"Bloggers are the sherpas of the Internet"


Starting notes from the Navel has been an interesting experience. One friend claims blogs are "only read by other bloggers." A reader — who clearly reads more widely than I — says most bloggers should "be flogged." And today I discovered that academic Camille Paglia is among those who shake their heads at us (though curiously she claims her columns for Salon amount to blogging).

And yet, both political conventions this summer will allow a fixed number of bloggers to receive the same credentials as other journalists. If that seems like an extraordinary move, it reflects something about the influential nature of this burgeoning medium, which Andrew Sullivan has described firsthand. Despite all the naysayers, his essay gives me hope that writing this actually is what it feels like — a curious return to my journalistic roots.

Thus, along the way through notes from the Navel, you'll probably find an homage to almost every paper I've written for or written:

* the State Press (editorials)
* Arizona Republic (features, photography and film reviews)
* Demon Dispatch (news, features, columns)
* my tiny self-published monthly, The Tardy Tribune (personal updates, recipes and romance-novel reviews and synopses)

posted @ 09:00 PM on Sun - July 18, 2004 remark! Email |  as quoted:
before I said ...  but more recently: 

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