The Oregon Blog

Here Lies

The Oregon Blog
January 16, 2003 - July 18, 2004

Back in late 2002, Trent Lott eulogized Strom Thurmond by musing that if the former segregationist had won the presidency in 1948, we "wouldn't have had all these problems." The mainstream media--hell, all media--ignored the comment, and Lott prepared to take the position of Senate Majority Leader. On the very distant periphery of the internet, however, a bunch of surly bloggers--a heretofore unknown noun--kept harping about the egregious racism of the GOP's top dog, until Paul Krugman picked up the story. Thus did I learn of the existence of this media underworld. A month later, I started the Oregon Blog.

My objective with the Oregon Blog was to talk about Oregon news and the issues confronting Oregonians. This state has long set the standard for civic involvment, rational discourse, and the innovative solutions that emerge from them. I was entranced by the prospect of this emerging medium and what effect it might have on a dialogue I've seen become disturbingly weakened by polarized ideologies. Oregonians need more discussion, less narrow-minded lectures. Blogs, although they are still read by nearly no one, are a perfect medium for discussion.

In the 18 months the Oregon Blog was active, those discussions were frequent. I'm thankful that a diversity of people commented and kept the conversations lively. During that period, other bloggers joined in the conversation, and at last check, there were some 351 blogs listed at ORblogs, the Oregon blogs directory. The conversation is growing.

During my time writing, along with Ignatius Reilly and Fred Henning, my biggest accomplishment was interviewed mayoral, city council, and legislative candidates. I hope there were some enjoyable posts along the way. At its height, about 100 readers were checking in daily. My thanks.

Although the Oregon Blog has now run its course, its mission will carry on at Blue Oregon. I hope everyone who enjoyed this site will go join the discussion there. And not to worry: old blogs never die--they just sit on a server somewhere in Mountain View, CA.

The new generation of blogging is officially--if not broadly--live. I am happy to join Kari Chisholm and Jesse Cornett in helping launch Blue Oregon. We've got a group of very interesting voices there, including (currently):

Jack Bogdanski
Chris Bouneff
Leslie Carlson
John Doty
Jason Evans
Lew Frederick
Charles Heying
Isaac Laquedem
Randy Leonard
Mari Margil
Anne Martens
Erika Meyer
Wendy Radmacher-Willis
Pat Ryan
Chuck Sheketoff
Andrew Simon
Sean Smith
Kim Stafford
Kenji Sugahara
Rachael Vorberg-Rugh

No doubt you recognize a few names there--and others I hope you will soon recognize. We're going to try to do regular blogging, perhaps a little original journalism (B!x having set the bar high), some insidery rumor-mongering, advocacy, criticism, and a lot of chat. We've been live 24 hours and Randy Leonard's already in the house--with six comments! So is Jack Bogdanski, the now reclusive Blogfather. Call that an exclusive.

So go check it out: