and then I wrote . . .
Forgot about the blog POOLside in the blogroll (devoted to the idea for public outdoor swimming pool) . . . and didn't mention the failed blogs to the SI reporter ('cause she didn't ask): Cole Train . . . The Golden Shovel . . . Who's Joan Smith? V 4 Varsity, In This Corner, Lime in the Cocanut and More 4 Carbondale, which morphed into the Communitarian (which has become more of a catch-all) and another blog devoted exclusively to photos. None of these are blogs in the truest sense because they aren't kept up daily. Some, not for months.
One reason for this is obvious: the issues (Medical Malpractice Insurance; the 2004 election, Obama vs. Keyes; and the public outdoor swimming pool) are dead. Well, one of them is; the other two are merely sleeping until the next City Council election.
Another reason is the amount of time people feel they lack the skills to 'put it in writing'. The blog's answer: make a photoblog, or phlog, for short, or forsh, for shorter yet, if I may elaborate a bit.
The first 'First Monday' piece by Jim Muir (Mr. Right) in The Southern was a bit disappointing, because it wasn't something you wouldn't ordinarily find in a newspaper, as advertised (so to speak). It was a well-written human interest story about a guy who commutes 200-plus miles per day to eat and sleep with his family-- a coal miner who had find work north of here. Well written, but no cigar in the "not found in a newspaper" category.
Speaking of miners. The story about how the word went out that the miners were alive, and the family's wanting to sue for false reporting and getting their hopes up. Wonder what Mr. Right thinks of that. Hopefully, he'll be posting to his blog again soon.
Speaking of found in the newspaper: In my email exchange with the SI reporter I managed to MISQUOTE MYSELF! Here's how: In answer to the question Why are blogs so popular? I replied:
It depends if you're a writer or a reader.If I could rewrite it, I'd say
For someone with writing proclivity, they are popular because the technology makes it easy to produce a professional looking product. All the writer has to do is supply the words, the photos and the links, and Blogger.Com makes uploading a breeze.
Blogs are popular with readers because they are fresh and knowing. Since most blogs include the "I" perspective, readers feel they know the source a little better than the institutional third person. Blogs are more intimate than other electronic information sources, except perhaps e-mail.