Grassroots Journalism Poetry

grassroots journalism is
not connected to buildings
although it can survive there,
can thrive there if you reach it.

it's in houses and coffee shops and
corner diners across the land with wifi
to carry the news near and far in real time.

the front lines aren't in the boardrooms as i
mentioned before, they're located on the street.

today for example, while out helping Al shoot
the pride award house (and the cleaned up
Ugly House Award Winner), we stopped &
talked to a man mowing lawn of a
church. he knew of the site
but hadn't been there in
a while and us stopping
to chat for a few
minutes will
probably
cause
him
to visit
the website
and maybe tell
another person too.

and so it goes.
and so it continues.
and so it grows.

talked to another person locally
who's into the whole flea-market
and semi-permanent yard sale
scene, trying to make a living.

i want to invite him into the
coalition of the willing to
help us and be helped by
us too. to start a
statewide merchandise
campaign or strategy of
some sort, while claiming
more square footage of office
space to play around with and grow
into.

and thanks to al and the resourcefulness
of almost hank in fixing the toilet. heh.
the wonders of the office space we do have.

grassroots with the addition of a business model
or several of them. random thoughts on the media
revolution. giving power of publication back to
the people. directing the construction of a new
era of communication and community online. and
i hear from my many ears that The Star Press
has hired one or more 'citizen journalists'
(rather, MoJo's, i think) to comb the
neighborhoods with laptops and cameras
much like i've been doing for a while now.
and they're dropping prices on their online
ads or bundling them (STILL! Heh. keep bundling
as it will be your downfall eventually...) i'm
sounding cocky perhaps with my site having gone
down, but problems do happen and you move on.

what we can offer advertisers ABOVE and BEYOND
what the star press offers is knowledge of the
internet - and search engines - and how they
work or don't work. bigger ads aren't the
answer. (i remember them laughing at me
when i stood up and asked about google
ads at corporate glass tower meeting.)

here we are, though, in the future.

here i am, trying to change still.

journalist as teacher.
journalist as friend.
journalist as poet.
journalist as referee.

journalist as me.
journalist as you.

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