More Meta discussions about blogging

Five years ago, I was going through a painful divorce. I wrote an online personal in which I quoted Bull Durham, “I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days”. A molecular biologist, who was also going through a difficult time responded to that personal. At the time, neither of us were politically involved. Now, I am her campaign manager, and her husband.

At the time, I was the director of technology for a major hedge fund. Today, I’m living on my savings and hoping I can find a job that I love before the savings are gone. For years, I had done what I was supposed to do, and lived a fairly bland life. Today, I am following the rubric, do what you love, and the money will follow.

So, what I am I doing? This weekend, I will catch a ride from DemocracyFest to Boston. I will be staying with a friend and will be blogging the Democratic convention. As I prepare for my trip, I’ve been reading a lot of the stuff being written about these two dozen or so people heading to Boston as credentialed bloggers..

In particular, Alex Jones sure seems to have stirred up a lot of discussion. It seemed to me that Jay Rosen’s response covered the issue sufficiently. Yet there is a very interesting discussion about the topic here.

Zephyr Teachout brought up some interesting comments about ‘bias’ and ‘interest’ from a legal perspective. She writes, “Bias is political -- philosophical - and often allowed. Interest is personal, and forbidden”. She goes on to explain, “I would like to see all credentialed bloggers will agree not to write about anyone who is paying them, at least for the duration of the convention.”

I guess this took me a little bit aback. My trip to Boston is coming out of my pocket. It is a labor of love. While I do hope that by doing what I love, the money will follow, I have no idea how that might happen. I’ve looked at the other blogs, and there is something very credible and authentic about the various credentialed bloggers who set up Paypal buttons asking for donations. I realize that some of the bloggers there are professional journalists or political consultants. However, there are a bunch of us that will be there that are there out of a different personal interest. I often take the old saying that all politics is local, and twist it to all politics is personal. I do have a personal interest in seeing a rebirth of democracy in this country, a rebirth in the belief that community matters and that we do need to look out for one another. I hope that people will read what I write, and this call to being personally responsible for democracy and community will resonate.

So, I will be hanging out with the idealists, with the guys that still “believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.” “After 12 years in the minor leagues, I don't try out. Besides, uh, I don't believe in quantum physics when it comes to matters of the heart.”

Posted by Aldon Hynes at July 20, 2004 2:19 PM | TrackBack