My sister has a blog primarily about education and the participatory culture of the internet. She recently made a post about how different groups have their own version of "rock stars". (If you want to read the post, it's at <http://jennamcwilliams.blogspot.com/2009/05/our-rock-stars-are-not-your-mothers.html> ) In it, she stated that: "when people are as immersed in a field as the Intel employees of the commercial clearly are, they have their own set of rock stars who aren't like "real" rock stars. ... They are generally very, very talented; they have achieved something we fantasize about; and they are famous among people who care about their field. " She then challenged her readers to list their OWN "rock stars". It made me realize that we often don't take the time to thank the people who give so selfishly of their own time and talents, to help the rest of us in the ferret community. So, I decided to post my response here, as well. (I know that many of these people do not read the FML, but are very active on the FHL. This post would not make it past the FHL posting guidelines, so if anyone would like to pass it on to them, please feel free.) ****** A while back, Jenna posted a blog which stated how much better the online cat forums would be if we could convince the vets to join the forums. Well, my rock stars are some of the vets (and others) that HAVE joined the forums, and give freely of their time and knowledge in order to help ferrets and their owners. Field: Veterinary Medicine / Ferrets 1) Ruth Heller, DVM. I would consider moving to Pennsylvania, just so she could be my ferrets' vet 2) Sukie Crandall, internet researcher extraordinaire 3) Alexandra Sargent-Colburn, possibly THE best storyteller I've ever had the pleasure of reading 4) Bob Church, zooarchaeologist specializing in ferret research 5) Jerry Murray, DVM 6) Bruce Williams, DVM 7) Rebecca Stout, AKA Wolfy Thanks for posting this, Jenna. It made me realize how easy it is to take people like this for granted, forgetting to thank them until it's too late. In fact, I'm on my way right now to post this response to one of the internet lists as a thank you to the wonderful people who give so unselfishly of themselves in order to help the ferret community. ****** Bright Blessings, Becky with Tanner, Tinker, Jasper, and Dervish missing Cinnamon, Coke, Pixie, Chitterbox, Kodi-Bear, Twizzler, and Yozum [Posted in FML 6343]