The medium is the meal

Because of this blog, on Monday night I had the pleasure of meeting Rachel Gordon and Stuart Fischoff, the husband and wife team responsible for the online Journal of Media Psychology and readers of this blog. They stopped by to see me at Greyhound after work, and we went to Dar Salaam at its new location on the corner of Oak and N. Illinois. Fischoff is a Professor of Media Psychology at Cal State, Los Angeles, where he teaches courses in media psychology and the psychological impact of film. He and Rachel are considering moving from the urban hubbub of that locale to the natural beauty and relative sophistication of Carbondale. As if to prove it, we sat at a large table low to the ground on long cushions on the floor, bolstered by pillows, shoes off, traditional Arabic style, and feasted on house specialties while speaking of Shakespeare, mass media, and good hiking trails in Southern Illinois.

Slogan for sale

Speaking of relative sophistication, the Governor of West Virginia has complained about a tee-shirt sold by online marketer Abercrombie & Fitch: "It's all relative in West Virginia", which reminds me . . . not much has happened with this blog's slogan for Southern Illinois: "The Next Best Thing." I haven't presented it to Biz Czar Larry Woolard yet. But even if he likes it, so what? Will he write me a check?

Dear Bloggy

Today I spent hours selecting and resizing photos for the slide show page on the Shawnee Network. I've had a few positive comments, but mostly silence. I speculated to media expert Fischoff that maybe it was because my posts are so totally "right-on" that there was nothing more to add! Ha.

Newly-elected Saline County State's Attorney David Nelson wrote to acknowledge his "Soggy" (for Southern Illinois Blogging). Dave isn't the only talented writer in the family--his son Jesse writes a weekly Opinion column in the Daily Egyptian. Maybe I'll add the other Southern Illinois blogs to the links in the left panel. In a day or two, after the photos are done.