Friday - January 21, 2011

Looks like meat is back on the menu boys!

My fellow Uruk-hai:

I found a very nice letter from a start-up blog in my inbox today, asking if they could perhaps do a guest post on BMEWS. It’s from a group blog, with the cute name of My Dog Ate My Blog.

My Dog Ate My Blog is the creation of editors, writers, and marketers in the education industry looking for an outlet for their general creativity and immaturity.

Our writers and contributors will be focusing on the categories of politics, technology, and pop culture, with an (almost) educational spin. If those topics don’t sound appealing to you, well, we’re at a loss. You are officially on the wrong blog. Fail. If, on the other hand, you’re excited by the prospect of veiled links to the education industry in the form of blog posts, you’re in for a treat (read: entertaining experience).

So I wrote back and asked if they were serious. This blog??? Teachers, fresh out of college, want to write something for this blog? So I invited them in. But instead of just rubbing them with a fresh pork chop and throwing them blindly into the lion’s den, I spent a while checking out their blog. They lean a bit to the left. A bit. That’s not unexpected. But - and it may just be me, deranged Viking that I am - but I found their writing to be rather gentle. Tepid. Not strong or confrontational. Almost as if they were bored students who were writing posts because they had been assigned them for homework. I replied that none of their posts stomped or stamped around; that they write as if they all wear PETA-approved renewable resource artificial chincihlla lined fuzzy bunny slippers. Whereas we write with boots with spikes on. So, since they had asked for writing tips, I gave them some. Be bold, I said. Write about the things that get you fired up. Use your brains. Write with verve and panache. Stand up for what you believe in. And please don’t post any pics with full frontal nudity. That’s Peiper’s job.

I don’t know if they have an essay prepared for submission. I don’t know if they will even respond, or, if they do take up the challenge, how long it will take them to deliver the goods. I suggested that they write about teaching, and come out in support of any of the many aspects about teaching we generally find abhorrent here. Do a great job and you’ll earn our respect I wrote. Do a poor job and my readers will sharpen their knives and bring extra Tabasco sauce to the barbecue. But I wrote that I would go over it first, and reject it if they delivered crap. Come on, who could resist the temptation of grading the teachers?

I don’t even know if they will write in support of any of those academic topics (unions, tenure, Zero Tolerance, diagnosing your child and forcing meds on her, etc). But I would like to to get a good and spirited discussion going in response to their effort if they make one. Hey, go right ahead and visit their place, and read some of their posts to get a feel for things. They don’t like Sarah Palin, they are in slight favor of the Ground Zero mosque, they seem to think that Kelo v. New London was a good decision. But let’s give them a chance.

I also wrote that I would make their author a member here, so that he or she could take part in any discussion that may arise. That’s the fair thing, right?

Notice that I did not write “But instead of rubbing them with a fresh lamb chop”. No. Blood of the lamb would imply a Passover, a free ride. “Hi! My name is Daniel, and I’ll be your server today! Would you like to sit with the lions, or would you like to sit with the lions?” Not that I’m using violent rhetoric to encourage anyone slightly unstable to acts of keyboard violence. I’m just saying that I asked them to be bold and to give it their best shot. So that’s what I’ll be asking of you as well. See? Nothing more than a spirited discussion, using logic and reason to make your points an to win hearts and minds.

You did click on the link at the top of this post, right? [wink wink]

Posted by Drew458     on 01/21/2011 at 08:18 PM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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