Capitol Hill Blog Mute on Seattle Pride
Capitol Hill has been the traditional heart of the GLBT community in Seattle for much longer than I've lived here.
This set me to wondering why the neighborhood blog for Capitol Hill Seattle rarely has anything to say about that heritage or the GLBT community.
Now it's true that to a large degree we write what we know or what we care about. I spend next to no time writing about parenting or fly-casting or basket-weaving. I don't know if there are any GLBT folks writing for CHS, but if there are they don't seem to be writing much about GLBT issues.
No posts relating to Seattle's Pride celebrations that I can find. Only five results with the word "gay". Only one with the words "lesbian", "bisexual" and "Transgender". True to other Seattle obsessions, there are 25 posts with the word "coffee".
It strikes me as odd that in the blog for what is arguably the gayest neighborhood in the 2nd gayest city in all of these United States that there are so few posts reflecting that diversity.
It leads me to ask whether the Capitol Hill Seattle blog really reflects all of Capitol Hill, or just for the "Fancy Pants" part.
4 comments:
GC, you give us way too much credit. We've got our hands full covering a few square blocks near our neighborhood. Anyhow, had some fun with our response to you. Keep in touch!
CapitolHillSeattle is not THE blog for capitol hill.
It is A blog for capitol hill.
Just as you are not THE blog for gays, or gay curmudgeons, for that matter.
I'm not sure why j/k didn't see fit to post their full response here. Here is the response I posted over at CHS:
j/k,
This is not about Pride specifically. Pride was just the starting point to consider in what degree the Capitol Hill Seattle blog, a blog whose name stakes out a lot of geographical and metaphorical ground, covers GLBT issues and all of Capitol Hill.
TGC: "It strikes me as odd that in the blog for what is arguably the gayest neighborhood in the 2nd gayest city in all of these United States that there are so few posts reflecting that diversity. It leads me to ask whether the Capitol Hill Seattle blog really reflects all of Capitol Hill, or just for the "Fancy Pants" part."
CHS: "Now, now, GC -- that wasn't very neighborly to do. Why not just drop us a line or leave another comment? Anyhow, let's go ahead and have this conversation in public for the benefit of all."
Neighbors talking civilly about things they all care about is always neighborly. I’m not clear why a post on my own blog to start this conversation isn’t public or appropriate while a post on your blog is. Isn’t the joy of blogging on the web how easy it is for blogs to link to each other, as I did to you, and get a dialog going? Hey, I posted on my blog, you found it lickety-split and here we are. Eureka, it works!
While we are all channeling our inner Miss Manners, it’s good manners to make your complete response to an originating post in the comment thread of that post wherever possible. You would have taken a dim view of me if I’d made a content free post on your Blue Angels thread and instead directed people to my own blog for the actual response - as you have just done – and rightly so. Sauce for the goose, j & k…
I think the Top 5 lists are fun too, let me propose the “Top 5 Reasons why CHS hasn’t posted on GLBT issues”:
1. We thought GLBT was a sandwich order
2. GLBT isn’t our tribe and we don’t know anyone in that tribe living in this neighborhood
3. We thought all the dapper women and buff men were out-of-towners auditioning for a reality show
4. Typing GLBT is just too hard. Why isn’t it LGBT or TBLG or BLTG anyway?
5. We can’t post on GLBT issues unless the Blue Angels crash into an Coffee Klatch at Fuel for grieving GLBT Rainbow customers
Now, let’s to the heart of the question that I raised:
CHS: “Six, we don't write about the whole of Capitol Hill. We write about our neighborhood and the occasional field trip. We're hoping somebody eventually steps forward and creates a voice for Broadway -- we've offered to help the guy writing for the PI's CapHill blog start his own thing if he's interested. If somebody else wants to step in and give it a rip, holler.”
My goal was to raise a serious question about the degree to which the “Capitol Hill Seattle” blog really represents all of Capitol Hill and the community living there. Now that we all understand that you are blogging just about “your neighborhood”, it would be useful for all of us to know what that neighborhood is. Is there a boundary that you consider your neighborhood that we should know about? Is it a named sub-neighborhood of Capitol Hill like North Capitol Hill or just a few blocks around where you live?
Understanding your actual scope vs. the expansive naming of your blog “Capitol Hill Seattle” is, I think, a legitimate question for a member of the Capitol Hill community to ask.
I’m very pleased to hear that you are so open to other voices and encourage their growth. If and when other bloggers step up to own their sub-neighborhoods on Capitol Hill, as you have, is your plan to relinquish the overbroad “Capitol Hill Seattle” moniker for one that is more accurately scoped to “your neighborhood”? Failing that, would you be open to adding these other sub-neighborhood bloggers under the “Capitol Hill Seattle” umbrella so that the voices could more accurately reflect the diversity of the whole Capitol Hill community?
Neighborhood blogs are an excellent community resource and I’m watching their growth with keen interest and excitement. For all you neighborhood blog junkies, take a look at outside.in a great way to view posts about your local neighborhood. CHS is already well represented there, but what other blog dealing with Capitol Hill neighborhood news and issues should appear there as well?
Thanks,
~GC
P.s. The presumption that I’m “angry” and that I'm "attacking" CHS is entirely misplaced as a neutral reading of the post on my blog will attest. I'm a CHS reader and a member of its community who is raising some legitimate questions on my own blog in a respectful, but hopefully thought provoking way. j/k set the rules on the CHS blog and commenters who aren’t interested in a constructive discussion on the issue may be better served by taking a deep breath and moving on.
Hey Christina,
You make an interesting point. Let's look at it critically for a moment:
"The Gay Curmudgeon" didn't exist anywhere else that I could find when I originally chose it. There was no organization, geographical location, company, or other entity that a reasonable effort could find that might create conflict over the name, brand, or trademark ownership.
“The Gay Curmudgeon” was chosen to describe the author of the blog and not the external subject or scope of the blog. I don’t think any reasonable person would make the assumption that I am speaking for Gay Curmudgeons everywhere. “The Gay Curmudgeon” is clearly singular and it’s for good reason.
The name “The Gay Curmudgeon” had no pre-existing affinity with any set of subjects. As a personal blog it puts in scope any subject that matters to me and avoids me claiming more subject matter territory than I can do justice. Given this, there is no reasonable expectation that the blog is about all “Gay Curmudgeons”.
“Capitol Hill Seattle” already existed as a public name and neighborhood entity. There is a sound argument that people who live in the Capitol Hill Seattle neighborhood have an interest in the neighborhood and are players in, as well as the audience for, its stories.
I won’t visit j+k’s intentions in their naming, but it seems reasonable to deduce that “Capitol Hill Seattle” was chosen as the name for the blog because Capitol Hill Seattle, the place, is the subject and scope of the blog.
The name “Capitol Hill Seattle” does have pre-existing affinity and context with the entire Capitol Hill neighborhood. In the name there is no attempt to scope it to what j+k have described as “their neighborhood”. I appreciate how cool it is to get the “first mover” advantage in the nascent neighborhood blogging space, but assuming a name that covers a lot more territory than you are actually signed up to cover seems at least a little greedy if not actually disingenuous. Is short, there is an entirely reasonable expectation, based on our common understanding, that the blog is about what is commonly thought of as “Capitol Hill Seattle”.
While I think your complaint falls short under any scrutiny, I’m quite open to hearing from other gay curmudgeons who might be interested in forming a Gay Curmudgeon’s blogging ring. In fact, I’ve been thinking that getting all the Curmudgeons together (The Comics Curmudgeon, The Curmudgeon, Curmudgeon Gamer, The Knitting Curmudgeon, Precocious Curmudgeon, Curmudgeon-in-training, The Blogging Curmudgeon etc.) might be fun. Or even all the blogs with the word “Gay” in their name, although compiling the list, herding them all together, and then getting them to agree on anything is likely more angst than any mortal could bear.
I have no problem with anyone taking the Capitol Hill Seattle name. I do, however, still wonder if it’s reasonable for them to take it without any intention of actually covering all of Capitol Hill Seattle. I’m satisfied with having raised the issue and, although I’m disappointed that there wasn’t much in the way of mature and reasoned debate, I think the jury is still out on the issue.
Thanks for stopping by and, contrary to your comment here , the comment you made was approved as soon as I read the notification. Remember that with comment moderation on Blogger they sit in a queue for approval. Perhaps a little more presumption of goodwill, and a little less jumping to conclusions is called for.
Cheers!
~GC
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