Storm game

The Olympics are over & the Storm are back. Ava's enjoying the Taiko halftime drummers.

Blogging all the bloggy blogness

I'm at the Seattle Public Library for a panel dicussion by City Club on neighborhood blogs. Several folks have started neighborhood-centric blogs in Seattle to "create acts of journalism" as one person put it that highlight the happs in their 'hoods.

As the write up put it: How does the 24-7 nature of citizen-driven blogs impact traditional news sources and how people are informed?

From Ballard to Burien, from West Seattle to South Lake Union, and from Capitol Hill to Beacon Hill, the proliferation of neighborhood blogs all around Seattle is changing not just the local media landscape but also how community conversations are taking place in an increasingly digital world.

Some tidbits:

• Ballard Blog was started last fall as a way to connect with the new neighborhood of the couple running it. Seems like it's become more of a business for them as they're branching out to start 5-6 other neighborhood blogs.


• B-Town Blog in Burien has helped bring the community closer together by providing a place for positive stories about their community and a place to share information and help the community grow.


• Rainier Valley Post helped raise money for the funeral of a teenager killed in a shooting in Southeast Seattle by putting a PayPal button on their site. Before that, his family couldn't afford to bury him. The person who oversees it says neighborhood blogs provide some follow up that's lacking in the dailies or weeklies.


• Seattle Public Library has a blog Shelf Talk that has had more than 60 contributors to date.


• 85% of adults in Seattle have a library card.


• West Seatle Blog: 32K comments on their posts since July '05.

The West Seattle Blog seems to have been a model for several of the others. They've been at it for two and a half years and have been overwhelmed by the response from the community in terms of readership as well and most recently, advertisers.

A couple bloggers mentioned that they've run into some pushback from typical public information officer types unfamiliar with blogs or their reach. I think my government office is an exception to this. I attended this with both my work and personal hats on since we're doing lots of outreach to the blogosphere locally in my job as another way to get information directly to the community. I suspect the receptiveness of PIOs will change in the coming year or two as more communication types learn the value and reach of blogs.

They all seem to be genuinely interested in providing a service to the community and filling a niche that is being neglected by the mainstream media outlets in Seattle. I'll be reading some of them more regularly.

What a speech, what a night

Our whole family sat rapt tonight as we watched the last night of the Democratic Convention in Denver, Colorado. It was an amazing event, capped off by speech after speech that spoke to the concerns I and so many others have about the direction our country has taken and what it will take to get it back on track.

From Richardson to Gore to Obama's wonderful finale, it was a night filled with hopefulness and clear articulation of the problems, priorities and possible solutions the Obama/Biden team have identified.

Ava: Babies for Obama

The speech delivered and should have silenced the hollow carping of critics by providing specifics about taxes and social security, and even deftly covering the hot button issues of gays and lesbian rights, abortion rights and gun rights.

68 days until every voter can weigh in. I can't wait.

Sunny day sushi

Enjoying a sunny day having some sushi with Ava. Rice and veggies for her. She's a great eater.

We followed this up with a short stint at a Queen Anne wading pool that featured a lifeguard playing classic Motown and dance hits from the 80s. I walked Ava for several laps around the pool (she's still practicing the whole "walking" thing) and she shimmied to the music whenever we paused. Like her dad, she's quite the music connoisseur. Me and my mom claim credit for the dancing ability. :-)

We wrapped up the night with a first-ever parents solo night out, courtesy of J.'s parents. It was a little harrowing for them: Ava doesn't see them as much as we'd like so she was NOT happy to be left.

J.'s mom said she tried leaving Ava on the couch for a little Cry It Out effort. Ha! Good luck. She's got lungs like an Aida in training. Finally, her screaming was reaching such a fevered pitch, they closed all the doors and windows so the neighbors wouldn't think the worst was underway inside! After a quick call to Ava's baby-whisperer Aunt Bern, J.'s mom turned on some dance music, which calmed Ava right down and had her shaking and grooving her little diapered tush and torso to the beat. She followed it up by letting the no-longer screaming Ava drift off to sleep on her chest, which is where we found her when we returned.

Conversely, while keeping our cell phones within view for potential calls about Ava, we had a lovely hour and a half to ourselves to chat and laugh over dinner without once retrieving napkins, silverware or stray food from the floor, followed by a leisurely walk around the nearby shops and restaurants enjoying the warm summer evening.

We definitely need to do that more often. With a few days to recover, I think J's mom and stepdad will be up for another visit again too.

Blue state humor

Can you tell Seattle is a blue stronghold?