Terrible Idea (.net)

In a strange reversal of the norm, I was made aware of an internet resource by a print medium.  Sitting down to eat my breakfast, I flipped open the day’s issue of the local rag.  The first thing I turn to in the Monroe Evening News is the opinion section, because I find it’s the best way to get a feel for what’s actually happening in town — columns about local politicians, letters to the editors showing how people feel about last week’s news, and so on.

Today, the feature opinion was… a blog.  In a startling fit of technological savvy, the Monroe Evening News had reprinted a blog entitled “If You Seek Great Beer, Look Around You” from the blog Michigan Beer Buzz.  Now, having perused the website myself, it makes sense — the blog is hosted by a site run by the Monroe Evening News, called “Monroe Blogs.”  But of course, this fact is also interesting.  My local paper is getting involved in online alternative media.  It’s even sponsoring it.  It seems like an excellent symbiosis, and something that other papers should consider.  By setting up a central site where community members can write about the goings-on in their community on a regular basis, the paper gains (1) the goodwill of the citizens, (2) potential material for opinion columns (like this), and (3) a finger on the pulse of the community.  For the same reason that I read the letters to the editor to find out what people in Monroe really think, the paper can read the blogs they host.  The paper has created a sort of an online town square.

(On a side note, glancing through the articles on MI Beer Buzz, I did a double take when I saw an article with this quote, and the attribution: “Great Lakes, great brew.”  -Jack Hittinger, Hillsdale Collegian.  I knew Jack in passing in undergrad, and he’s penned a great article also talking about Michigan beers.  It’s a small world.)

Another great reason for posting the blog article in the print paper is that it consists of an exhortation to Monroe bars to carry more Michigan-brewed beer.  Though I had the pleasure of enjoying many a fine Michigan barley soda while in undergrad and beyond, I never realized that my native state has such a fine brewing industry.  But despite this brewing industry that rates its own blog, very few bars in Monroe carry Michigan-brewed beers.  I can vouch for this fact from personal experience — I’ve been to many a bar in the Monroe area, and the selection is sadly limited.  So, cheers to Sarah, Kevin, Rob, and John at Michigan Beer Buzz.  Here’s to Michigan beer, and to the hope that I’ll be hoisting a tasty, Michigan-brewed Bells instead of a Killian’s next time I’m at the local watering hole.

Blogging will be almost non-existant for the next week.  I’ve reached that zenith of the law school experice, final exams.  I’ll try to post links to interesting things that catch my attention (I can’t be buried in the law all day), but few substantive posts will come out as I pore over things like the rule against perpetuities, the Erie doctrine, the parol evidence rule, and the affectation doctrine.

Q.E.D. — from the Latin quod erat demonstrandum, “what was to be shown.”  The abbreviation has been used at the end of syllogisms since at least the renaissance.  But, as much as I love the Latin language, even I can admit that it’s fallen to disuse of late.  So, I propose a new conclusions to proofs, a phrase that has a more modern spirit, but still conveys a sense of accomplishment and success:  booyah.

My previous blogging efforts petered out long ago.  I got bogged down by unwieldy software, ugly themes, and something akin to writer’s block.  Since I stopped posting on this site, I’d tried to start several different anonymous blogs, but they failed for various reasons.  I think of it like going to the gym (something I never do, incidentally, but I’ve heard people talk about this phenomenon): You won’t do it unless you have a friend to force you to do it.  So, J Urban and his blog will hopefully serve as a sort of a “lifting buddy,” inspiring me to keep posting.

So, here it is.  Posts will be about a variety of things.  I’ll write about the law, about movies I see, about books I read, about technology, and about life in general.  The law, because I’m  law student, and that’s pretty much all I think about during the day.  Movies, because I love movies and, increasingly these days, TV shows.  Books, because I was an English major, and I still try to keep my mind fresh by reading non-law-related books.  Technology, because computer science and coding was my first love, academically speaking.  And life in general, beause I’m a young country lad experiencing the (relatively) big city for the first time.

This should be fun.