More on blogging from Fan District Hub

Why does your site have a blog?
The Fan District Hub is one of several community blogs that were launched in 2007. In Richmond that trend was started by John Murden (Church Hill People’s News a couple of years ago.

Ross Catrow (West of the Blvd. News and RVANews) built the Hub, based on my notions and sketched design for the site. If you look at the other community blogs, you’ll see mine is somewhat different, as I go for original content more than some. Clearly, though, Murden and Catrow are the guys behind this trend.

What do you hope to accomplish for the community with your blog?
To offer it a clearinghouse for information and opportunity to organize and promote activities not available elsewhere. To give it an independent slant on the events of the day.

People in the Fan have been reading/suffering my take on politics and popular culture for a long time, so I like to think there is still a following for such.

So, for me, it’s to stay involved in alternative media, as it evolves; that’s what I’ve always done, going back over 35 years (oops, I sound like Hillary Clinton). Next, it’s to stay busy with writing and editing. And, naturally, it’s to get filthy rich off the Internet.

How long did it take to for your blog to get populated?
Actually, I’ve been blogging for over four years at SLANTblog, so I’m somewhat familiar with the concept of what blogging is about. SLANTblog is closer to what a “blog” has been seen as than the Hub is. 

What affects the topics you blog about?
What happens in given day and the mood I’m in. However, the Hub is aimed at people who live, work or play in the Fan. It is probably more of an online newsletter/little magazine than it is a blog. The only reason I can see for calling the Hub a “blog” is that it is self-published, using the same gizmos as more the traditional blogs.

Eventually, I suspect the term “community blog” will morph into a better way of saying what Church Hill People’s News, West of the Blvd. News, the Hub, etc., are doing. The definition of the word “blog” has been rather stretched thin by all the variations.