Client-TedI found out this morning that my TEDxAmericanRiviera talk made the TED.com home page!

At the risk of tooting my own horn, that is, like, huge.

The 1,050 videos on that site have been viewed five hundred million times. Being selected to be there–no less on the home page–is something people spend their entire lives dreaming about. I used to be one of them.

By 9:00 this morning, my little talk had more than 30,000 views. It also had a dozen or so comments–many of them nasty, hateful and most of all, hurtful. One guy said my talk was “fully based in anger to some past marriage” (It was?) and “more like a pathetic confession into a psychologist session”. (I apologize for his shitty grammar.) Another gal called me, personally, “incredibly reductionist” (if you know what that means, please enlighten me! Wait, does it mean stupid?), and criticized me for “not exploring the patriarchal belief that men should be more successful than their wives”. (I’d like her to find a nice stick and explore her asshole with it.)

I realize that unhappy folks are far more likely to feel the need to make their opinions heard. And as of this writing, the positive response far outweighs the negative.

But man, those ugly comments still sting.

I was asked to deliver a funny, thoughtful talk. I tried my best to do that. Do the haters know how fucking hard it is to get up on a stage, for 12 solid minutes, and speak in front of a large crowd? Could they tell that sweat was dripping down my dress and my lips were shaking and my heart was beating so hard in my ears that I couldn’t even hear the audience applause? Have they ever once put themselves up on stage or out in the world and held their collective breath waiting for the inevitable chorus of criticism?

I doubt it.

Anyway, here’s the video. If you don’t hate it, would you mind terribly leaving a nice comment? I could use a few more of those.

Happy Valentine’s Day, you guys!

XOXO

p.s. I’ll bet that bitch Debra is dancing on her coffee table right now.