"Write now is good."

Friday needs a video

I heard "Ready to start" by Arcade Fire on the radio yesterday for the first time.

Enjoy!

Our world of storytellers

Our lives are full of the stories we tell: bits about ourselves and those we hear from others; tragic tales and side-splitting comedies; current events and news of the world; expressions of our own interests and those of our employers.

When we are not telling stories, we are listening to them: from close friends and family, from media outlets, from advertisements and marketing campaigns, and from our own "internal storyteller/editor" who cannot stop talking.

One of my favorite blogs recently featured one of my favorite storytellers, and this prompted me to share these: videos of Ira Glass, creator of and voice behind This American Life, talking about what makes great storytelling. There are four installments featured on YouTube as part of "On storytelling":

1: On the basics
2: On finding great stories
3: On good taste
4: On two common pitfalls

In the third segment, Glass talks about his awkward beginnings on radio and how hard he worked to improve. Are you a creative full of artistic vision and a desire to express it? Then listen to his story.

Citizen journalism: more voices, more truth

I learned first-hand about citizen media by blogging about New York state's political state for BBC Radio. Its channel Five Live's show "Up All Night" has a unique angle: Pods and Blogs, produced by BBC journalist Chris Vallance.

"Up All Night" covered the U.S. mid-term elections extensively, even in the days leading up to November 7th. Bloggers of differing viewpoints were regularly featured on the show to provide opinions and help explain election issues. The "Up All Night" blog features a wide range of bloggers related to world and mid-term election issues. Here I learned about bloggers from Iraq. If you want a blogs-eye view of real life in Baghdad right now, visit these blogs. No one-minute evening newscast blurb can even begin to tell these heart-wrenching stories.

On election night, bloggers from Democratic and Republican sides blogged the election coverage live. After Donald Rumsfeld resigned, Vallance checked in with the military bloggers for their opinions. Even though the U.S. military is literally in the middle of this issue, its voices seem to be under-represented in some media circles. It is crucial to understand their opinions on this significant shift.

The inclusion of bloggers and other forms of citizen journalism is such an encouraging journalistic trend. It will keep the media grounded, in-touch, and relevant. Real people can be heard. Listeners get more of the whole story. People can then make better-informed decisions about their world. The playing field begins to become more fair for everyone.

Chris Vallance has a radio show about the world of pods and blogs. No matter where you are, you can listen to it via the Internet. Click on the orange "Listen Live" link on the page's upper right-hand side. It takes place Tuesdays, 2AM (GMT). I highly recommend tuning in.

Interviewed on BBC Radio

On Friday night, I was part of a mini "town hall" discussion led by the Radio BBC/Five Live "Up All Night" presenter Dotun Adebayo. A Republican blogger and I (a blogger and registered Democrat) gave our vastly differing opinions about the issues concerning the United States' mid-term elections next Tuesday.

I had a frightening realization as I spoke: these mid-term elections are incredibly significant not only to American politics, but to the greater world's stability. With the war in Iraq, nuclear tensions in North Korea and Iran, and looming environmental crises, November 7th next week could signal some huge planetary shift.

What else I got from the whole experience:
- The blogosphere is growing in influence. As traditional media outlets are further fragmented by media over-saturation, blogs will soon grow in power to rival all other traditional media.
- I'm humbled and inspired that the U.K. and much of the world are so interested in American politics.
- It was great being back on radio again. Perhaps a podcast is in my future.

I'll be blogging some political observations from New York State over the next few days. Stay tuned. This one is too significant, and too universal, to pass up.