Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Art Works

Things that sting.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 4 comments link this post

Blogger acquaintance Gene and I have had a few interesting interactions via email as of late over a specific post. One concept that I am seeing consistently mentioned on his blog is that of the porcupine analogy. As I said in a comment on this post:

I think you're obsessed with the porcupine analogy. There might be other explanations.

Sometimes things in nature sting because they are being unnecessarily pestered.

It can go both ways. My advice, since this seems to be the post for it, is to learn to understand when the sting is deserved or not.

Certainly, helping someone may bring a negative reaction, even if you do good. Hence, the correct usage of the porcupine analogy -- helping a porcupine across a busy street and getting a barbed quill as a thank you for it -- that Gene outlines in that post.

The reason it is important to understand what correct analogy you are dealing with is because sometimes, you deserve the sting. If you don't know how to identify when that is, you're veering toward a bit of "I'm Right'ism." It becomes some sort of equation where all negative reaction from people is a reflection of them instead of you.

In that email exchange, in which I admonished Gene that some of his recent advice to me wasn't necessarily useful, beneficial, or even based in a knowledge of all facts, I may have unleashed my sharp tongue. I know I have one. He responded that he was still picking the "quill of of [his] reddened flesh."

This annoyed me. It wasn't the correct analogy, and again seemed to say, subtly, "I'm right, and giving right advice, and now I'm a bit of a martyr but I'll suffer because I know I'm right and being helpful to you" where, in my mind, the truth was much easier: You're wrong, your advice is ill-conceived and not born of all necessary facts, and I'm going to correct you on that.

Advice should never be one-way. In my mind, the barb was deserved, if indeed, it really was a barb.

My email of reprimand to you is less evidence of porcupine quills in me and more evidence of you needing to learn how to take what you dish out with the same amounts of confidence you originally wrote it in. I do not see a prickly person in what I wrote but instead, someone evenly trying to tell you that you were mistaken and that you need to back off.

[...]

You shouldn't confuse a woman defending herself, or disagreeing with you, as evidence of prickles.

I apply this in reverse to myself, at times, and to anyone. We need to learn to know when the stings are deserved or undeserved. Receipt of a sting is not proof of being a martyr. As I said in an another, related email to Gene:

Sometimes, when you get hate mail (as you proudly hinted at in your post, as if it were a badge of honor), it isn't because you took the narrow road, but just because you're being a jerk and deserve it.

I don't think Gene is a jerk. But I don't think I'm a porcupine, either.

Things "sting" for all kinds of reasons. Salt on wounds. Bees. Porcupines. Rattlesnakes. Poison sumac. Figure out why it stings and whether you deserve it or not.

Labels: blogging, essay, observations

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Everywhere a soap box, yet always so dirty.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

When my friend Girl Friday writes, I just sit back and enjoy. More than once I've linked to her posts.

The latest post contains a quip that really sums up a concept I've grown fairly disgusted with. I call it "poli-bleed." It's where everything becomes a platform for political bickering. In this case, a site about fashion, in which a commenter takes a political swipe for no apparent reason. Girl Friday responds exactly right:

"Poor Stacey forgot she was on a fashion website and not on her lavender-scented soap box."

I have seen on various sites, ranging from hair style how-tos (yes, I would like to know how to do things with my hair) to cooking tips, comments left by people that have nothing to do with the topic and are merely ill-thought low-wit cheap-shot political barbs.

Are we so rabid about our political beliefs that the directions on how to create a chignon or where to buy business attire inspire venemous comments on Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin? Is everything political?

Step back and away and from the little pit of rage that is your personal politics and find a way to enjoy and adapt to life as it is, people. It seems as if some folks are so quivering with political anger that they can barely order a sandwich at a restaurant without some kind of misplaced diatribe. An open comments section on any website is simply too much to resist. It must be filled with garbage.

As Girl Friday said in her witty post: I am so bored already.

Labels: blogging, links, politics

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The noisy children in the back row.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 5 comments link this post

There are many joys and challenges of blogging, with which I won't bore you with in great detail today. However, I want to take this special time to point out a very direct struggle you may have to cope with as a blogger, should you decide to blog: stalkers/"fans"/regulars.

Why, they just go and abuse their familiarity with a site by finding temporary -- temporary! -- posts where they carry on conversation amongst themselves. Case in point: My placeholder post.

Good grief.

TEMPORARY!!!!

If this keeps up, it will have more comments than some of my more flaming posts.

TEMPORARY!!!!!

Labels: blogging, friends

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Linkage: Texting enables, comments disabled.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 3 comments link this post

Two blogs had posts that caught my eye.

The first wrote a brief post on whether or not texting, with all its abbreviations and short-cut writing, was really the "death" of English. I admit that I used to think so, and I still get annoyed when people use texting practices in mediums that do not require such abbreviation (email, notes, etc.) However...after trying to learn to read various things in connection with recent flying lessons (weather, A/FD notes) I can see the benefit of being able to see a few letters and extrapolate the word behind it.
Read: Is text message really the death of the English language?

I've disabled comments off and on for this blog, but generally, new posts have comments. Other bloggers, however, have come to the conclusion that it is better to not have comments. I'd be curious to know what readers think, particularly readers that don't have their own blogs to function as a way to comment on things they read online.
Read: Comments disabled.

Labels: blogging, links

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Blogathon 2008.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

The official Blogathon site announced it was taking another one-year break. They did this a few years back, too. Normally, the Blogathon would be looming on the calendar. There is no way I'd be able to do it this year, with what I'm doing in Bismarck.

However, I still think I'd like to do something. I see that some bloggers are kind of doing an "informal" blog-for-charity event on their own. One thing that always disappointed me about the requirements for choosing a charity to blog for during the Blogathon is that I couldn't blog for the organization I'm part of that goes to Nicaragua, the Nicaragua Resource Network - North Dakota. The reason for this was because we aren't set up for online donations yet, and the Blogathon rules required that to be an officially recognized Blogathon participant.

So I'm thinking that maybe, later this fall or early winter, I'll do a blog-for-charity event here at Lone Prairie on my own for NRN-ND to raise money to take to Nicaragua during the February trip. I'd probably keep the same rules: blog for 24 hours, every 30 minutes, no pre- or timed-posting allowed.

I don't know if I'd do another Bob story or not. I've done three of those (Of Rats and Men (2005), a western (2006), and a SciFi space story (2007)). My first year of participating (2003) was easier -- I did a little drawing every 30 minutes.

I don't know. We'll see. Maybe I'll work with some cartoons instead of Bob. I just wanted to make note of the Blogathon fact because right around now I sometimes start getting emails from readers wondering if I'm going to do it this year, and so now you know.

Labels: blogathon, blogging, charity

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Nutty blogger comments.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 5 comments link this post

A friend emailed me about a wacky comment some nutjob left on his blog.

I'm not really consistent in how I handle comments that seem to come out of left field, because my response depends on my mood and how much time I happen to have on my hands. In the winter, when I'm inside more, I tend to respond more. If it's a topic that I'm particularly attached to, I might also respond to each comment. Or not. It's hard to say. Lately, I don't seem to really care, since I'm starting to feel that my "comment" on the matter is the blog post and unless I realize I didn't clarify well enough there, I'd prefer to just let that stand as is.

I said, in response to my friend's email:

Well, I wouldn't worry about it. I used to respond to such comments point by point but I realized that most readers can see such comments for what they are and that it made me look a little foolish to take them so seriously. I've often found myself responding with a simple "whatever" or some other kind of mocking joke. Such as "Interesting thoughts, Rev. And I bet you see Satan in the clouds on Wednesdays, too, don't you?" Or whatever.

I have discovered, with my life becoming more and more busy with things that have
meaning, that I'm not as prone to getting worked up about "virtual" dramas, if that makes sense.

Do you have a Blog EULA? You should. Then you can just say, to such comments, "Interesting thoughts. You might want to read my blog EULA before you make an ass of yourself again."

In thinking more about it, it would be rather handy to have a list of canned responses to comments that deserve no less. I'm going to try to come up with a few. I'd love to hear from you readers.

Interesting thoughts. Were they actually thoughts?
Did you intend to leave that comment here? Or was that meant for a different blog? I just want to make sure before I respond.
Make sure your computer is powered to the "off" setting before you attempt to leave another comment. Thanks.
Did you know that if you moved your hands one step to the right on your keyboard, any future comments would make as much sense as the one you just left here? Something to try for next time.
Switch your keyboard to the Dvorak setting, and then proceed to type as in on a normal QWERTY keyboard so that other readers have a better chance at understanding your stunning thought process.
The quick fox jumped over the lazy brown dog.
Two roads diverged in a yellowed wood...but they didn't even come close to diverging like you did regarding the actual topic at hand.
Once upon a midnight dreary...you decided to make all of my readers weary. Thanks.
Like the SAT, you get points for just putting down your name.
(Insert insult here) Thanks for stopping by.

Labels: blogging

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Things they won't say about me when I'm gone.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 2 comments link this post

::I thought the idea (and the list) was clever, and decided to try it for myself.::

She was consistent.

She was inconsistent.

She was an out-going people person who loved any opportunity to meet and talk to new people.

She always met life with an even, un-dramatic keel, staying level-headed and calm.

She never took sides, for she never tried to see things from the perspective of others.

She was overly closed and protective of her own feelings and did not open herself up to people.

She never saw any scenario as a worse-case scenario.

She was almost heroic in her successful efforts at controlling her tongue and consistently refused to put her foot in her mouth in the heat of the moment.

She quickly adapted to "adulthood" and maintained a respectable level of maturity that was age-appropriate for every situation.

She had few opinions and rarely expressed an interest in sharing or defending those she did have.

She loved attention and craved public accolades for all her efforts and hobbies. More than anything, she liked to be the center of attention at parties or in groups.

She was known for having a large roster of friends and social engagements.

Labels: blogging, links, lists, personal

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Freedom of access.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I can understand why schools need to block some internet web sites, and also understand that it can be an imperfect science. I also understand that libraries don't block the internet and that some of the stuff I've seen patrons viewing on library computers is pretty nasty.

Having said all that...I prefer to go to the library for my free internet than, uh, borrow¹ the WiFi from a nearby school. The school blocks anything remotely associated with web-based email, proxy, Google services, social networking services, and even sites that I regularly use that are of little harm. I know why they do this -- no need for students to be checking email and such during the school day. My question is this: If they're going to be so medieval about filtering the internet, why in the heck do they allow a site like Blogger to be accessed?

Some of my more recent readers may not have been on this blog a few years back when I wrote about finding some high school student's blogs (from the school nearby that I've subbed at) that made fun of teachers and staff, including my mother, likely written at school on school time. Heck, I even made mention in the New York Post via a column by Dawn Eden on students and blogging.

Let me say that I didn't mince words when I wrote about what those kids did. Front and foremost wasn't that they didn't have "freedom of speech" (or, in this case, FreeDumb of Speech) according to their definition. The pitiful arguments that surfaced by kids on various online sites regarding my response to public speech online were easily shredded and revolved mainly around being aghast that they could be held accountable for what they said, and might even face negative consequences in oppositional freedom of speech.

In other words, right back at you, kids.

They were naive enough to think that adults are too dumb to find things on the internet, and had assumed that they had some kind of privacy and right to not get a negative or opposing response back once they hit "publish." Adults sort of helped build the internet, kiddies, I essentially pointed out. It's not your exclusive playground.

After a lengthy correspondence² with the then superintendent in which he seemed more interested in "disciplining" me rather than the students for my aggressiveness in the issue (and the fact that one of the kids' father was a friend on the school board), I finally suggested that, among other things, limiting the students use of journaling or blogging sites such as Blogger during school hours might be easier than trying to rewire the mistakenly construed concept of "freedom of speech" that had sadly taken hold in their heads.

There, as here, I can still access Blogger.

I really care very little, but after constantly hitting the "this site is blocked" message on just about every benign site I use, I find full access to Blogger odd. (Not to mention the fact that they leave their WiFi signal completely open and accessible. I hope the rest of the nearby community is enjoying it as I am.)

¹ For more discussion on the legalities of using an unprotected WiFi signal, read here, here, here, and here.

² I still have the letters. There are numerous grammatical mistakes, and I take special delight in reading them periodically. I'm that petty.

Labels: blogging, education, internet, summer 2008

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My blog is worthless.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 3 comments link this post

My blog is worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?

Good to know.

I have a big enough head already.

Note: This post was pre-written and published as scheduled. Read more about this here.

Labels: blogging

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A Tempe, Arizona hit mystery.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

I keep getting bombarded by hits from Tempe, Arizona. I'm not foolish enough to believe that I have a huge fan in Arizona, one that is so devoted to this blog that he/she reads every page while staying on the site 0.00 seconds.

It's messing up my stats. This is of little concern to most people, but other bloggers out there understand a bit of what I'm getting at and why it's annoying. I figured it was a robot, since it was all coming from Limelight Networks / Kazem.com and didn't seem to make the usual page visits that a human reader would (i.e. pages that link and naturally lead to others). The hits were all over the site, completely random.

Mystery solved. It's a search engine robot that doesn't play by the usual rules.

Annoying.

Note: This post was pre-written and published as scheduled. Read more about this here.

Labels: blogging

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Tweets that make me twitter with laughter.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I have two friends on Twitter whose short "tweets" (the quickie update messages that are almost like play-by-play mini-blogging) make me laugh.

RoueJ (a retired but still working judge) and Skangus (a person I don't really "know" except through some design work and drive-by Facebook messages).

RoueJ writes about work and a remodeling project. This one, for example. Or this one.

"Your twitters are like a punchline to the judicial system," I said in a message to RoueJ. "Very funny stuff."

"If I couldn't laugh, I'd cry," was the response.

Skangus writes about food and TV and just random, hilarious stuff. Like this one and this one, dealing with weather warnings.

"Your Twitter updates tend to make me hungry 95 percent of the time," I said in a Facebook message to Skangus.

It's a gift to not become a bit pretentious and unfunny on Twitter, since it often morphs into (in the hands of the unfunny, um, like me) something mundane and makes a reader think "do we really care that so-and-so just ate a sandwich?" I've noticed that Twitter has become, for some people (um, like me), a way of force-feeding boring minutae to random public, or, worse yet, a mere blog RSS update which sort of annoys me because that's what my RSS reader is for.

These two use Twitter well. They make me laugh. That's a good thing.

I dumped them on a Google page via RSS feeds, but you should really just check out their profiles.

UPDATE: A friend just sent me a link to this cartoon which deals, very aptly, with Twitter. Hilarious.

Labels: blogging, friends, internet

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Better on paper.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I found myself saying in an email, yet again, that I am "better on paper.*" I say it a lot, usually as an excuse as to why I'm hesitant to meet people who only know me by my writing.

That's such a disappointment, I would think.

I'll say things in writing that I won't say in person.

But then I stumbled upon 2 Corinthians 10:1 and finally saw something in it. It's repeated again, in 10:11.
This is from a chunk of scripture where Paul is addressing those questioning his authority, and in amongst a lot of other good things, he talks about how, in person, he may seem meek while in his writing, he is bold. I'd suggest having a go at the entire chapter (or book) rather than let me butcher it, but those two verses really caught my eye.

I'm better on paper. I express what I'm truthfully thinking when it goes through the filter of the pen.
I'll say what I'm really thinking in writing, where, if you asked me something in person (how are you? anything new? what are you doing these days? anything to say?), I'll probably give you the following answers:

I'm good, thanks.
Oh, not much.
Same old same old.
Nuthin'.

The me on paper is not in conflict with the one-to-three-word answer me. I used to think it was, but I don't see it as that anymore.

I'll say a lot on paper, and put my name on it. But, in person, I probably won't even meet your eyes.

*Paper = screen = the written word; pen = keyboard

Note: This post was pre-written and published as scheduled. Read more about this here.

Labels: blogging, personal, religion, writing

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Link: VerveEarth

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

My sister Jacqui sent me an email she'd received about VerveEarth, and I decided to put Hampden on the map.

It's an interesting idea, though I don't think it'll change my life much. It's nice for visual people like me who want to continue to "humanize" bloggers from just being words on a page to seeing where they are loosely located in relation to me. It's also a cool way to find blogs and bloggers that are in the region that I hadn't been aware of. It would be better if more bloggers got on the map for that to really be seriously beneficial.

Regardless, I logged this blog onto the map, and North Dakota now boasts one more marker.

Hooray.

Got a blog? Put it on the map.

Labels: blogging, internet, links

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My cartoons are like a virus.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 2 comments link this post

My cartoon characters are spreading like some kind of cheery, subversive infection.

Yep. Those creepy half-headed, round-toothed characters have infested yet another blog. Check out "Go Outside With Andrea." Andrea even offers up the explanation behind the header image.

I've done a few other blog tweaks, too, should you be wanting anything similar for your own blog. Andrea's blog is, of course, more than a header but a template that I made for her.

And of course, while I'm shamelessly self-promoting, I put up two new shirt designs: The Thespian and The Huckster.

Just trying to earn a few bucks, you know. Just like you. I need to save up money so I can start hoarding rice.

Labels: blogging, cartoons, promotion

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Another blog down.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

HeavyDluxe explained football to me, in particular, how the downs work. I never got that. And, it was right before Super Bowl 2007.

I can't thank him enough.

He's killing his blog.

That's a real bummer.

I've contemplated the ins and outs of blogging, and quitting blogging:

But still. Bummer.

Labels: blogging, links

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You can go ahead and leave.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 6 comments link this post

I rather forget the whiteboard on this blog, the little Google gadget that resided in the far, right column and let anyone say anything. It had been pointed out yesterday to me that there was a rather bizarre collection of "I have a crush on Julie" nonsense on there, and I had intended to delete it. But I forgot, until just now, when a reader pointed it out to me. So, I scrolled down my page to check out what's on there.

Once I get past the annoying but fairly innocent "I have a crush on Julie" crap, and past the readers talking about their goofy nicknames and then some other time wasters, I get to this:

The poop post was a new low. Sickening. Disgusting. Below the belt. Not funny, just gross. A disappointment.
maybe it isn't that molly talks about poop cuz she is a nurse, maybe she is a nurse cuz she liked poop first
Malachi 2:3 -"Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces."
Ezekiel 4:12 -"And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight."

What's really going on behind scenes
The temptation allowed by being anonymous is too great. It brings out the weakest and worst in people. By using all the stat resources that I have connected into this site, I am able to tell when readers leave comments. And, by the nature of stats and locations and what I can figure out by deductive reasoning, I am able to label IP numbers in the stat system so that, at a glance, I can tell when a specific person from Denver, for example, leaves a comment. Granted, I don't know every single visitor, but if you've ever emailed me or I've managed to figure out who you are by the time stamp on the comments and the stats that reveal you've visited the comment page, it's a pretty good chance I know.

I never really talked about it beyond hints and generalities, because I thought it would creep people out and make them uncomfortable. However, since some people seem to feel content to do the same to me, I'm telling you: you're not as anonymous as you might think. My silence (either on the blog or via a direct email) towards people I know who are doing strange things on this blog doesn't mean I don't know who is doing it. It means I'm choosing to let you have a chance to be the better person on your own.

One reason I stopped publishing full RSS feeds was because I wanted to see if certain people were still "stalking" this site in regards to certain situations I've alluded to. With the feed being full, stats would offer no click-through information. I had since gone full feed with all of my blogs, at the request of a friend, but I again may pull it back to partial.

As you may recall, I also used to allow anonymous comments. That was until a friend -- a friend! -- left a comment using the "anonymous" feature to be catty and argumentative. Again, I knew who it was from my stats. I just didn't feel like calling this person out on the carpet and instead, quietly removed anonymous commenting as an option from this blog.

What possesses people to go anonymous when they do not have to? It is a baser nature, and it does not impress me at all. I'm not anonymous. I put my name -- and face! -- to everything I write. I have people questioning if I really am who I say I am despite having never, ever attempted to hide behind anonymity.

The whiteboard feature? That was a freebie. That was meant to be fun for the readers, a different way to interact beyond the comments section. I had absolutely no way of knowing who left what. I often had a pretty good idea, at times, but not for certain. So, for the time being, it's gone, which is too bad, because sometimes we got great poetry through that whiteboard.

It has nothing to do with being Big Brother
You may think I'm being unreasonable. A control freak. Too paranoid. I call it being smart. This is personal blogging, here at Lone Prairie, and I need to do my best to figure out what's going on with it, who's reading it, who's leaving what kind of comments. I keep track of the hecklers, the off-color comments, and so on. It's a defensive and smart measure and nearly all bloggers do it. It is all part of my recent efforts to delineate between my life and the random readers I share it with and the reality that some readers start to feel as if they own something about me, that I owe them something.

I write fresh content, and fairly often. For free. I don't owe you anything.

So let's get back to the latest whiteboard issue. Though fairly annoyed at the "crush" nonsense, and the effort put out to find scripture that referenced excrement, that wasn't the most annoying thing. I do try to let the comments that irk and the response that annoy remain so that people can be people; I know I'm easily annoyed so I give the benefit of the doubt. It wasn't that nonsense.

No.

This is why I'm pretty peeved: "The poop post was a new low. Sickening. Disgusting. Below the belt. Not funny, just gross. A disappointment."

Well la-dee-frickin'-da. I wasn't aware my readers had literary slide rules at hand when they visited my blog.

Let me introduce you to Dusty, a reader from years past who felt it his obligation to tell me that my writing bored him and couldn't I please write something he'd be interested in?

Sorry Julie, I don't know what the solution is for someone who must opine on every topic, every experience big or small.

Every now and then you write something interesting, so please continue.

And then:

Yawn.

Oh yes, see my comment under your previous post. I'm still grumpy about having to register with Blogger again. What a bunch of nonsense.

I responded to Dusty in a manner that I would respond to the person who left the comment that my writing just "disappoints" him:

OK Dusty. Let's just get this out in the open: between your "friendly" emails to me directly and your comments on this blog that I find irritating, I have to do it. [...] you are disinvited to this blog.

I'm sorry you find Blogger registration so inconvenient. I'm sorry you find my posts so boring you have to start them with the word "yawn." I'm sorry you felt you had to leave a comment on an earlier post that was somewhere between snide and nice.

Or wait. I'm not sorry. I'm not here to make your life convenient, write things that will entertain everyone all the time, and put up with your shit. What I am sorry about is that you think I owe you some sort of special tolerance.

[...]

Opine on things big and small? WTF! If you don't like what I write, don't come back! I'm serious!

[...]

Do you see me responding to your emails? Do you? That's a hint.

The last time I ripped into you on the old blog for your stupid uncategorizable comments, you came back playing nice, and told me how I misunderstood you. If that's the case, take this as a chance to learn to clarify yourself, because I guess I'm "misunderstanding" you again.

But you'll have to clarify yourself on someone else's time. Why?

You're disinvited. Your comments from here on out will be deleted.

You may mean well, but I don't see it. And since it's my blog, that's all that matters.

My writing disappoints a reader? Thought the poop post was a new low? Was there a previous low on this blog? What was it, pray tell, because I was unaware that someone was keeping track of the lows. If my writing disappoints you, tough bounce for you. Sometimes the readers don't do so hot themselves. That's a lotta complaining for what you're getting for free. So if you're disappointed in my writing, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Read the EULA for this blog. Take a SUBTLE HINT. If you're bored, horrified, disappointed, shocked -- just leave. You don't have to announce. You don't have to make a scene. And you don't have to leave a spineless anonymous comment on an anonymous white board to take your moral stand because it means absolutely nothing since you can't even put your name to it.

Idiot.

Make the connection between the strength of your opinions and protestations, and your ability to attach your name to them!

I'm generally a nice person and friendly and kind to complete strangers, but here's the straight "poop*" about this blog and my relationship to random readers: I don't owe you anything.

* Oh my! Poop again!

Labels: blogging

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Oh, mighty sword.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

We all know about the pen and the sword, but the place of the keyboard in that battle is, in some cases, made superior. Stuff happens when it gets online.

Religious bloggers have their own track record. The Sic'em Bloggers got after a college for the speaker they had invited, causing the college to withdraw the invitation and the dean to discuss.

There are many other stories which can be tossed into the pile on bloggers that broke news and brought down a public official, such as RatherGate. The latest example of a blogger breaking a news story could be Obama's recorded gaffe on small towns (made while at a fund raiser in San Francisco) in which he disparages the people he supposedly supports, ironically made just a few weeks after his trip to Grand Forks in which a sizable portion of the crowd of 16,000 people who came to see him drove hours from...small towns. It was a blogger that got that little scoop.

Then there are the bloggers who get arrested for the things they say.

What is a blogger, really, but a citizen journalist? And what does that mean, really, but that in every moment there is a the possibility of a kind of disguised reporter waiting to reveal what's happening to the world? And what is that, but a kind of threat to public officials to keep in line, and a kind of threat to private people who have no idea that the silliest, most human things they do might annoy someone and end up (hilariously) on a blog? Or that a cell phone photo of you going about your usual, private day in a public space may end up for the world to see?

Some citizen journalists take it seriously, and it becomes what it could. Some abuse it and decide to slam their ex-boyfriend.

Citizen journalism via blogging is kind of a populist's Big Brother. There's not just one entity watching you. Everyone ends up watching you.

Just ask my family and friends, who end up on this blog.

We are all voyeurs, aren't we?

Links:

Labels: blogging, current events

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On the radio.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 5 comments link this post

The Lone Prairie Blog got a mention on South Dakota Public Broadcasting's Dakota Midday show.

Jon Schaff, of South Dakota Politics, joined a few other guests in talking about blogging. When asked by a listener about women bloggers of the Dakotas...Lone Prairie gets a mention.

Thanks to Schaff for the mention. You can hear the full broadcast here (links directly to MP3 file) at least for now -- I don't know how long the link will be good. Schaff starts talking at around the 27-minute mark, and the discussion on women bloggers in the Dakotas begins at the 32-minute mark. And good ol' Lone Prairie comes in at 33.52. (Yes, I'm willing to be a self-promoter and mark it down to the seconds.)

Links: One of the blogs mentioned in the written-by-women column is Prairie Roots, which is a fine blog that I had not been aware of. Another that was mentioned was Flying Tomato Blog.

Labels: blogging, north dakota, promotion

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On the radio.