• Search for:

• Get Erin’s blog updates sent to your email

  Enter your email address:

  Delivered by FeedBurner

• Recent Posts

  • Now Hiring Interns
  • New Book Cover
  • 8 Years
  • Free GFB Seminar – June 6, 2009 in Estes Park!
  • May E-Newsletter

• Categories

  • Erin Weed's Blog
  • Girls Fight Back!
  • In the News
  • Peace & Happiness
  • Public Speaking
  • Safety & Self-Defense
  • Social Entrepreneurship
  • Video

• Blogroll

  • Angela Shelton
  • Denise Brown
  • Girls Fight Back!
  • Giulia Rozzi
  • Jessica Weiner
  • Kris Carr
  • Nancy Colasurdo
  • Shawn Decker
  • Stayin’ Alive on Spring Break

• Archives

  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005
  • October 2005
  • September 2005
  • August 2005

Yesterday I spoke to a few hundred A-Phis at Michigan State. It’s funny, because I went to Taco Bell for a quick and tasty chalupa before the program, and there was a girnormous banner across that said, “STATE.” Apparently they’re the coolest, and don’t need no stinkin’ state name in front of their school. Too funny. But we had a blast, kickin’ it GFB style and sold a bunch of books afterwards. This was the last college program for the Fall semester for me, so it was a good way to end a great few months.

Here’s me in at a hat stand in Boulder, CO trying on a fancy turkey hat…or is it a chicken? Below is my brother-in-law, Mark, trying on a different kind of bird. So happy feathered friend day…give thanks.

I recently read about an awesome, bad-ass women’s riding apparel company called Damzl. Here’s their definition of the word, as posted on the website:

Damzl \’dam-zl \ n.: girl or maiden with a sense of adventure beyond the norm 2: half girl, half machine, see bionic.

Awesome. They make clothes for both casual wear and also for extreme sports, like motorcycling and snowboarding. It was started by two sisters, Holly and Heather. Sadly, Holly passed away during a riding accident in 2005. Heather courageously decided to move forward with the company, and now it’s more popular than ever. If you want to support a fabulous company, increase the girl power and look good doing it…then visit their website (and buy stuff) at www.damzl.com.

Who said raising a shit-storm never works? This time it did for the whole O.J. book debacle. Because of the angry backlash from the general public, today News Corp (parent company of the book publisher and FOX news) announced that both the book publishing and the interview have been cancelled. (Read Article)

All I have to say is that I have a renewed faith in the American public to cause such an uproar. Like I always say, there are many kinds of fights…and many types of victories. This time, justice won. Here’s wishing the Browns and the Goldmans much peace tonight…

I’m sure you’ve probably heard about this, but I need to vent. (and having a blog is pretty good for that sort of thing, so here goes….) O.J. Simpson is coming out with a book soon called “If I Did It.” It’s supposedly a book about how O.J. would have killed his wife and her friend, Ron Goldman, had he been the actual killer. One word here…WHAT? Who does that? An innocent man? Not so much. My friend Guilia Rozzi writes a blog called “Dear Douchebag,” where she writes letters to people who suck. When I heard about all this O.J. crud I thought to myself, “This would be a great Dear Douchebag letter.” Turns out she was already on top of that…you have to read this: http://www.deardouchebag.com/

I’ve had some bad experienes with the publishing industry in my years as a writer. But giving some low-life cold blooded killer a 3.5 million book deal takes it to a new low. And the fact that FOX is going to give this man airtime and do an interview sends FOX execs a one-way ticket to hell…

People in this country are fascinated by murder. We are actually rather de-sensitized to it. I mean, how many dead bodies do people see on CSI, Law & Order and all those other crime/murder shows? At core, people are fascinated with death. But murder as entertainment is becoming more and more popular, and as someone who has sat through a real murder trial of a loved one, I can assure you it’s not so sexy. Kneeling over a casket of a murdered loved one isn’t so fascinating either.

So you might be saying, what should I do? It’s more like, “What shouldn’t you do.” Don’t buy the book. Don’t read it. Don’t watch the interview. And if you’re feeling a bit more proactive, go the exta mile and follow the advice below given by my friend Jo Gillett, Exec. Producer of the TV show “Predators.” (Hosted by Denise Brown, Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister and domestic violence advocate.)

You can help to make a difference; please help turn this evil for good by donating the money you would have spent on this book to a local women’s shelter in your area. To find a domestic violence program in your area, please use this link: http://www.usdoj.gov/ovw/statedomestic.htm

Please help support us in our efforts and forward this letter on to all! The e-mail address for feedback at FOX is: askfox@foxinc.com

Please also visit: http://www.dontpayoj.com/index.php

Yesterday I gave a lunch program of “How to Be a Bad Victim” at lovely Cleveland State. This was my second time there, and it was great to be back. As I walked into the Union, the pic above was the scene that greeted me. Man, there’s nothing like arriving at a venue with a big ol’ banner with your name on it… (it’s always good to know you’re in the right place!)

The last time I was in this town I had some down time and got to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s definitely something you want to check out if you ever get the chance to visit C-Town, just FYI. We had a smaller crowd, but still managed to morph into “Bad Victims.” Afterwards we enjoyed a nacho bar, complements of the Campus Activites Board. Above is me posing palm-strike style with my new Ohio peeps. Thanks for coming out!

As many of you may recall (since I blogged about it before), an Alpha Phi named Linda Trinh was murdered at her apartment at Johns Hopkins University in January 2005. I was personally involved with this case, after Alpha Phi headquarters contacted me to help this chapter of women to get through losing a sister to homicide. This is an area where I unfortunately have a lot of expertise. Meeting those girls brought up a lot of old emotions from the first days and weeks after losing Shannon. On the drive back from Baltimore to New Jersey I was obviously unfit to drive. I got a speeding ticket going 92 in a 65. My mind was elsewhere, and I’ve since learned that driving and going through some heavy emotional stuff is not a very good combination.

The good news is that today Linda’s killer plead guilty. This means there will be no trial, which is honestly the only ray of light in the entire situation. Sitting through two weeks of a murder trial for the man who killed Shannon still ranks as the worst in my entire life. So I’m glad the Trinh’s will at least have the peace of knowing the guy has been found, and admits his guilt. He will be sentenced in January.

View Linda’s memorial website

So my book, Girls Fight Back! The College Girl’s Guide to Protecting Herself, has only been out for a little over 2 months…and the itch has begun again to write…

Yesterday on the plane ride home from California I began my next book, to be released in September 2007. It’s called: Teens Fight Back! The Teen Girl’s Guide to Protecting Herself. I plan to write many safety books for women in all stages of their lives, but I felt teens were the next obvious group. The sad fact is that in many cases, the girls I speak to in college already have a terrible story to tell. It makes the optimist in me dream a little bit…what if teens knew how to protect themselves BEFORE they went to college?

I also think that Teens Fight Back will be a great tribute to Shannon. As many of you know, her plan after graduating was to become a high school physical eduation teacher and track coach. I am quite certain all the terrible situations facing teens would have really concerned her.

So while most normal people are getting to work putting up Christmas decor, I’m sitting down at my laptop…and really having fun doing it. Love my teen girl friends, and I can’t wait to give this book to them as a guide through some pretty tough years.

What a fun few days this has been. On Thursday, I flew from New Jersey to Anaheim, CA for the Annual BACCHUS General Assembly. Now I go to a lot of conferences every year, but this is by far my favorite. The reason is because all the students and faculty who attend are focused on one thing: Peer Education. They want to share messages with other college students about safe sex, drinking education, mental health and violence prevention. These are the cats who aren’t just proactive themselves, but make it their perogitive to help others too.
I was selected this year to do a featured session, which took place yesterday afternoon. It was my first time rolling out the brand new program, “Stayin’ Alive on Spring Break.” And oh yes, there were The BeeGees blaring in the background. Peeps were psyched because I gave out free books to the first 40 students in attendance. Bonus! I only had an hour, but we covered a fair amount of material in regards to staying safe on spring break but still having a blast. Pictured above is me and the Ross Man, a.k.a. Ross Szabo, a.k.a. Youth Outreach Director for NoStigma.org, a.k.a. former Backstreet Boy (lookalike) and a.k.a. one of my fave Scary Bad Guys of all time. Clearly this man wears lots of hats.
Anytime these conferences take place, all of us speakers from my bureau CAMPUSPEAK have such a blast. For many of us, we’re really tight friends but only see each other a few times a year. (since we’re always traveling) Ironically, the times we do see each other are often not in either one of our home towns! Pictured above are some of my faves from the CAMPUSPEAK gang: L-R: TJ Sullivan, Shawn Decker and Darren Roth (marketing director).

Yesterday I spoke at University of Central Michigan in a ginormous field house to about 500 girls. What a party! My Scary Bad Guy was named Brian, and he was fabulous. And a huge holla to the event organizer, Nicole, for putting together such a kick ass event. I met some really great women at the book signing afterwards, and I hope to be back real soon.

Today I had to fly from Lansing, MI to Detroit, MI to Newark, NJ. In my 5 years of frequent travel, I’ve never had this happen: all my flights today were cancelled! Needless to say it was a very long day of waiting, getting teased that the flight MIGHT go (then it doesn’t) and other such travel stressors. I finally got home just now, around 11 pm, when my journey started in Lansing at 7 am this morning. Has this entire blog made you realize just how un-sexy travel is yet?

Today I launched the first website of its kind, http://www.safespringbreak.org/ It’s a student resource for how to have a fun but safe spring break. The whole idea for this started last March, when I was flown down to Daytona Beach by CNN to be their safety expert for a special on spring break getaways. Just being there around the madness reminded me of my own wild spring break to South Padre, TX just a few years earlier. I reflected upon the many stupid and even dangerous things we did as co-eds, and saw other college students still engaging in those scary behaviors.

I decided it was time for a new program to add to my arsenal, and “Stayin’ Alive on Spring Break” was born. I will be giving this hour program at the BACCHUS Network General Assembly this Friday in Anaheim, CA. I’m so psyched. It will have lots of great safety tips just for spring breakin’ in addition to some of my signature self-defense techniqes if you’re confronted by violence on vacation.

My book tour has only been over for a week, and I’m already planning the spring tour! The plan is to do the Stayin’ Alive program at 10 or 20 colleges in 2007…and the best part is that we’re doing a disco contest! The winner gets a FREE program during the Spring Tour at their university. So check it out: http://www.safespringbreak.org/

Many of you probably don’t know this, but I first began teaching the GFB program in a bar across the street from my apartment in Hoboken. I’d teach on Sunday afternoons, and the floors would be all sticky and nasty. (and this was AFTER they had been mopped…) The hardest part was always waking up the owner to let me inside the bar. (Obviously he kept some late hours, so I had to be that jerk constantly ringing his buzzer…) Now the reason I’m telling you this is because I think it’s always important to go back to your roots. The past few weeks I have been speaking in some pretty large venues, having lots of Britney moments. But last night I spoke in a tiny church rec room to about 25 women in the Boonton, NJ area. It was nice to do some down-home ass-kickin’.

The diversity from last night was awesome. In the same room we had high school gals, professional dancers, abuse survivors, artists and the occasional boy scout who would run through the room while I was speaking. Nice. They were all fabulous, and I hope they sign up for the weekend boot camp at my Hoboken studio in January. (See Calendar) Check out the pic of the gang above…it’s blurry, but you get the idea.

Well today the November issue of New Jersey Monthly came out…and I was named one of the “30 Under 30″ award recipients.

After being asked what my next goal would be, after receiving such a huge honor:

Of course, to be named in the “40 Under 40″ in the next decade sometime. So I’m now working on that….

I know many of you who read this blog knew Shannon, and are always wanting legal updates on the man who murdered her. As we all have learned, the judicial system is a very complicated thing. Although we did receive justice back in 2003 with a guilty verdict and the most severe sentence one can receive, he is still entitled to appeals and court time. A big kudos goes to State’s Attorney, Steve Ferguson, who has tirelessly fought for Shannon since her death back in 2001. To read the latest update, click here.