Find yourself in Clarksville with a snapshot and some prose

Confession time. This might come as a shock to you, but I’ve been blogging.

I know. Weird, huh?

My blog is called Clarksville, now playing at www.spokesman.com.

I’m still not even that clear on how it all happened.

I do remember my pathway to blogging began when I made one of my rare appearances in the newsroom.

Speaking of which, some of my colleagues have asked me why I don’t show up more often.

I would, I told them, but Pete Carroll won’t let my car run.

What were we talking about?

Oh, yeah. Blogging.

So I was standing in the newsroom, trying to remember where they hid my desk, when an editor or someone trying to pass for one told me go see Dan, who would teach me the mysteries of The Blog.

I’ll admit I was a little apprehensive.

“Never let the bosses think you’re smart enough to learn something new,” is the motto I’ve tried to build a career on.

But it wasn’t like I had anything better to do.

And as it turned out, Dan was not only a great teacher, but a funny guy who’s been messing with me.

Unbeknownst to me, Dan opened a Doug Clark Twitter account before I even got one going on my own.

His Clark tweets are random, out-of-context lines and phrases he pulled out of my past columns.

Sample: “It jiggled more than a Mike and Molly sex scene.”

Check out all of them on Twitter by searching for Doug Clark Quotes.

Hey, I’m not complaining. Dan has made me look amazingly productive by pumping out five times as many Clark tweets as I have.

Besides, other than saving jars of urine, I pretty much have a “live and let live attitude” when it comes to the strange hobbies some people get into.

And to be totally honest, many of these random Clark quotes are more compelling than the tweets I’ve come up with.

The bottom line, however, is I’ve finally learned enough about blogging to actually start one with a theme.

Clarksville, I decided, is all about “Weird.”

As in: Weird spots from around my city. Weird things I put into my mouth. Weird stuff from around my house …

And here’s where you restless readers can join in. I would love to add some of your “weird” submissions to Clarksville.

Here’s what I mean.

Some time back, Spokane City Councilman Mike Fagan showed me a gold medallion some of his pals gave him after he wound up in one of my columns.

“Proud Member of the ‘I’ve Been Doug Clark-ed!’ Brotherhood,” read the medal’s text.

The prize came with a convenient red and white ribbon suitable for wearing or hanging around the neck of a pet.

Minutes before a Monday Council meeting, Fagan showed me this award. Then he posed with it while I took an iPhone snapshot of a man with prize.

I’ve been wondering what to do with it, and now I know.

Welcome to Clarksville, Councilman Fagan. You’ll be right at home, filed under “Weird people I’ve encountered at City Hall.”

This blogging business is a lot more fun than I ever imagined.

So shoot me a photograph along with some explanatory prose and a working phone number. If your entry is good enough, I just might send you a cool prize.

Or maybe Dan will.

Yeah. There’s an idea.