The Facebook experiment
By E. Jeanne Harnois | Friday Jan 16, 2009
So, about a year ago, I joined Facebook, the Internet’s biggest block party. At first it was extremely discouraging to be told "You have 0 friends." But as my network grew, I discovered a quirky thing about the world of Facebook: It puts everyone on equal terms. Friends, colleagues, family, acquaintances, they are all considered friends.

Making Lists
By E. Jeanne Harnois | Sunday Oct 5, 2008
Aside from the whole organization thing, there is an appeal about keeping lists of interests, favorites, likes and dislikes. I’m just not sure what it is. In the interest of full-disclosure, I do have a few of these types of lists. On my blog there are lists of songs, sites, and other blogs. I started them to, well, have something there, then I discovered it was kinda cool having the sites and blogs all in one place-I actually remember to visit them once in a while. But it pretty much stops there. I just don’t get lists just for the sake of lists. I guess, though, it’s more a form of self-expression and self-definition. Which may be my problem with the whole thing.

Are you a quitter? (Really, it’s OK)
By E. Jeanne Harnois | Tuesday Jul 29, 2008
I’m not a quitter. I honor my commitments and see things through. To the bitter end. After all, as they say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Yeah, right. It does sound nice, though, doesn’t it? (Well, except for the whole death-by-persistence part.)

Caffeine, the new status symbol
By E. Jeanne Harnois | Sunday Jun 29, 2008
Man, am I tired. I could tell you why, but, honestly, would you care? Probably not, because most likely you’re tired, too. But would you admit to it, or, even still, brag about it? Being tired, according to Details magazine, is the new in look, and they don’t like it: Their June/July issue has an article titled "Being Tired is Not a Status Symbol" with the cover blurb "Stop complaining--No one cares how tired you are."

Hey! This wall wasn’t here yesterday
By E. Jeanne Harnois | Thursday May 15, 2008
I have a lot that I want to accomplish (there’s a 20-year plan that involves about 30 years of work), and yet I can’t just seem to do it. It could be that the rumors are true and I have a time-management issue.

Spring Cleaning
By E. Jeanne Harnois | Saturday Mar 22, 2008
Spring cleaning: a chance to take a look around and fix what’s broken, a time for second chances (or third or fourth) or just to shake out the linens and move on, move forward, to look at things in a new way. It’s time to put away the heavy blankets and sweaters, bring out the sandals and paint your toes. And, while you’re at it, take a look around and see what else needs to be done, clean out the clutter and sort things out-fix what’s broken and get rid of whatever has been hanging around and just taking up space. Both inside and out.

I’ll have my people call your people
By E. Jeanne Harnois | Friday Feb 22, 2008
Truth be told, I am a Type C personality trapped in a Type A lifestyle. All things being equal, I’d rather be taking a nap. So being busy, either genuinely busy or trendy busy--filling a datebook for the sake of the ink and validation--is not my style. But however one feels about it, it has become a widespread phenomenon. More and more of us live a life of juggling chainsaws. It’s impressive when they’re all up in the air, a little messy when one, or more, of them fall. It’s definitely not for sissies.

Motivation: Crazy people do crazy things
By E. Jeanne Harnois | Sunday Jan 6, 2008
I often think of motivation in the broader sense when I am feeling anything but personally motivated. When the last thing I want to do is get out of bed in the morning, I start to think about why. As if that will give me a sense of purpose. But, maybe, lazy people do lazy things. So I roll over. I eventually realize that I do not want the world to know how lazy I really am, so I get out of bed.

Justice Served
By E. Jeanne Harnois | Saturday Dec 8, 2007
To date, in an almost forgotten corner of the Massachusetts prison system, King has served more than thirty-five years of a life sentence for murder. This is not one of the many cases of wrongful convictions. King’s guilt could not be more clean-cut: King takes full responsibility for picking up a gun late one night on tony Newbury Street and fatally shooting 26-year-old John Labanara during a misguided drug deal. King’s story is one of rehabilitation, and of what the state and society’s responsibility is toward those prisoners who do, in fact, rehabilitate themselves. It is also a case of justice--retributive and restorative justice, and which one is in the best interest of society.

Ghosts and gifts
By E. Jeanne Harnois | Wednesday Nov 7, 2007
Therapists’ offices are full of people trying to exorcise these ghosts. Being an only sometimes hopeful pessimist myself, it never occurred to me that some of these gifts may not be negative. Maybe like a mix tape that we continue to listen to because, well, we just happen to like it, we can carry around positive influences as well.