Law & Blogging

Unease at the intersection.

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"He's doing the law professor thing so plainly that it makes me want to get out my laptop and surf the internet or IM my friends about how bored I am.

Althouse on Obama on SCOTUS on the Second Amendment.

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Interviewed

Kiera Wiatrak, a freelancer for the Wisconsin State Journal, interviewed me this afternoon about student blogging.

While I started to feel like an old man about 10 minutes into the interview - 2005 and 2006 seem so long ago! - she covered a lot of ground, and I'm looking forward to reading the article.

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Hippie Perspective Heads Out

A mainstay blog in the UW-Madison blogosphere, The Hippie Perspective, has decided to hang up his hat. He, too, has ventured down into the South - to Florida.

Erik O's venture has been around for roughly the same timeline as LIB, and we've certainly seen many of the same developments transpire, although certainly through different lenses.

I must say, despite our vehement disagreements on certain issues, we've always managed to maintain a pretty cordial, respect-filled, rational discourse in our dealings over the years. That's been a very refreshing and rewarding experience. I think it's forced both of us to strengthen and hone our arguments in advance at points, and that's always a good process.

Here's hoping he'll jump back in whenever he gets the chance.

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A summer invitation from LIB

We know you're out there. We know you have opinions, ideas, and experiences. And that you wouldn't mind sharing them.

Please do!

If you would like to do some guest blogging here at Letters in Bottles this summer - even just a single post, let us know by contacting us at the e-mail addresses on the sidebar.

Tell us something interesting about your corner of the world. Or share your take on the latest development in the presidential race or world affairs. Review a book, a beer, a movie, an album, a state or national park, a concert, a blog, a new building, a restaurant. Interview someone or share a unique photo or drawing.

We'd love to hear your ideas.

Cordially yours,

LIB

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Back on Ye Olde Isle

If thou hast not heard the crier about town, an annointed heir apparent of sorts hath been made known to the UW-Madison blogosphere.



















Make thee thine own assessment of "Fearless Sifting". I'm traditionally more a fan of the winnowing, as you can see.

I must say on the whole, I continue to be dumbfounded at the lack of more widespread, quality blogging on the UW-Madison campus. The recipe should be perfect given the ingredients - massive numbers of intelligent young people who are tech-savvy, engaged, outspoken, and who have a comparatively high amount of free time on their hands. There's also a massive captive audience for a small, highly concentrated geographic area and several newspapers focused on that same scene to provide fodder. Strange.

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Pulse Check: Yep, Still Alive

After reading the New York Times' scare piece about "death by blogging," I perused Althouse's take on the topic:

So is blogging "a young man's game"? If it's a game, it's several games. One is for young men and women: Use it as a calling card. Get some recognition and leverage it into a job in journalism, a nice book deal, or something else more substantial. Blog hard, but not for too long, and make it work as a means to an end. An older person changing careers might do this too.

But there are many other games to be played through blogging: You can amplify another career (a career that brings you real income). You may care passionately about your cause and or your beliefs, something that you might otherwise contribute money to. You can do it with no idea of improving your income but purely for personal satisfaction.

In discussing my blogging avocation with a roommate last night, I determined I'm definitely operating under the final sentence - for personal satisfaction. If I had other things in mind, I would probably have refined the scope of the blog, revamped the blog's structure, or quit by now. It's why I decided we'd get rid of our lame attempt at Google ads some time back rather than tinker until we found a money-making scheme that fit.

Still, I've used posts to get a job, and I've increasingly attempted to raise the bar here by ramping the tone toward some semblance of being professionally acceptable. Interestingly (and probably as a result), some individuals, upon meeting me and finding the blog these days, tell me I seem a bit older, a bit sharper, colder, and more intimidating on the blog than in real life. It's interesting to hear, especially since so much of my life doesn't make it onto the blog. Input from others tells me more about my subconscious screening process, my public self, than I would have realized on my own.

Althouse, in good Althousian bloggish form, advises some introspection:

Know why you are doing it and pay attention to whether it is doing what you want it to do for you. That's good advice for anything you do by choice. I think the stress people feel — in blogging, as in many other things — comes from the unattended-to knowledge that what they are doing doesn't make sense.

Problem is, I do attend to the knowledge that what I'm doing doesn't make sense. This blog consists of three very busy people in disparate geographic locations who could post on just about anything at a varying frequency. We're very much a grab bag that's not sculpting itself for any particular segment of potential readership, and yet we've developed what feels like a bit of a readership. We aren't compensated for what we do. That doesn't necessarily make sense. I'm cognizant of that.

And yet blogging stresses me out. Sometimes I feel like a pair of jeans between two hitched teams - one the pull of self-expression/pesonal record/citizenship/creative outlet, the other a realpolitik strain for additional readers, for additional influence, for additional signficance, for additional leverage on prospects.

Do you keep marching to the beat of your own drum or do you cave a bit to grow readership? Do you sacrifice quality or thoroughness for quantity? Do you take a stance or conceal positions that could come back to haunt you down the road?

Still, given the limitations of our project (law school, engineering curriculum, lack of internet access in the Caucusus, strange/ironic reluctance to self-promote), which I sumbit limit us in many ways from growing drastically, the positives are clearly outweighing the negatives. Any stress involved in blogging is still, in the end, a great antidote to so many other more stressful things.

That's why I'm still here.

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Choices

As I told a prospective student before Property class this morning, Tulane's surroundings are key to making it a desirable law school. The many cultural offerings of New Orleans are the perfect antidote to hours of intense study, making any smidgeon of free time well spent.

But the antidote has the potential to be a distraction, too, so it's a fine line to walk.

This week has been a study in balancing delicately on that tight rope.

On Tuesday evening, I finally caught Rebirth Brass Band at the Maple Leaf on Logan's suggestion. On Wednesday evening, I hit up an evening event at the New Orleans Museum of Art, where I saw Rodrigue's Blue Dogs exhibition (boy, did that prompt some discussion about art, commerce, etc. in our group!). Last night I heard all about the fascinating lives of Teach For America teachers in the South over a delicious supper of corned beef, soda bread, and cabbage.

And today, as I continue reading, I'm feeling the tugs of a crawfish boil on The Fly next to the river accompanied by the Soul Rebels, as well as an outdoor performance by a friend's band at Bacchanal in the Marigny, and the Wisconsin basketball game at Cooter Brown's.

With oral arguments tomorrow, however, the tugs will have to be faced with sighs and shrugs. Until we're finished - then it's likely off to the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival in the Quarter. And perhaps, if the wallet's not too light, a visit to the patio at Dos Jefes. Before getting back to outlining for exams...

It's all about putting one foot after another. And, I suppose, blogging less, as w-

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CNN to Blogger: Walk the Plank

But the blogger's treading water, raging at the ship that's leaving him in its wake, frigate-birds floating overhead:

Since those earliest days, I've come to understand that the libertine, pirate ship mentality I found so seductive during my time in a rock band is pretty much a staple of most newsrooms, particularly at the local level. What's more, it's accompanied by a slightly better paycheck (although often only slightly).

Over the past several years though, something has changed. Drastically. And I'm not sure whether it's me, or television news, or both.

A New Orleans attorney, who alerted me to the story, muses about whether law is the best solution to the problem of a rogue blogger employee:

I think this may be a case of applying the law to exacerbate a problem, rather than to control (which is often impossible) or diminish the problem. I guess what I'm saying is that maybe the legal angle to this story is a big part of CNN's problem.

And perhaps CNN will find that having an employee handbook (which may have been tweaked after consultation with high-priced lawyers) isn't turning out to be the great weapon that they had hoped it would be. But, just as news companies rarely point the camera at themselves, lawyers rarely advise clients to consider the negative fallout from using the law to solve a big problem. Lawyers, like journalists, have self-interests that sometimes override their supposed allegiance to the people they serve.

Here, it does seem CNN's decision is a little less than wise. Rather than work out an agreeable arrangement, it decided the best way to tango with a blogger is to cut the cord and put up a great, silent wall:

A few minutes later, I was off the phone and out of a job. No severance. No warning (which would've been a much smarter proposition for CNN as it would've put the ball effectively in my court and forced me to decide between my job or the blog). No nothing. Just, go away.

Right before I hung up, I asked for the "official grounds" for my dismissal, figuring the information might be important later. At first they repeated the line about not writing anything outside of CNN without permission, but HR then made a surprising comment: "It's also, you know, the nature of what you've been writing."

Now, the nature of CNN's business, providing objective news, makes the handbook's proscription a bit more reasonable than it might be for a different industry. The value of the company's product could more easily be called into question in light of openly biased public expressions of an identifiable employee in the same vein as CNN's business - namely, providing news and news commentary. A mechanic who posts polticial stances on Huffington Post does not call the value of the oil changes he provides into question as easily as the politically outspoken blogger does with political news content he helps provide through CNN.

The blogger here, Chez, is a rather blatantly rebellious person, as evidenced by his post's bloggers-against-the-machine concluding lines, although he succeeds in making some bitingly accurate jabs at CNN content. But what about the individual's right to political self-expression on his own time? What about the vagueness of the handbook terms? What about the growing prevalence of blogs generally?

As someone genuinely interested in the law of blogging with respect to employment - in large part out of self-interest given my own situation - this case is fascinating. I've gone from thinly veiled pseudonym in the blogosphere to backing my content openly with my name. I think it makes people more responsible for what they say and improves both the tone and level of debate and commentary, even if it personally circumscribes (by my choice) my latitude of expression.

It's unfortunate that such a healthy practice proved to be a major component in the downfall of one former employee of CNN.

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Firewalls, Seawalls, and a Valentine from Vlad

Mikey R, adventuring in Asia, makes a crucial blogging shift:

I’m already beginning to feel the effects of China’s internet censorship, and I haven’t even booked my flight out of Bangkok. Apparently, Blogspot (the site that hosted my travel blog) has been added to an expanding list of websites that are blocked by the Chinese government in what Chinese bloggers have termed, “The Great Firewall.” So I welcome you to my new travel blog (hosted by a site called Wordpress, this time), which I can happily access in Shanghai without breaking Chinese law. I’ve heard one can draw the attention of the censors by using banned words or phrases as well (bloggers have taken to using acronyms for the more popular banned phrases, which has even lead to the banning of certain acronyms), so this blog may one day find itself in the clutches of The Great Firewall, too. Until then, read and enjoy.

In other firewall news, Hillary Clinton pulls a page from the Giuliani playbook as she looks to make a final stand down at the Alamo.

When you're putting up political primary firewalls - or even worse, a "sea wall" as one commenter called it (perhaps mistakenly, but nonetheless aptly) - you're likely already done.

Although this anti-endorsement - a stiff-handed Valentines slap from Vlad himself - might help.

I'm not a big fan of him these days, taunting our sea wall. And I never was.

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Dry Dock

LIB sidles up to a berth. I hope to update the sidebar, description, and a few other structural aspects of the blog over the next week or so.

Some portions haven't changed since we arrived on the island. We've got gerbils running around in the html - it's a real timebomb that's due to be defused.

If you have any suggested links or new quotes for the subheadings under the title, shoot them my way.

Things change. Don't cry. Cue cleaning montage.

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McCain's Daughter

Meghan has a blog, if you haven't heard.

And a pretty decent taste in music, too.

HT/PE, Althouse

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What to talk about?

One gets tired after a time.

I dashed off two substantial posts earlier today only to find fatal flaws in the premise of each one at the last moment on the very brink of publishing.

But you, though?

What brings you here this late January evening?

Here, I have one last can of Hamm's in the fridge.

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Worth a Ponder

Jib raises the right questions, concerns about the intersection of blogging and history:

Bravo.

I was discussing a smaller scale venture along the same lines with the intent of archiving a bit of UW-Madison campus blogdom with HP a few weeks back:

"..it would be nice for the [campus] archives to have a snapshot of a genuine development in campus life and dialogue, especially since unlike a student newspaper that can simply be subscribed to and archived, we would probably have to actively facilitate the creation of any record. Further, as blogs die out, the potential for all record to be lost gets pretty high - the Slanty Shanty's audio is all gone already since the files were stored on UW server space and a number of the smaller short-lived campus blogs, like Schneeberg, have disappeared. (the same concern applies to campus phenomena that are largely or exclusively conducted on Facebook)"

I know CB is accruing some blog history for an independent project, but I think the greater scale anticipated in Jib's observation is right on target.

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Blog Your Way to the Bursar's Office

Give it a shot.

I think I will - if I fit the bill.

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Ta Da!

Hi, I'm Mike.

Without much success I've spent the last few minutes trying to think up something clever--the thing about first impressions is that you only get one.

For me moving up to LiB might not have sunk in just yet, but my ship came in and I'll be camping on this island. I used to blog elsewhere, but I've hung up on that. I'm excited about contributing this blog. I've been a long time reader and I hope to continue to keep up its standards.

The other recent ta da moment was the Halliburton protest at the engineering career fair yesterday. I don't like to help give the story legs, but it was on the front of two campus papers today.

Apparently nearly 200 people rallied on Bascom Hill and then sat in front of the Halliburton booth for two hours. I missed the action as I had been through the fair by noon and had to get to class. I talked to other engineers today and they did a pretty good job of disrupting the entire affair, making it hard for students to have a conversation with any company. Not to mention, the hall in the Engineering Centers Building being long and narrow clogs without protests.

I think everyone was mostly annoyed by it. One of my lab partners mentioned that if anything, the protest made approaching that table more mystical. In an email sent out by the university last week, no one could block anyone else, so students could still approach them. Moreover, with the really big companies, most applications are handled online.

As a mechanical engineering student I'm embarrassed that that was the welcome visitors and companies received on our campus, especially picture #12, that's downright disrespectful. Engineering, on the normal side of the tracks, is easily the least liberal area of campus.

I'm sure the protesters feel proud that they stood up to lowly engineers and campus personnel recruiters. It doesn't help that the campus mom is trying to instigate protests.

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A Surprise For You

Slated to arrive soon at the little LIB bus depot.

It's only a short jaunt across the lagoon in to the island shore...

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Words from Wanderers

Two friends are out exploring the world, and you might enjoy following along:

ASIA - Mike's Adventures in Thailand (and possibly Beijing)

"I'll be living in Thailand for the next few months teaching English. I'm leaving on Thursday and I'll be there for about 5 months (unless I end up going to Beijing for another few months after that so I can catch the Olympics, which is a fairly strong possibility)"

Some might remember Mike from his all-too-brief campus blogging stint at Schneeberg.


APPALACHIA - Chris' Travelogue

"I have made the ill-advised decision to remove myself from society and go for a prolonged walk on the Appalachian Trail. Somebody mistakenly told me a long time ago that it is a really fun thing to do... it was a mistake because I actually listened! So I am sitting here before you, ready to hit the trail after months of planning out and dreaming about this journey.

My trek begins in northern PA and will continue through MD, WV, VA, and possibly NC and GA if the weather permits me later this fall."

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Chatter Back on the Island

LIB has been getting some play as of late back in the isthmusphere...

Mad props or a bit of a diss?

LIB's role as a benchmark or starting point

Touchstone/tangent?

Ahh, those halcyon days of yore...

For better or worse, LIB has certainly moved on from its foxhole in the Madison blogosphere. Here's what I had to say at Critical Badger:

The one thing I never understood was why no student, rather than starting a new blog, decided to pursue a spot at LIB. There was a built-in regular readership that included influential campus figures and extended beyond campus into the community and state. We probably would’ve even taken a bona fide liberal who was thoughtful, engaged, and posted often

Clearly, some blogs are zipping along just fine without such a head start. Building new and creating a fresh identity is part of the fun. But the links were in place - reminds me a bit of my grandfather building up his dairy farm only to have none of his seven children interested in taking it over.

Kinda disappointing, but just the way the cookie crumbles, I suppose.

And, as with my grandfather’s barn, the piping is still in place over the stalls…ready in case someone would happen to come along one day.

That brings us to the present of LIB. As a reader or visitor, what would you like to see more of in our posts? Politics? Photos? Music? Interviews? Homemade video? Random stuff? Media analysis? Questions for debate? Personal stories? Links to other blogs? Better aesthetics? Shorter posts? More posts? A MOA award? Bill Anderson? Posts from Fighting Ed?

Any other general suggestions as we chart our course?

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FEC Keeps Blogging Frontier Open

Good.

My thoughts on the topic...wrapped in an extended Western metaphor.

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