UK Royalty Graces Miami

OK … you know I relish tabloid headlines.  But here’s what really happened: last Thursday night, I had the opportunity to have dinner with Hugh MacLeod—the brainchild behind gapingvoid—thanks to the graciousness of Alex de Carvalho, who organized the event at the last minute. Alex, as well as Jason Korman from Stormhoek (What a scandal!  Yes, Miami bloggers, that Jason) and Leonard Boord from The Gorb, generously treated us to an evening of free-flowing drinks, Italian food, great company and conversation at Regina Margherita on Lincoln Road.  Alex, Jason and Hugh had practically just stepped off a flight from the SXSW web conference in Austin so there was barely time to make an announcement.  Gus, Michelle and I attended.

Miami Geek dinner

The venue was perfect for an intimate gathering.  A cozy, lush courtyard behind the restaurant is off the beaten path from busy Lincoln Road, which made for a quiet and less distracting area for conversation.  Our candle lit tables were set under a giant tent, which unfortunately was walled-in by plastic sheeting that would’ve protected us from the rain. 

Since it wasn’t raining, we were actually (well, at least I was) shvitzing like a boiled matzoh ball.  And after accompanying Hugh to CVS to buy cigarettes (he smokes, I don’t), I must say it was quite a workout.  Hugh is clearly a big city pedestrian commuter.  Boy walks faster than a speeding bullet! Loved every minute of it, but imagine me keeping up in my three-inch heels?  I’m used to sauntering, not walking, baby. I burned off the penne a la pomodoro before I even took one bite and ended up with one whopper blister on my big left toe!

In some ways, the gathering was very high school.  I kid you not:  during the appetizer schmingling portion of the evening (that’s schmoozing and mingling simultaneously), Cristina (Alex’s friend), Michelle and I were gabbing in one corner while the boys were lounging on the wicker sofas.  But the boys and girls eventually sat down together for a meeting of minds regarding many subjects that affect us all who use the innernets (why can’t we call them fishnets?) to communicate and express ourselves.

And yes, it got me thinking about the divide between women and technology, but also on the nature of blogging as a social medium.

As Hugh puts it in his post “LOVE AND GOODWILL”: 

“To an outside observer, especially to a cynical outside observer, the whole Web 2.0/blogging thing may look a bit strange: a lot of pyjama-clad weirdos obsessing into the wee hours about A-Lister backscratching and Technorati rankings.

But on the front lines, it seems to me there’s something far more interesting going on. The vast, vast, vast majority of good bloggers I know are not doing it for links and cash, but for simple more primal reasons: the need to connect. The need to love.

Love and goodwill are driving this revolution. The selfish will be left behind.”

Goodwill:  Don’t Thrift on Love

Someone once crooned:  “Torn between two bloggers, feeling like a fool, loving both of you is breaking all the rules.”  But one needn’t feel torn any longer.  There’s a whole lot of love out there.

Coming out of a difficult time in my life, I resorted to blogging as an exercise in the craft of writing, but it has come to perform a social function in drawing me out of my reclusive shell. And call me crazy (you’d be justified in doing so), I really do feel the love. 

Sure, it’s just fated serendipity, but take a look:  Tere the Mommy Blogger recently addressed the issue for different reasons and puts it beautifully:

” … despite my feeling like an outsider in this mommy blogger world, for me this remains about community, which can only exist through a medium such as a blog.”

I mentioned to Tere that even though she feels like an outsider, she is indeed part of the discourse that is ever-evolving online.  It’s like being stuck in traffic and not realizing you’re also part of the traffic. 

When you step outside and observe yourself in connection to others, the medium of blogging has the potential to actually enhance real, live relationships.  It enables us to stay in touch when we can’t hug.  It affords us the opportunity to connect.  It gives us a platform to evaluate who we are in relation to the rest of the world.  It’s E.M. Forster’s dream:  live in fragments no longer…

Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer . . . .”

Blogger? My Ass!

Since I met Alex, he and I have been tossing around the idea of doing another blogger get together, but we’ve been wary, based on the past reaction to Stormhoek’s August 2006 event.  I’ve had to take a great deal of Pepto from all the mental poop that has been flushed in the think tank … know what I mean?

WTF is a blog, anyway? My dear friend MKH pondered about this last year and echoes E.M. Forster’s ideas on “connect the prose with the passion”: 

“Making the implication that all personal websites are pseudo-journalism is akin to claiming that all novels are bodice rippers.”

Friend, maybe Sex and the Beach could be called a bodice-ripper, but what about your blog?  Pissed off enough yet?

MKH also just pointed me to an article, via Bark Bark Woof Woof, on an LA Times editorial regarding blogging.  It’s a long story that as a responsible writer I don’t wish to take out of context, but let’s just focus on this one insanely ridiculous excerpt: 

Though the numbers and breadth of blogging are indeed astonishing, it’s not at all clear what the numbers mean, if they mean anything at all. Much of what constitutes the phenomenon of blogging is apt to be inconsequential for the simple but powerful fact that nobody reads most of them. That is, aside from their authors, literally nobody.

As Kyle Broflovski’s mom would say: “WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?” Dear fellow bloggers, I’m sure that you all wake up each morning with the existential angst of “if you mean anything at all.”

Yeah, right. MSM needs to step off its high horse or rather the horse needs to stop shitting on people who use the fishnets for communication and connection.  Get over it. It’s the way of the brave new world.  I’m more interested in what my neighbor Sharon Pickleheymer has to say about the pastrami she ate at Arnie’s than some Condé Nast reviewer – not that there’s anything wrong with either opinion – but let’s face it, Sharon is going to come from the heart, because she’s not attached to any advertising or editorial policy.

Don’t get me wrong.  Of course, I give metaphorical blow jobs at the sacred altar of journalistic quality and integrity.  That’s not the point.  There’s a time and place for everything and MSM has no business criticizing human beings for wanting to communicate and having the platform to do so.  You know, some of us blogmoebas do have half a membrane. 

I’m just adding fuel to the fire because I want to raise awareness of who we are and what we’re doing when we use technology to communicate. I appreciate everything everyone has to say and look at the effort to communicate from a human perspective – whether or not said blogger is a Pulitzer prize winner or a homeless drug addict on the street. I don’t judge, but I appreciate.  Open ears, eyes, mouths and most importantly – minds – is what’s going to make this world come around to its senses. (Oh and another thing called “open source”). The method can be abused, of course, for evil intentions, but the power to do good is right at our finger tips, literally.

Here in Miami, and elsewhere of course, the word “blog” has lost its original meaning. The idea of a web log may apply to some, but not all.  We’ve got a novelist who uses blogging software to publish chapters serially.  Is that a blog in the traditional sense? No, but so what? We’ve got engaging, talented writers who have nine-to-five jobs for a living, sharing their lives, thoughts and in some cases, unpublished creative writing.  We’ve got reporters who blog who want to communicate off the record. We’ve also got blogs that focus on news and commentary, in effect serving as a news digest.  The list goes on and on.  It’s myriad voices, saying something because they can and want to, with one thing in common:  the medium.

In short, there is no such thing as a blogger, even though we must rely on that word for lack of a better term. And sure, there are a lot of crappy spam publications posing as blogs for purely commercial purposes.  That’s not the point – the issue here is that there are many wonderful people using blogging to communicate and that anyone who should choose to judge bloggers should take a closer look—just as they would elsewhere – before forming an opinion.

That’s good journalism, eh?

Stormhoekgate

Chatting with Jason Korman on Thursday was something of a healing experience in a ORLLY? LOL! sort of way.  Despite the adverse (and understandable) reaction to Stormhoek’s 100 Dinner marketing campaign in Miami last August, the story shifts in retrospect.

This type of marketing, which is counter-intuitive to traditional wine publicity that relies on exclusivity and snob appeal, has indeed hopped on the Web 2.0 phenomenon to spread the word about its product.  “Obviously, there’s a viral marketing aspect to it, but it’s not about turning bloggers into wine pimps,” Jason explained.  “When we did the 100 Dinners in the US, it was about using the wine to start a conversation about anything, not necessarily the wine.”

I understand the issue that many Miami bloggers had with the kind of marketing that relied on our medium to reach potential customers.  I also realize that the invitation to a sponsored event seemed to define us before we had even defined ourselves.  White Dade might’ve thought it was just another “friggin’ party,” but to some, it wasn’t.

And yet, the event inspired a non-corporate “underground” gathering at Tobacco Road, during which – for the first time ever, as far as I know – an entity of more than a dozen souls called the Miami blogosphere got to shake hands in person.

Please, don’t for a moment think I am kissing Stormhoek’s ass, but in the grand scheme of things, the Stormhoek situation was a catalyst.  How else would’ve I set my eyes on your mugs?  Jason, who just laughs off the Miami marketing disaster, told me:  “The power of communication is what matters. Love it or hate it, the whole network is remarkable.”

Indeed, it is.  And I invite you to appreciate yourself for being part of an incredible Miami online and offline community.  Next time, when we’re invited to have a drink, don’t think too much about who’s providing the booze.  We’re only doing in person what we’re already doing everyday online. Engaging, communicating and connecting.

Maria de los Angeles is a freelance wordsmith who loves to write about all things travel in Florida and the Caribbean. She is also the author of the award-winning blog Sex and the Beach. See more articles by Maria de los Angeles >