Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Delaware Blogging in 2007

The readers of DelawareLiberal have voted, and offered some recognition for what I've been doing here:
Best Blog Posting of 2007:
Anything on Tommywonk about Windpower

Biggest Delaware Policy Screwup of 2007:
Offshore Windfarm Coitus Interruptus

Blog of the Year:
Tommywonk
If blogging were just about typing deep thoughts into a computer and posting them online, then this recognition wouldn't mean all that much. But Delaware bloggers have made their voices heard in ways that might have seemed improbable when I started TommyWonk in February, 2005.
It's not unusual to hear bloggers like Dana Garrett of Delaware Watch and Mike Matthews of DWA doing stints as guest hosts on WDEL talk shows. Dana appears on roundtable segments on Channel 12's Delaware Tonight, long a bastion of the usual suspects offering the usual opinions. Dave Burris of First State Politics has emerged as a force for change within the Delaware GOP. In short, bloggers are finding their voices as proponents of change in the wider public sphere.
The wind power story has certainly given TommyWonk greater visibility; I've been repeatedly interviewed on radio stations and quoted in news stories on the subject. What's particularly gratifying for me is that I have found myself in the middle of an emerging set of environmental activists, as described by the News Journal two weeks ago:
The yearlong discussion about the wind farm has given rise to a grass-roots environmental movement in Delaware.
A year ago, I had not met John Austin, Joan Deaver, Jeremy Firestone, Kim Furtado, Pat Gearity, Willett Kempton, or Kit and Bill Zak. Now I am privileged to count them as colleagues in this new environmental movement.
I interpret the recognition from DelawareLiberal as emblematic of a a growing understanding of the ways that blogs can play a useful role in advocating for change. I hesitate to even try to mention all the blogs that serve as useful sources of information on local issues including open government, education, land use, the environment and politics.
Rev. Lloyd Casson, who stepped down as rector of my church after a long career in urban ministry in Wilmington, Washington and New York City, offered this advice upon his retirement: Find a need and fill it.
I seem to have done so with TommyWonk. Here's to finding needs and filling them in 2008.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, I didn't realize that you are a member of that congregation!
My friend, Keith Lake is also a member and told me that Casson was fantastic. So when I heard that he was likely to retire soon, (this was a year and a half ago), I decided to attend one summer morning to see for myself.
Every bit of his reputation was borne out in person. I am thankful to have taken that opportunity to meet him.

12:15 PM, January 02, 2008  

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