What's going on? The Burgh Report closed up shop this week, joining the ranks of many (many anonymous) bloggers who are gone. Dayvoe shut off comments on his blog posts at 2 Political Junkies. John McIntire never allowed them in the first place, preferring to post things people email him. Nothing wrong with that, but change is unsettling (and, apparently, fodder for PG writers).
Personally, I believe change is inevitable. Blogging is mostly a leisure time activity and when life happens, it falls to the wayside along with many other non-essential parts of our lives. Or blogging consumers one's life and exhaustion and/or disillusionment inevitably set it. Or life circumstances change and access to the topical information is inevitably altered such as a loss or change in employment. (The loss of so many PG staffers coincides weirdly with the demise of the Burgh Report).
Discourse is changing. There's a shift. Maybe we are entering The Burgh 2.0 or the second/third wave (depending on how you count 'em). Perhaps we could reframe the change in discourse to new opportunities for fresh, diverse voices to enter the dialogue on a more level playing field. In the queerosphere, we have a new player in the form of What Comes after 8, Pgh? We also have a new email group for queer bloggers in Pennsylvania and a soon to be scheduled pow-wow on new social media and gay advocacy to be held here in Pittsburgh. There's buzz and energy and potential. It is all good.
We need to ferret out the openly queer people who are blogging about food, books, poetry, sports, exercise, their family life, Amazonian reptiles and whatever else motivates us to start typing. This is an opportunity for us to propel our entire community to the forefront of the Burghosphere and let people know who we are.
I'm not happy that things are changing. I was sad to read Joe Grata's final column in the Post-Gazette as much as the final post on the Burgh Report. But a new voice will have a chance to speak up, speak out and be heard. That's a change I can embrace.
