Happy Birthday Again, Dammit!

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Okay try to stay with me here. A little over a year ago I followed a blogger I read regularly to a guest post she did at a blog I don't read regularly. And in the comments on that guest post I noticed a blogger I'd never heard of.

But I really dug her avatar photo, so at the end of my comment I asked the poster, "PS: You think you can introduce me to that Maggie, Dammit girl up top there? She's hawt!" The rest of that conversation was the usual bloggy slap-and-tickle with much jocularity ensuing, but in the process I managed to find my way over to Okay, Fine, Dammit and the rest, as they say, is history.

A few weeks after this exchange, it came to my attention that my brand new blog-buddy was celebrating the beginning of another orbit around the sun. I was, of course, by this time completely hooked on OFD and its author and thus began what's become something of a tradition here at Casa Mojo. I hadn't hired the elves yet, and there wasn't time to find temps, so I had to scratch together this post by way of celebration. Yeah, the first virtual birthday bash hosted on Why? What Have You Heard? had the one and only Maggie Dammit as its guest of honor.

It hardly seems like a whole year has gone by since then, but here we are for another first. This is the first repeat virtual birthday bash, and I've gotten a little better at them since that first fledgling effort waaaay back in '08. And there's a whole lot more to tell this year, because I know the guest of honor a lot better now than I did back then. And I can tell ya, the longer I know her, the more amazed, awed, and impressed I am by her. Not only is she one of the most gifted writers I know, she's also one of the most fundamentally good souls I know. The high priestess of elemental goodness. For reals. Only someone with a heart as big as the Wisconsin wilderness she calls home could ever have conceived of the much celebrated, and apparently badly needed, Violence UnSilenced. She won't take credit for it because that's just how she rolls. She'll tell you that she doesn't really do anything but schedule posts and moderate comments. She'll say that the contributors do all the heavy lifting, she's just along for the ride. She'll undersell her role in it, but don't let her kid you. To break it down to simple logic, if it were not for Maggie, there would be no VU. It sprung full grown from her heart and mind and whether someone else had eventually had the idea or not, it would not be what it is. It would not be Violence UnSilenced. And the survivors who have found their voices because of VU would not have had the outlet it gave them. Ya did good sis, and you did it well too.

I'm gonna shut up now even though there's so much more I'd love to say. But if I said it all, the candles would burn out and the ice cream would melt. I once told Maggie that if I'd ever had a kid sister I'd have wanted one just like her.^* (And I'd have taken care of that little punk for you too. Believe it.)

So Happy Birthday, Sis.

Dammit.

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^*Actually what I said was:

"I never had a sister. But if I had, I hope she'd have been just like you. No, not 'hot'. C'mon. Although having a hot sister (who has hot friends) could be a bonus I guess. Okay, okay, I'm stopping now before this gets weird. Er."

Now you know.

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