http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005 by the authors Sat, 28 Jun 2003 03:52:47 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/06/26/060242.php#comment-11948 This is VERY INTERESTING. What you're proposing here, Frank, is exactly how I got started blogging. I was a reporter for my little (population, 1726) Wyoming town, but my editor and I hated each other (he thought the citizens were dumb bumpkins, I counted the masters degrees just among people I regularly had coffee with and said he was nuts) so I quit. But people really missed my columns and my... stuff (they wrote me in for town council based on my editorials. Yikes!) and got on my case to keep publishing somewhere. Voila! My blog - Life In a Northern Town. I've been doing it for two years now, and I do several things with it. 1. I indicate to my local readers exactly what my position is on given issues that come up for a vote and invite them to disagree with me or try to persuade me otherwise. 2. I explain any changes of heart/opinion if such happen. 3. I do my damndest to educate my local readers about why some things (like the ammonia discharge of our sewer lagoon) are important – and expensive! And also 4. When I'm not getting political, I also try to entertain everybody - which has earned me my international following. Sometimes I write about the ducks that fill my yard (I live on the North Platte River). Sometimes I dish out the coffee gossip. Sometimes I write book/movie/music reviews (hence my being a blogcritic). Anything to keep people reading, because who wants to read boring public policy stuff all the time? Yes, it's opinionated, but that's why I got elected, and it's helped me achieve heretofore unknown levels of transparency in local government. I have encouraged my colleagues around Wyoming to do the same, but this isn't a technogeek kinda state. I'm 33 and elected; most of my collegues learned to type on manual typewriters. C'est la guerre. But I think you're right on the money, Frank. It's not necessarily an objective source, but it's a starting point for the citizenry to ponder local issues. I love it when people disagree with me! It refines my thinking and keeps me mindful of the astonishing diversity in even my little town. I recommend this use of blogs wholeheartedly! 11948@blogcritics.org Sat, 28 Jun 2003 03:52:47 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/06/26/060242.php#comment-11836 Nah. Blogs are too opinion-oriented. People need to get as objective information as possible. Opinions should come second or third. Besides, if they already have computers and Internet access, they can read the paper from the closest city. BTW, I kind of wish I had worked at a small paper. But, as a minority reporter, I knew that wasn't gonna happen. Loved reading about it in Annie Proulx's The Shipping News, though. 11836@blogcritics.org Thu, 26 Jun 2003 11:59:42 EDT