I went home early from school today to do some serious research:  Oprah.  The show whizzed by.  She's the authority--the person who knows all about Us and can look us straight in the eye and Change Our Ways.

Today's show was The Debt Diet.  Several families wrecked by debt were described, several experts came on to tell them how they could fix their lives if they would only Act Now, pledges were signed ("I will follow the Debt Diet advice prescribed by Jean Chatzky"), and then one of the richest women in the world looked deeply into the camera and said that she wanted to start a movement in America.  A movement to get out of debt.

I believe her.  She can start this movement.  She's right.  I immediately went online and checked to make sure I wasn't carrying a balance on my Visa card.  (The show was terrifying -- couples spending out of control, helpless, everything in collection, even though they have good jobs and friends and seem otherwise sensible.)

If we're going to celebrate the net and get great collaborative things to happen online on OneWebDay, we need Oprah.  We need to reach the people who might not think that the net is changing their lives, and might even just take it for granted.  This movement can't be about netheads talking to one another.

So how does OneWebDay get on Oprah?  Anyone know?

Recently there was a guy who desperately wanted to play a dead body on television or in a movie.  Here's his site.  He went on the Today show, the Paula Zahn show, appeared in the New York Times, all with the motto Help Me Live My Dream: Let Me Play Dead.  And -- guess what -- he got a part.

If Dead Body Guy can become a star, OneWebDay can get on Oprah.  I believe in Oprah, I believe in OneWebDay, and I believe in the net.  Somehow these three things will come together.