Pearls of Wisdom

When Erik Wander, Editor of the Fort Lee Patch, graciously granted me the opportunity to blog, it opened my eyes to the world of Fort Lee, its issues and its diverse population. But outside of blogging professionally, I had never considered writing local commentary. In researching blogging, I found four types of blogging:  (1) personal opinions; (2) interviews with community officials and V.I.P.’s; (3) blogging on personal life; and (4) public service announcements of activities in your community. (I do have reservations about (4) and think it might be better suited to placement in a “Community Activities this Week” section.)  I chose “personal opinions" as my forte, as I am very involved personally with this community in terms of coaching and the Board of Education. My goal is to inspire people to think about Fort Lee, to become more active in the community, and to become aware of major issues. It really doesn’t matter if someone agrees or disagrees with my opinion, as long as I do not elicit indifference.  

The part of blogging that was most interesting was an area that I did not even consider originally, but one to which I have become very aware: “Comments.”  I have established four types of people in the community who may read my blogs and react:

(1)   Friends and individuals who call or e-mail me with a reaction to my blog, some positive and some negative. This tells me that there are individuals that read the “Voices of the People” blogs, but choose not to publicly respond in the “Comments.”

(2)   Individuals who respond with their full names and add dimension to each issue with strong personal opinions. These are confident individuals, with a strong sense of integrity, who are open about their opinions and are willing to put themselves “on the line,” even subjecting themselves to criticism.

(3)   Responders who use their real first names, knowing some people will know who they are, but choosing to keep a modicum of anonymity. These persons want to express opinions, but prefer not to get the notoriety that comes with public knowledge of who they are. 

(4)   The Anonymous or Pseudonym crowd.  These individuals are the refugees from integrity. They say whatever they want; we don’t even know if they truly believe what they say! When they describe themselves, they are probably enhancing their actual reality into something better than the truth; e.g. fancier house or car; better job; higher level of education than they have achieved. They don’t really have the courage of their convictions, so they hide under a pseudonym. They may fear that their opinions will embarrass their friends and/or family. But they are often entertaining, with outrageous opinions and comments.   They are prolific in responding to many blogs and news articles in The Patch and they seem to have a great deal of free time on their hands. 

Blogging is an amazing experience. It keeps me on top of community issues and forces me to take strong positions. The Patch has become the newspaper of the future, and I sincerely hope that I will be part of it for a long time to come.