American Footprints » blogs

What’s the Commotion?

Eric Martin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:06:50 +0000

First the irreplaceable hilzoy retires, then the always-awesome Cheryl Rofer leaves Whirled View. Quite the upheaval in the blogosphere today.

The good news is that Cheryl isn’t retiring, just relocating. Add her new site to your daily routine (and keep Whirled View in the mix, of course).

And So We Are All Diminished…

Eric Martin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:11:06 +0000

One of the best in the biz (I’d say the best in the biz), hilzoy, is retiring. There is no voice out there quite like hers – reasonable, measured, honest, uniquely (and penetratingly) insightful, widly intelligent, humorous (with a mischievous bent), open-minded, humble, etc. God I’ll miss her.

Over two years ago, I wrote this:

Sometimes you come across a piece that succinctly, and neatly, expresses otherwise amorphous ideas that have been circulating in your muddled consciousness. It’s like reading what the resolution of your inner debate would look like if you had been able to achieve such clarity yourself. Or how you would have liked to have formulated a hodgepodge of thoughts if you could have only organized them in such an eloquent, plainspoken manner.

But when it all comes together, reading such a work can be like reading yourself – only better. Even if it’s nothing ambitious or grandiose, it resonates.

Many times, those pieces are written by someone named hilzoy. Here’s one example.

But really, the examples are too numerous to list. It was my honor and extreme pleasure to share Obsidian Wings with her for a small part of her blogging career.

Here’s hoping she gets pulled back in. Soon.

Arab Media & Society

Brian Ulrich — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:47:01 +0000

I don’t have much to say about the role of social media in Iranian politics, or the politics of anywhere else for that matter. If the issue interests you, however, be sure to check out the on-line journal Arab Media & Society. Here’s the blogging tag, and you can get others from the sidebar.

There’s also a piece on BBC Persian.

My own view of some technological issues in society, written from a long-term perspective, is here, though I spend only a little time on the strictly political world.