July 25, 2007 05:49 PM UTC

Attended a Fun Meeting at the Denver Press Club Yesterday

• 5 Comments
• by: kate

That’s right. With my children. So what if I told them it was a UFC event in order to get them out the door?

No judgments.

Our celebrated panel – Bobby Clark, Dan Haley, and Wendy Norris – discussed old v. new media and ways online bloggers are f*cking up the program for The Denver Post.

After about ten minutes, my kids knew the smackdown I’d promised was a big fat lie. And they were not happy.

Despite lack of interest from two seven year-olds, great turnout for a mid-day media talk. Lots of thought-provoking topics, which is why I found it surprising that Wendy Norris took time to rant against sites different from her own. We only had an hour and several times she suggested profanity, less-than-stellar writing and piss-poor fact checking should lead to rejection of these annoying websites. And yet someone is still reading them.

Ouch. What’s her f*cking point?

If less serious sites are so clearly beneath her – why spend time legitimizing their existence? The woman went on too long trying to convince a roomful of work-dodgers that blogs operating outside journalism’s rules should therefore only be frequented for entertaining conversation. As if such sites are somehow inferior.

Perhaps they are. Still. Great place to pick up chicks.

Wendy’s wasting her time. Sites that post lies or can’t articulate a compelling voice don’t attract many readers or attention. From someone other than the writer’s grandma. They may continue to annoy but real readers go elsewhere. So stop obsessing and learn to ignore what you can’t understand.

Works for me and Lindsay Lohan.

Dan Haley brought up an interesting point – reporters and writers for mainstream media cannot be anonymous. Their names, email addresses and real hair color are available for all to see and ridicule. They are therefore more reliable. Because they can be b*tchslapped at the local mall.

At this point, my kids were arguing over a Nintendo game. Seated near the front, I began to sweat like a whore in church. If memory serves. So I promised them sugar cookies if they’d sit still, stay quiet and leave each other alone for ten minutes. I know. Mommy of the Year.

Whenever I’ve disclosed the hatemail received or that time someone fired burning tennis balls at my house – someone somewhere has suggested I use a fake name or take my picture down. (Mostly my sister. And mother. And Carol at work. ) But I stand behind what I write and refuse to hide behind a mask. Besides – my picture attracts a certain element.

Beastie Boys fans who write love songs to the tune of “Funky Monkey.” Priceless.

Anyway, Dan has a point. I read lots of sites where the writers blog their anonymous hearts out. Doesn’t make their views less legitimate. Just take them with a grain of salt. They don’t back up their words with a name or face and as a result, aren’t as trustworthy as those who do.

That’s a real nice way of saying I rock.

At one point, Bobby Clark summarized the general notion of a blogger. And, in between dodging dirty looks from my children, I tried not to laugh out loud. Seems we are a lonely bunch – posting in our parent’s basement in the middle of the night and have never even been felt up. Bobby also said that we want, more than anything, to be seen as *smart*.

Nonsense. Most of us would settle for *that writer with the hot ass.*

Speaking of hot ass, at the event’s end, creator and star of Coyote Gulch approached and professed himself a reader. Despite the fact he’s a hiking fan, seems like a nice guy. Would have talked longer but I had to motor.

Sugar cookies and all.