It’s My 2 Cents: 3 Years And Counting

Bossman Steve Smith e-mailed that he might snap some video of me introducing people at HBO Blogfest ‘07 this afternoon. I responded that I didn’t think there was going to be any formal program — just bloggers, commenters and blurkers getting together for pizza and pop on our dime — mebbe a beer or two on theirs. If I do say a few words, it’ll be short and simple.

I’m not sure how we got here. I’ve never thought a lot about what we’ve done here. But I know intuitively it’s unique. Yeah, I’m a part of it. I was the one who raised my hand at the December 2003 annual SR newsroom editors gabfest and said the paper needed a blog written by a conservative to balance the media’s perception as a liberal bastion. But you’re the ones who nursed me through that first year (especially Cis) when almost daily I considered quitting the blog b/c it added so much to my work load and, as every blogger knows, it’s not easy to sit alone at a computer computer and post away — unsure if anyone’s reading your prose.

Cis’s encouragement and my promise to myself to last at least a year got me to the second Feb. 16. It got a bit easier after that, although the flame wars took a toll. Somewhere along the line, I realized what we are doing here is bigger than me. And it changed my view of what I do. It also changed me as I read and digested the passion and thoughtful discussion that occurs here regularly. Idaho Escapee likens the HBO Crowd to a “dysfunctional family.” Indeed, we have some quirky members, some enfant terribles, a lot of talented people. What we do here on a daily basis, from the Huckleberries cover to the blogrolls to the comment section is unmatched at the nonprofessional level anywhere else in the Inland Northwest. Mebbe the entire Northwest. Noah Kroese and OrangeTV, who are being incorporated into the SR, were discovered here. I learn more daily about the culture and behind-the-scenes news of North Idaho in my blogrolls than I do in area media.

This weekend, after the blogfest, I’ll begin learning about my new Mac book; so, I can take this show on the road to the local coffeeshops, restaurants and mebbe an occasional evening meeting. I also have a camera for video. In other words, I am just beginning to explore the possibilities re: what I can do here. All this has been made possible because I have an editor who had the vision to allow me to try something different. And kept allowing me to push farther away from the safety of the conventional newsroom as the months passed by. If you like HBO and you attend today’s blogfest, please expressed your thanks to Steve Smith. He truly is the founder of this Huckleberries feast.

Now, as I said three years ago, fasten your seatbelts because we’re not through yet.