging about how to integrate social media into education and the classroom, his ideas have always been transferable to nonprofits.   He writes in a humorous, authentic  style, about geeky topics.
He’s a dog lover too – so I could not resist.     When I celebrated by big 50th Birthday in 2007,  I held social media birthday card contest.   I would donate $50 to the winner’s favorite charity.   My kids were the judges and selected CogDog’s entry.

I was saddened when I saw the above tweet from Alan about his mom’s death and read the beautiful tribute on his blog, “Cookie Lady’s Last Batch” and the post about butterflies.    While Alan writes about social technology, he does it in this personal way and has mentioned his mother – even interviewed her on a podcast/radio show for his blog.
One of the wonderful things that Alan’s mom did was bake cookies and give them away to strangers. (Here’s a brief MP3 of her explaining it.)   On Sunday, September 4th,  his network is hoping people will participate in this offline tribute: Bake some cookies and then brighten a stranger’s day by giving them away.   Here’s the invitation.
CookieLove has an online component, of course!   You can share the experience, either by taking a picture of  cookies or telling the story or just sending a tweet, instagram, etc  using tag #cookielove.
Over the years,  I only met in Alan in person once or twice, but I feel like he is a friend and colleague.   We initially connected through overlapping learning networks in the educational technology space.  This is another recent example of how the connectedness of social networks connects the dots to people you would not otherwise encounter.  I’ve found this in my network as well – most recently connecting with Dongeon Park who has lead a team to translate the Networked Nonprofit into Korean.
Many people don’t feel comfortable mixing their personal lives with our professional lives in our social media networks.  Alan, like me, isn’t one of those people.    I enjoy participating in his learning network to learn how integrate social technology into learning and life.
Alyce you will be missed!