Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

It seems that three popular blogs have decided to close up shop.  You probably read something about in the PG a few weeks ago.  I've peeked at the commentary and heard some of the reasoning.  I can appreciate that folks want to invest their time and energies into something more personally fulfilling.  I can also appreciate wanting to get away from the negativity that opinions generate. 

But those blogs are part of the past and, true to form, folks are bemoaning the loss of the past.   Even when those blogs were bemoaning the folks who bemoaned … never mind.

People move on and new voices move in.  It happens in the MSM (except for those weather people who keep coming back) and it happens in the blogosphere.  We miss brillliance, but at some point we have to turn around and wonder whose voice wasn't part of that original dialogue.  Maybe by closing up shop, these trailblazers have created an opportunity for folks from alternative perspectives to get a little more attention. 

I continue to be amazed that after nearly three years (in December), there are no other regular LGBTQ bloggers.  There are a few folks who occasionally post.  There are some LGBTQ folks who blog for their friends and family.  But even the politicos are too busy to blog.  The bandwagon is completely missing our community.  It would be great to see OUT in Pittsburgh launch a blog vis a vis Slag Heap on the City Paper site.  Jane Muder would do a great job.  Plus, they could really do it for minimal cost. 

I am often graciously included among lists of political bloggers, even though most of my content is not about politics except for the infusion of the homo element into the everyday.  I have been told to shut up and stick with politics instead of commenting on local gay culture and business, especially when my comments aren't flattering.  But, I don't delude myself into thinking I'm rocking any worlds here.  I'm just drawing attention to a lesbian perspective.  Not much attention.  And just one perspective.  Still, it does put things in perspective when Tony Norman tells me he reads my blog when David from 2pj's sends him links (thanks, David).  If the most progressive columnist in town, aside from Potter,  reads my blog only with prompts, then I'm not really breaking much ground.  There'll be no PG pages dedicated to my departure from the Burghosphere.

And that's okay.  I have about 75 readers a day.  I get the occasional email or comment from someone who appreciates a lesbian voice in the wilderness.  The people who get the angriest with me tend to be lesbians and other queer people because I think I'm breaking some codes about keeping it in the family.  I grew up in a really dysfunctional family so I'm not really very good with those dynamics. 

So I'll just keep plugging away and trying to find ways to bring some other non-traditional voices into the Burghosphere.  They may not be CMU trained or attentive to the nuances of sentence structure, but they certainly have something to say.  It is kind of exciting.

Here's a little glimpse into my past.  More than anything in the world,  I wanted to have a sweatshirt like Belinda Carlisle's in this video. I should have wanted to play the bass. It would have served me better.