Chuck Kuffner earns a second "Best in Houston" title from the Houston Press, but I disagree with their rationale...
We waited for someone to step up and dethrone Charles Kuffner as the best blogger in town. We scoured the H-town blogosphere, reading what the pamphleteers of the 21st century had to say about sports, politics, music, art and breakfast. We wasted countless hours, time we could've spent paying our bills or cleaning our homes, getting too much information from all the folks out there who've stepped up, sat down and started typing.
Now it's time for me to disagree.
Houston Press is leftist/alternative, Chuck's center-left. Easy match there, but let's not get all lefty-righty-tighty-whitey on this.
He's good, but I think BlogHouston consistently takes the Houston Chronicle to task in ways that in the past year, Chuck hasn't managed to keep up with.
I disqualify myself because so little of my content is what I'd call "local" and I think a "Houston Blogger" should be defined as "someone who blogs about Houston happenings and issues." I may bepresent on more blogs than the next five people combined, but very little of my content has local relevance or interest.
And I don't like awards to begin with. Pulitzers, Emmys, Oscars, Annenbergs, and AP trophies have turned journalism into a cesspool of arrogant, spoiled back-slapping sloppy jackasses who think getting blown around in hurricanes is a heroic thing to do.
Lone Star Times brings together quite a few local talents who are a bit more vehement that the BH folks, but still making valid points.
Tory Gattis and Tom Kirkendall are a one-two punch for well-reasoned, in-depth analyses of various local issues.
Eric Berger the Sciguy appears to be the go-to man these days among the Chron.Commies, although I think by the definition of blogger you have to consider behind-the-scenes operations, which produces my own suggestion for blogger of the year in Houston...
Dwight Silverman an unbeatable force in the city. The man is taking a massive publishing operation into the twenty-first century with its online product, opening up the columnists and writers to the concept of personalized journalism with opportunities for feedback, localization, citizen journalism...
Whatever mantra Jeff Jarvis has spoken of to help shepherd newspapers into the Interactive Age, Dwight has either implemented it or improved upon it.
And this just isn't my longtime worship of Dwight showing itself once again. It has been fascinating watching the process, whether on the surface or what peeks Dwight has opened up for me to see what's going on.
He sees a need, he fills it. He sees an opportunity, he's now in a position to throw down a site rapidly.
And he's got the loyalty of many in town to help build it up, should he ask. And with Stormwatchers, he did. And I think it worked, even if there's a lot that can be improved upon and lessons to learn from it.
Oddly enough, that's how he ended the site... calling for feedback. For the next one.
But most of all, the greatest testament I have for the man - How else would I have turned 180 degrees on MeMo? I understand now and I see her blog in context.
And it makes perfect sense. And I can appreciate it better now, although a fishcam would be nice.
So, Chuck, congratulations, and keep Dwight's award nice and shiny on the mantlepiece for him. And if you threepeat, well, that's just one more ktchotchke for the Mrs. to dust.
Comments (3)
Thanks, Lair. I agree there are many blogs that the Press could have easily chosen instead. Houston has a lot of excellent writers in it. For that reason, I'm especially honored to have won this year.
Posted by Charles Kuffner | October 2, 2005 10:19 PM
Posted on October 2, 2005 22:19
I get your point re: Dwight, but I don't know if I'd go so far as to cast a vote for dude as the single best Houston blogger.
Actually, I didn't cast any votes in either print media "best of" contest this time. As I mentioned on bH, I've come to the conclusion that it's kind of silly in a city this big and diverse to think there's a single BEST anything (aside from the West Alabama, of course -- heh).
Still, the things are fun, and I always enjoy the Press writeups and the juxtaposition of reader picks v. Press picks.
Posted by Kevin Whited | October 2, 2005 11:04 PM
Posted on October 2, 2005 23:04
I think before this town needs to be crowning Best Ofs we need to get the hub sites like htownblogs back in the spotlight.
Without a core hub, we're just chaos.
Posted by Laurence Simon | October 3, 2005 12:00 PM
Posted on October 3, 2005 12:00