Wow! Coming up for air!

Look at this previous post of mine about Jennell Dickens' Baltimore quintuplets.

Then look at the last comment from none other than Jennell herself. It was made at 4am today. I am pleased that she does as any other good mother does: makes time for some surfing during or between late night feeds.

I am not sure of her slant on my writing, if she appreciated an impartial objective. Feel free to say more about that here, as it wasn't clear in her comment. That said, she didn't address too many of the issues presented. Nonetheless, she sounds very together for a 22 yr old with 5 children and an instant family. Further, she appreciated others coming to her defense.

B/c the 'links back' thing apparently isn't working for some routine Bloggity reason, she didn't see (per StatCounter) how I did come to her defense and succeeded in raising awareness to boot. I took Sarah Gilbert of Blogging Baby to task for her attitude in her subsequent article and the result was Sarah, in essence, publishing a retraction via her 'holiday spirit' giving to the needy article after that. I'd be dishonest if I didn't say that I'm curious about the pattern of donations.

Jennell, if you happen to read this, remember the old adage about publicity and it all being good. I'd read up on your situation several months ago and learned that a grocery store had taken your family under their wing providing substantial free products and they'd given your boyfriend a job. Also, I'd seen where a larger apartment was provided for your family. I realize that in the grand scheme of things, these are not huge corporate endorsements, but I would gauge them as significant anyway.

Bottom line, congrats to Jennell and her family for making it and thriving. We all wish you well.


Related posts, aka DIY 'Links Back' thing:

Mailbag day
As anyone who's been kind enough ever to send me e-mail can attest, I am a lousy correspondent. My intentions are good, as a screenshot of my mail program proves; I mark messages I plan to answer as unread to remind me to go back to ... posted by julie @ Tue Nov 22, 07:01:35 PM

What a difference a nod makes
I want to express appreciation for Churp, Churp posts being referenced by JennaM, Cecily, and Julie recently. StatCounter is experiencing a blissful kind of tired. Kind of makes me want a cigarette. Earlier this month, JennaM compiled a ... posted by Cricket @ Fri Nov 25, 02:16:00 PM

Quintuplets suffering because of me?
three of the dickens quintuplets with their mom and dadWhen I poked mild fun at the names Jennell Dickens selected for her quintuplets a few months ago, I had no idea I was creating such a maelstrom. Now Churp, Churp has discovered that ... posted by Sarah Gilbert @ Sat Nov 26, 09:08:00 PM

And the quints endorsement commentary evolved a life of its own
I wasn't sure how to contact Sarah Gilbert (to clarify: I thought about it, but didn't dig very much) to give her a courtesy call that I found an askance sort of reference in The Post to her quints name piece or that I was using her ... posted by Cricket @ Mon Nov 28, 10:31:00 AM

She had a change of mind
She humbled herself and wrote a Blogging Baby update, asking for donations for the Dickens quints. She went beyond making fun of their ethnic names, past photo criticism and blind racism, right back to the spirit that inspired my ... posted by Cricket @ Fri Dec 16, 12:08:00 AM

Nursing assistance - outline of what was provided; I am unsure if they were volunteers or were paid. (I still need to read the links there.)

Groceries/job: I can't find the link around Xmas that talked about the grocery store's involvement. Will look again later.


ETA - I want to stress that exposure for this family was great via the effects of my posts. From around the time of my original post to the fallout of it being referenced in a couple places, there were well over related 10,000 hits. Since that time, there are hits daily, usually via Julie's a little pregnant or occasionally through one of the Blogging Baby articles.

I'll cite another old adage: if each person just sent a dollar... I wouldn't guess Jannell would volunteer that they need it, but I feel certain they wouldn't turn it away.