I was planning not to respond to the Dish at all. It’s not my style! I’d rather take the publicity than not, but they referenced my first post, ever. The piece was more prose than exposition, so the reference seemed to come out of context. Admittedly, I was embarrassed! (Let’s not get into the meta of being embarrassed about an anonymous alter-ego; I do lose sleep over this.) I have a lot of respect for the writing in the Hook (and I liked the site), so this seemed out of character for them. Overall, I see our site building consensus about local businesses. Look at the discussion of pizza that’s been taking place for almost a week”unlike a food column that makes bold statements about restaurants based on isolated experiences from which readers will form definitive plans for whether or not to patron it, we collect many experiences for readers to reference without claiming to be an authority. I use the word experience because we’re seeing comments about tables not being cleared and sides never arriving. Our regular commenters seem loathe to write, It sucked. We promote objectivity through anecdotal evidence. Interestingly enough, restaurant reviews are in the minority on the site. Event promotions, reviews, and general discussion draw the most attention.

Blog culture is inherently democratic. I hope writers own their words and don’t make apologies for their opinions. I have the most fun writing about innocuous topics, from cauliflower to Saturday nights. As the Hook and all journalists know, caustic topics are really difficult. I spent a lot of time writing my response to what I perceive to be a serious flaw in my generation and was supported and validated. Later, I genuinely wondered about the effect of the location of a business I support on a demographic I’m no longer a part of, essentially testing an external variable of dubious legitimacy, and I was criticized repeatedly, with profanity, because those commenting can do so here and no where else. Good. That discussion would not happen over brunch in those words among strangers or friends, but it is supposed to happen here. Trust me, I feel very accountable for what I write because I’m made accountable for it.

I also want to thank Waldo for the nod. It meant a lot.

Other than that, yeah, the review seemed about right. We have fun, don’t we?

While the specific fate of public broadcasting can be characterized as small potatoes in the big scheme of things, the principle it represents goes directly to the question of what type of society will dominate in the United States and globally for the coming generations Will we have a society where people are regarded primarily as fodder for corporate profitability, or will we have a society where citizens have the right to actually determine whatever economic and media systems they regard as best?”

Robert W. McChesney, Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times, 1999

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