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I love this picture more than I can tell you.
And I have two of these Bigfoots. Or is it Bigfeets?
One never knows.
I must come up with incredibly groovy things like Ricko.
19
When the race to the presidency gets a bit wiggy.
Yes, it weighs on every creature running. Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama. John McCain.
And Mabel.
It’s an odd and disconcerting path for those seeking the presidency. Sometimes candidates lose their minds.
And, yet, we forgive.
Almost instantly.
19
Goodness Gracious.
There are some weird ads in this world.
And I’m crying out of fear because of the odd children in them.
Yikes.
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I’ve had a long and involving day in the non-virtual world. So I give you this which I do not understand or get.
Sometimes life gets in the way. So put a bear on a horse. It apparently works, I guess.
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Mike responds to a back-handed compliment singling him out in the Nashville City Paper’s Political Animals post written by editor Clint Brewer.
This jab at bloggers looks like the flip side of the mainstream media’s presumptive disdain for people whom they think sit around in their pajamas all day and try to copy what they do themselves. So, if they’re not writing about the City Paper’s stories, then bloggers must be taking the day off because God knows, we’re not doing anything else. It’s another example of how the press doesn’t get it.
I think some folks in the press do get it but not all of them. Jack Lail has been an ambassador and spokesperson about the value of blogging and new digital media creating a lot of good will around the community and the whole country while still remaining local in Knoxville. I try to encourage people to blog although I find my community, which is based in a college town, is more focused on MySpace and Facebook quite frankly.
With that said, Mike does bring up a good point in his post regarding good will at newspapers toward the blogging community. I don’t know the history between Brewer and Enclave but I do know that telling any blogger that writes for free that they should write about something which appears in the newspaper is only going to stir the pot and highly piss people off. Bloggers write about what interests them and they do it out of a passion for writing, a political agenda, focusing on their hobbies, social interaction and the list goes on.
I think it is highly possible for there to be a marriage between traditional media and the blogosphere. I do. However, I do think that some people, in my non-virtual world in the news biz as well, do not understand we live in a new world of media, anyone can self-publish and blogging is an organic process, one that cannot be forced.
Enclave is a great resource in Nashville for what is going on in his community. His content is original. I have called him before one of Nashville’s best hyperlocal bloggers. Mr. Brewer did commend him but it was done with snark and the compliment got lost in Brewer’s chiding. I reacted as well.
I only know a handful of paid bloggers. Newsrooms are losing people due to downsizing but that’s another story for another day. I think those folks in news need to remember people who blog do it because they want to, not because they feel a loyalty to a newspaper.
They blog because they love it.
My two cents.
19
I took the weekend off from blogging to go find myself. Not really, but it sounded better than just saying I needed a couple of days off-line. These things occasionally happen.The highlights of my weekend would probably bore you to tears, but I will say that on Friday, I wasn’t feeling up to snuff as I’ve been fighting yet another bout with bronchitis and was eager to just sit in my recliner and stare purposelessly at the wall.
Then I got some distressing news and had to go into action mode.
I hate action mode. Seriously I do. I would be a terrible action hero as I’m more inclined to sit on the sidelines and do nothing.
Anyway, Squirrel Queen and I had some things we needed to do so we do whatever red-blooded American Citizen does when in flux. It’s not a life-threatening flux but more of a “OMG, WE HAVE DECISIONS TO MAKE” sort of thing. We went to her mom’s house out in the country.
It is very surreal out there. Very little traffic although we did see the farm, which is leased out, tilled and those small yucky flowers that make me sneeze were sent to plant heaven. It’s planting season in the countryside of Hoots and there is something ethereal and hardcore about it all. This is how you eat, campers. Listening to farm talk always mesmerizes me as I had no idea about the ongoing mechanics and seven day a week work that has to be done.
We sat outside in the quiet, drank a few beers, laughed a lot and worked on what was needed to work on. Throughout the weekend, we watched Mabel run around on the farm and we just hung out. Her mother has dial-up but we avoided it a pretty much other than to show SQ’s mom pictures from Mabel’s presidential campaign which she thought was pretty funny. There was, alas, no new turkey dance.
On Sunday, we met Holly and her friend Erin, who after a bout with food poisoning some months back from eating some bad sushi, decided to brave it again with us. Badger, who has never had sushi, tried it and much to her surprise, sort of gnawed on a California roll from the Bento Boxes we ordered. I think it was life-altering for her as it should be.
Things that happened this weekend:
1. We saw a flock of buzzards eating the carcass of a deer on the side of the road. Badger called it “nature’s clean up crew” but it was disturbing nonetheless.
2. Big Brown is one hell of a race horse. We watched the race and were stunned how good Big Brown is.
3. There are professional beer drinkers in this world. I am not one of them.
4. My legs, or one of them at least, is terribly sunburned even after I put baby suntan lotion on them, which was a suggestion from my girl Batesville. The thing though is simply I think I missed this one spot and it hurt to move yesterday.
5. I saw what seemed like 900 turtles on the side of the road this weekend. Is this a sign of the apocalypse?
6. I also saw a coyote near town. Wonder what that’s all about? When you live out in the country, even if it’s just for two days you start saying “Gotta go to town.” I find that charming.
So, as I said, my weekend sabbatical from blogging was pretty groovy. I got to see the beloved Holly, who will be moving back to middle Tennessee next month. We determined I will most likely see her more in Nashville than I have with her in the ‘burg. She will be missed though as she is awesome.
Photos From Hoots
