Richmond bloggers meeting report

On what was a beautiful afternoon in the Fan District the Richmond bloggers’ meeting at the Baja Bean went quite well. About half of those who showed up to talk and listen were folks who publish blogs that are generally seen as at least somewhat political, the other half fell into a category that might be called other-than-political -- meaning blogs about community, food, girls, or whatever.

The discussion ranged from what we all have in common to what to do next. The spirit of the meeting was informal and collegial. It was decided that the group will meet again next month, to continue discussing what undertakings we might pursue together. Unanimous agreement was reached over the importance of having inexpensive beer available at the next meeting, too, unless we can figure a way to make it free.

The group seemed happy to entertain the notion that we could ban together to perform a community service, the nature of which will be determined down the road. The possibility of staging a full-fledged blog convention, with workshops and speakers, seemed to have some traction, but no firm decisions were made on that front.

Out of this meeting. we can expect to see a new eclectic Richmond Blog Carnival appearing on the horizon of the blogosphere, which Jason Kenney, of J’s Notes, will be telling us more about in the near future. The group apparently liked the idea that it would focus on quality posts, and seek out original material, rather than be centered around politics or any other limited category.

Among the other blogs that were represented were: Awkward Things I Say To Girls, Church Hill People’s News, River City Food and Wine, River City Rapids, RVA blogs, Save Richmond, The Shambling Darkness Project, Sisyphus, SLANTblog, West of Shockoe and West of the Boulevard News.

Mark Holmberg (formerly of the Richmond Times-Dispatch) showed up with his notepad and a camera man to cover the event for WTVR Channel 6.

At this point the ad hoc group of local bloggers has not named itself, nor has it elected officers. But something new is underway in Richmond. So far ... so good. We’ll see what happens next.