Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Look Who's Talking

Blogs are old.  By most accounts, they began in the late 1990's and hit their stride in the mid-2000's.  Daily Kos, one of the original political blogs, launched in 2002 and the Republican blogosphere (that arguably defined the medium) heated up shortly thereafter.

Blog are old.

But what's interesting about the medium is that it seems to retain a perceived new/oddness amongst certain segments of the population.  Disdain is a given, but mainly from the "glorification of busy" crowd.  "I don't know how you have the time."  Please don't say this.  You can't help but appear condescending and it just makes me hyper-vigilant to see if you have time to write a blog as we talk about your favorite television shows, books, and recreational activities (you probably have time).

I've thought a lot about closing this space down.  I always told Dennis that once we had a baby, I was putting HoCo Rising to pasture.  Welp.  Baby is here.  But in the week after the election, this space was an important outlet for me, even if I didn't particularly love what I was writing.  It was familiar and, while the blogosphere does not have the readership it had in the late aughts early 10's, it is still a powerful medium for raising the profile of local issues.  In fact, I would suggest there is no greater tool for having County issues addressed (money, access, or position) than a local blog.  Some people know how to wield that tool to "do good", some people use it to shout, but everyone gets heard by the "people who vote".

That actually isn't why I kept writing.  While mostly beneficial, it is one of the most frustrating aspects of writing a blog - sometimes what you say matters.  Sometimes you will get a text 10 minutes after posting saying "give me a call when you get a chance" and you know that someone took offense.  Sometimes you get an email from a friend saying "You seem to have a leftward/rightward bent recently".  Sometimes you get called out for navel-gazing when you should be writing about something more important.  Sometimes you want to suggest people "just say thank you and went on their way."

I kept writing because of the comments.  Not just here, but also on the blog Facebook page.  The conversation.  It cannot be replicated and would surely be lost if I stopped writing.  And to be honest with you all, writing about politics is not my favorite thing right now.  It is the dog that bit me.  If I was ever going to stop writing, it would be now.  But so long as you're talking, so am I.  And thanks for doing that.

Have a great Wednesday doing what you love!  And make 2015 the best year of your life.