A Rally is a Good Step

Remarkable timing that the issue of cutting funding for the Asian American Studies Program (ASAM) would arise in the midst of SCUE's education week, asking students to think about their education.

There is a petition you can sign declaring your disagreement with the funding cut. I am signatory #449. Leave your number in the comments!

And for anybody that wants to find out more about this issue, there will be a rally on College Green from 12-4 on April 3rd. Definitely drop by if you can!

oh, and sorry for the long absence. I am trying to graduate...

~BT

The Penn Blogosphere Expands

Albert Sun, a Penn sophomore who blogs at Albertgate provided an updated listing of the known Penn-related blogs, building on Kevin Burke's original list from last year.

I was very happy to see the updated list that included some blogs that I hadn't seen before. Most of the blogs I already read regularly and are on my blogroll.

I decided I would group the blogs in categories and clusters that seem to be connected online through mutual links or blog mentions. (If you have suggestions on categories or if I missed any blogs, please let me know)

Penn Political Blogs:

• Akkam's Razor - Staff/Master's student. one of the most active blogs on the list, he posts nearly every day.
• Progressive Dispatches - a blog by former student government member Brett Thalmann about politics mostly.
• The Appletonian - Justin Sykes, Wharton senior. He's from Appleton, Wisconsin, which I guess explains the title.
• the iv-tini chronicles - Penn senior named Dan, originally from Wisconsin, who will be off to med school next year.
• Penn Democrats - Official blog of the Penn Democrats
  

Penn Alums:

• Martin Gordon's Blog - Penn alum, Class of 2007
  
• Dueling Tampons - blog by Penn alum Matt Rosler, about other Penn alums and students in the arts
  
• Valley Virgin - Blog by Penn grad Danny Maloney, M&T '05 now working at Google in strategy.
  
• Essential Luxuries - Jean Hsu's blog about post-Penn life in New York City
• ryanpedia - Ryan Hayward's blog, class of 2007
  

Tech/Entrepreneurial:

• 3000 Miles of Virtual Insanity - Ravi Mishra's blog about being between Silicon Valley and Penn.
• The Un-Wharton - Stuart Stein, a Wharton senior studying marketing and management blogs here
• Nat Turner - Wharton student/entrepreneur's blog. Has a company in philly called Invite Media. intriguing.
• Jason Toff - Penn senior and entrepreneur who founded Penndrinks.com
• Jack Abraham - Insights of a young tech entrepreneur who recently graduated early to work on his start-up.
  

Penn Professors:

• Jeff Weintraub - a political science professor's blog on politics and current events
• Earning My Turns - Computer Science Professor and skiing fan Fernando Pereira's blog. He was my professor for CIS120 last semester and showed a picture from one of his skiing trips every day.
• Werblog - Legal studies professor and 'internet expert' Kevin Werbach
• Language Log - very popular language blog, hosted out of a computer in the linguistics department by Mark Liberman. (he taught LING001 last semester I think) Professors from a whole bunch of different schools contribute
• Dept of Anesthesiology - a blog from Penn Med's Department of Anesthesiology & Critical Care
• Nathan Ensmenger - blog from the undergraduate chair of the Science, Technology & Society major.
• Critical Mass - a blog by English professor Erin O'Connor about academia

Penn Administrative blogs:

• Outlines - Penn LGBT Center's blog
• Faithful Philly Forum - Penn's Christian Association's blog
  
• Vitale Digital Media Lab - A blog with information about this digital media lab in Van Pelt. It's actually a pretty cool place and they have video cameras and AV equipment they lend for free.
• Penn Press Log - blog about books published by the Penn Press
• MBA Admissions Blog - about the Wharton MBA admissions process
• Knowledge@Wharton - Wharton's attempt to "share its intellectual capital". A truly great resource
  

Cluster 1:

• Affabillyty - a blog with a lot of good music, by Billy ___, a sociology major.
• I Am Malek - Malek H. Lewis's blog. Topics for the future include San Francisco, High School Musical, and Gay Videogaming. Purple text on a gray background.
• A Beautiful Mess - Engineering student John Tran's personal blog.
• meta.jane - a rather literary blog by a Penn senior named Jane
  
• the iv-tini chronicles - Penn senior named Dan, originally from Wisconsin, who will be off to med school next year.
• Progressive Dispatches - a blog by student government member Brett Thalmann about politics mostly.

Cluster 2:

• ohbadiah - Nick McAvoy's blog, he used to write on The Spin
• Leighcia - . former Penn student who has apparently decided financial consultant was not the right way to go
• starlighterx - blog by a Penn student who stresses over midterms and likes to comment on New York Times columnists
• The Spin - the DP's blog about student life and etc. it's a group blog with different writers each semester

Other:

• Vocab 101 - Hayling Price's blog about music, his time abroad and more
  
• Oikono - a blog by Wharton student Geoffrey (Kok Heng) about economics, poverty, international issues
• colour my world! - a blog by a Penn student who will be doing banking in Hong Kong this summer
• Mr. Swyx - a blog by Huntsman student Shawn Wang
• {metadatta} - a blog by Physics student Sujit Datta about 'academia, science, or just life in Philadelphia'
• The Buzz - a blog by the sports editors of the DP, about Penn sports teams
• DP Photo Department - a blog by the DP photo department about all things photography related
• Scents - Daniel Drucker, a graduate psych student's blog
• all that glitters - a tumblr blog by Jessica Gold Haralson, who started Quake, a SAC funded erotica magazine.
• I Had a Surprise Birthday Party - Kevin Burke's blog

Not sure if Penn-related:

• Blog blah blahg - just a 'gay boy wading in the murky dating pool of Philadelphia.'

Please let me know of any corrections or additions.

~BT

Dear Readers

Won't you become commenters?

With the help of a nifty tool from Statcounter.com, I am able to track the number of hits and unique visitors that frequent this blog. It turns out that there are many of you. As of late, I have been getting upwards of 20 unique visits per day. Check out this graph of the traffic from the last week.


So, I know you are out there reading this. But, are you willing to take it to the next level and comment on any blog posts? You should! I want to hear what you have to say and would love to turn this blog into more of a conversation.

I am still working on my Karl Rove speech post, a reaction to the Angela Davis keynote speech from Women's Week and further info about Lawrence Lessig and democratizing knowledge. So much to write, so little free time. And besides those things, the McCain scandal continues to grow.

~BT

All's quiet at Penn

It is a Wednesday afternoon, the day after a major victory by Obama in Wisconsin and Hawaii, and all seems quiet on the University of Pennsylvania campus as we await the arrival of Turd Blossom.

I wasn't planning on going to see Karl Rove speak tonight at Irvine Auditorium partly out of protest and disgust that he was probably being paid upwards of $40,000 by the Social Planning and Events Committee (SPEC) to spew his crap directly to 1,500 Penn students.

Of course, I'm only guessing about the $40,000. Here's what I do know:

• SPEC Connaissance's budget for the spring speaker is $50,000.
  
• Rove recently received $40,000 from the University of Iowa
  

Other than those two facts, SPEC will refuse to release any information about how much they paid Karl Rove. Or at least they wouldn't tell the DP. I guess I'm just hoping that we aren't paying him any more than 40k.

Well, plans change. A friend called with an extra ticket, so I'm going to hear what 'the architect' will have to say and will be curious to see if there are any protesters and what questions are asked.

Stephen Krewson wrote a great column in yesterday's DP expressing his disappointment with the choice of Rove as the spring speaker.

Look forward to a post about tonight's talk as well as my thoughts on Obama's blowout win yesterday.

I'm listening to DIRTY SOUTH/MYNC PROJECT - Everybody Freakin' (you can listen to the long sample. I couldn't find this song anywhere else on the internets)

~BT

Around the Penn Blogosphere - 2/10/08

First, I want to welcome my friend Dan to the blogging world with his new blog The IV-Tini Chronicles which will focus on politics, sports and other fun things from the perspective of a Democrat from Wisconsin. He should give The Appletonian a run for his money.

• Stu asks whether the Black Eyed Peas endorsement helps Obama - I say Yes! If only to continue to introduce Obama to music fans who are potential new voters.
  
• Dan looks at how the Wisconsin primary will be a crucial state during this primary cycle. I think it will come down to Ohio and Texas, which are Hillary's firewall.
• Billy wants you to help remind governor Rendell what democracy is. Go sign the petition over at Casino-Free Philly.

~BT

Focus The Nation at Penn - January 31

On January 31st, Campus Progress at Penn, Fox Leadership and the Penn Environmental Group are co-sponsoring a day-long conference as part of the national Focus the Nation teach-in on global warming solutions for America.

The conference at Penn features a number of Penn's distinguished faculty and alumni. The conference will take place in the Ben Franklin Room of Houston Hall from 10am-4pm. The schedule is as follows:

10-11: Professor Robert Giegengack: Realities of Climate Change
11-12: Professor Bill Braham: City Change to Address Global Warming
12-1: Dean Gary Hack: Net Zero and Carbon Foot Prints
1-2: Catered lunch provided by FarmEcology
2-3: Professor Ali Malkawi: Buildings: Innovations in Conservation
3-4: Christopher McQuale (SEAS '86):Environmental Activism: Case Study in Planning Your Education and Career

In conjunction with the conference, there will be an art gallery exhibition "Sustainability by Design" on February 1st from 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM in the Ben Franklin Room.

Hope to see you there!

~BT

Martin Luther King Symposium at Penn

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Here in the United States (for my international readers), we have the day off from school, the markets are closed and here at Penn, we have the kickoff of Penn's Symposium for Social Change which continues until February 1st. There are so many great events and you can find all the details at the MLK 2008 website.

Here are a couple I will be attending:

Miles To Go: Discrimination Against LGBT People at The University of PennsylvaniaToday
Tue, Jan 22 2008
7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
The LGBT Center, 3907 Spruce Street
ACCESS: General Public

Making Social Change: The Direct Action Campaign: A talk by the founder of Training for Change, George Lakey
Thu, Jan 24 2008
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Logan Hall, The Terrace Room, 249 South 36th St.
ACCESS: General Public

I mentioned that the markets are closed in the US, but that isn't the case in the rest of the world. Overnight, Japanese markets were down 5%, following by plummeting European markets and the Toronto Stock Exchange down almost 600 points. With American markets expected to follow suit tomorrow, Affabillyty is asking where were you the day the stock market crashed?

~BT

Online Coverage of Tonight's Primary Results

Brave New Films will be hosting live video coverage of tonight's New Hampshire primary .

WHEN: TONIGHT AT 7PM ET
HOSTS: Cenk Uygur and Wes Clark, Jr.
WHERE: http://bravenewfilms.org/election

SCHEDULE:
7:10: Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films
7:40: Matthew Yglesias, The Atlantic
7:50: Robin Abcarian, L.A. Times
8:00: Billy Wimsatt, League of Young Voters
8:10: Rachel Sklar, The Huffington Post
8:20: Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake
8:30: Jim Dean, Democracy For America
8:40: Steve Clemons, The Note
9:00: Lane Hudson, News for the Left
9:10: Isaiah Poole, TomPaine.com
9:40: James Rucker, Color of Change
10:00: Liza Sabater, Culture Kitchen
10:10: Eric Boehlert, Media Matters

...and more still being added...

I missed the Iowa live coverage, but read that it was great. I am going to miss the live coverage tonight, but will catch up on all of the results when I get home. I also just got a call from Spencer Scharff, C'06, who was in Iowa helping out the Obama campaign and got to witness things first hand. He confirmed much of what I have been reading/seeing both online and on television.

A few more Facebook status updates since my last post:

• Dorna Mohaghegh loves this quote from an ABC news article about turnout in the NH primaries: "towns are starting to get concerned that they don't have enough ballots." Hell yea.
• Alexis Ruby Howe is has her fingers crossed for Hillary in NH!
• Steven Parks likes Obama, but likes Hillary a lot more…since when did being a candidate with experience, substance, and an actual plan for our country become a bad thing?!

~BT

Update: Jason Lee, a Wharton junior, who I had the pleasure to work with on the Undergraduate Assembly last year, also emailed me to let me know he was in NH working for Obama. He said it was "crazy".

Penn Blogs on the New Hampshire Primary

The blogosphere and American media are abuzz about today's primary in New Hampshire. Coverage begins at 6pm on MSNBC and 8pm on CNN.

Penn blogs have been no different in the discussion of today's important primary. Stu Stein over at The Un-Wharton explains what has been behind his recent coverage,

I rarely become very interested in politics, but I'll be honest, I really like Obama. I think the reason that I like him so much is because he is the opposite in every respect from Bush.

Stu recently discussed why he liked Obama and provided some highlights of the great 20min interview that Obama had with Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News last night. Stu had previously discussed Where Hillary's Brand Buckled in Iowa.

The Appletonian, written by a Penn senior from Wisconsin, is a steadfast Rudy "9/11" Giuliani supporter and yesterday came out with his prediction:

We won't know the New Hampshire results for at least another 24 hours, but here's my prediction of what will go down.

Democrats:
Barack Obama: 44%
Hillary Clinton: 32%
John Edwards: 20%
Bill Richardson: 3%
Dennis Kucinich: 1%

Republicans:
John McCain: 35%
Mitt Romney: 32%
Mike Huckabee: 12%
Rudy Giuliani: 11%
Ron Paul: 8%
Fred Thompson: 2%

That seems to be a pretty good prediction given the slew of polls we have been seeing since Iowa. It will be interesting to see if Ron Paul beats Giuliani like he did in Iowa. That would be a big defeat for Rudy and hurt his chances in Florida.

rzklkng, over at Akkam's Razor, discussed how turnout and share of the vote are the real story of the primary:

NH registrations are as follows:

Ind: 44%
Rep: 30%
Dem: 26%

The current polling indicates Independents breaking 2:1 for Democrats, which would give us:

Rep: 45%
Dem: 55%

I suspect NH plays a role in identifying how Independents will vote nationally, just like Iowa informs about rural voters. It will also serve to determine which messages (hope, change, experience, status quo, fear, etc.) resonate with those voters.

Over at Albertgate, Albert Sun who is a a rising sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania discusses the incredible youth voter turnout that we are seeing:

I thought I had had it figured out. Young people didn't vote because they were disgusted with the political process, and when prompted with all bad choices, chose to tune out. But if a candidate can come up with a message promising change, and can do it with the charisma to command attention, kids might tune back in. Is Obama that candidate?

More to come...

~BT

Check out what the UA is doing

In the midst of our student government website contest, the Undergraduate Assembly has just released their second youtube address.

Did you forget the first one? There is no way you forgot Jason Karsh as a ninja.

Props to Jason and the UA on this effort to effectively communicate with their constituents. The video is detailed and rightfully focuses on individual members who are working and making significant progress on projects.

See for yourself,


~BT

Join the Campus Progress Chapter at UPenn

I've previously mentioned Campus Progress on this blog and have highlighted our first few events at Penn, notably the Iraq Film Series and the recently announced Zeitgeist Film Series.

I would like to now invite you to join our Googlegroup to stay up to date with future events and get more involved in the group.

We have begun planning some environmentally-related events for the spring semester that we are collaborating with the Penn Environmental Group on.

~BT

Jason Karsh Steps Up on Safety Concerns

Earlier tonight, the chair of the Undergraduate Assembly, Jason Karsh sent an email alert regarding the recent public safety issues that have arisen at the University of Pennsylvania.

After hearing about the disturbing events last night, Karsh did what any good UA chair would do and had a meeting with Maureen Rush to clarify the facts and make sure that students had the correct information. I applaud him and any other members who were involved in this effort.

This is a clear example of Penn's student government working hard on behalf of their constituents. The email is clear, clarifies all the facts and makes suggestions for students. Jason also goes further and reassures us based on the briefings he received today. Having previously been "in the room" per se, I know the feeling and I trust Jason's judgment.

Here is the email in its entirety, judge for yourself:

Sent: November-13-07 8:00 PM

Subject: ***Public Safety- Update from the Undergraduate Assembly***

Please forward this message on to your constituencies:

Fellow Penn Undergraduates,

Last night, I was deeply disturbed, as many of you were, to receive the university-wide e-mail from the Division of Public Safety regarding the Monday morning stranger-rape that occurred on the 4000 block of Spruce Street. Shortly thereafter, I was taken aback by another widely-circulated e-mail that depicted an account of an Allied Barton security guard/walking escort who walked a female undergraduate student home and later exposed himself to her.

After a productive meeting this afternoon attended by Maureen Rush, Vice President of the Division of Public Safety, other DPS officials, Allied Barton representatives, and Penn students, the Undergraduate Assembly (UA) wants to make certain that the record is set straight and that we indeed remain a safe and secure community at Penn.

The findings from this meeting give me complete confidence that the issues are being addressed properly and that there is no reason to distrust Penn's men and women in uniform .

Here are the facts:

4000 Block of Spruce Incident:
-Yesterday morning at about 5AM a female student was sexually assaulted in her apartment
-the victim was not physically injured
-this was reported in the DP and was the 3rd incident of stranger rape that has occurred at Penn since 1994
-they are highly unusual but naturally have a deep impact on the psyche of those within our community

What should we do now?:

-Make sure you LOCK YOUR DOORS !

-There is currently an increased overt and covert patrolling by law enforcement (Penn Police and Philadelphia Police) in Penn's vicinity.

-If you wish to seek counseling or have any concerns, please call DPS Special Services at 215-898-6600, as they are on-call 24/7.

-Report any suspicious activity to DPS and Penn Police at 215-573-3333.

Security Guard Incident:
The facts:

-A Penn student was offered to be escorted by an Allied Barton security officer, which is normal procedure if an escort sees someone walking home alone and is not currently on a call.

-The Allied Barton security officer, who has worked at Penn for nine months with no prior criminal background, exposed himself.

-He was quickly identified after the incident was reported and was taken into custody.

-He is no longer employed by Allied Barton.

- NO UNIFORMS HAVE BEEN STOLEN. Any reports of stolen uniforms are false.

What's being done to address this situation as of tonight?
-All security guards/escorts will have photo IDs on them that they will be wearing visibly around their neck or on their jackets.

-All security guards/escorts will have courtesy cards to give to you, stating their name, and what to do to give feedback. (Additionally, you can cross-reference their courtesy card to their ID.)

-All security guards/escorts will introduce themselves, present their ID, and provide you with a courtesy card.

As someone who is deeply troubled by these incidents, after being presented with the facts and follow-up, I feel absolutely confident in my safety and security on campus. I believe that with our increased vigilance and the efforts made by the Division of Public Safety and the folks at Allied Barton, we are taking steps towards a restored faith in the safety and security of Penn's campus.

My thoughts are with the victims of the egregious acts of crime that occurred within our community, and we must show resolve by demonstrating that it will take more than highly unusual crimes perpetrated within a 24-hour period to break the spirit of the Penn community.

Sincerely,

Jason Karsh

--
Jason Adam Karsh
Chairman, Undergraduate Assembly
University of Pennsylvania
uachair@dolphin.upenn.edu

~BT

Why students should care about the UA

From a free music service to advocacy for sustainable practices on campus, the Undergraduate Assembly is working for students

By: Brett Thalmann & Jason Karsh

Throughout the year, we constantly get asked the questions: "What does the UA do?" or "Why should I care about student government?"

These questions, while seemingly simple, cannot be answered in this limited guest column. We hope, however, to explain some of our accomplishments from this past year and give you a preview of what to expect in the coming year.

In previous years, the UA has become more accountable and has increasingly focused on projects that are tangible to students.

We have tackled sustainability - an environmentally conscious campaign - and have successfully brought the issue to the forefront of the administrative agenda. President Amy Gutmann has even signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, committing Penn "to achieve climate neutrality by reducing campus greenhouse gas emissions."

Our calls for improved Student Health facilities that began with the formation of the Student Health Advisory Board, have resulted in the recent announcement of a new facility for Student Health Services.

While advocating for improvements to College Houses, we collaborated with the University to ensure that the high-rises will be fully renovated and further identified the dire need for renovations in the low-rises. In the midst of the huge undertaking of high-rise renovations, we've successfully convinced the university to make specific and immediate improvements to the low rises.

We have not yet even mentioned our most widely known projects throughout the year!

After two years of planning, the UA brought Ruckus Music Service free to students.

For the second year in a row we've run the convenient and cheap UA bus service to the airport before every major holiday break.

Most recently, we spearheaded the program that brought students free copies of The New York Times, USA Today and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Additionally, this year saw an amazing collaboration among student leaders through UA Steering, the committee of the UA that brings the leaders of every umbrella and representative organization together to discuss major student issues.

Notably, the amazing Penn traditions of Spring Fling and Hey Day were preserved by the collaboration and support of the members of UA Steering. For example, Fling Safe, run by SPEC, found immense support and feedback that proved crucial to its success. When Hey Day was called into jeopardy, it was UA Steering that worked with the Class Boards to promote and publicize efforts to curb dangerous, emerging trends.

For the coming year, the UA plans to build off the great momentum achieved this year. We plan to increase the accessibility of the UA by reaching out directly to students and student groups. We plan to be more visible through YouTube addresses that will accompany all-school e-mails. We also want to ensure that students have the ability to be heard by their student representatives, so there will be a 10 minute open forum at every UA meeting next year.

We plan on empowering students through providing a strong student voice to administrators and empowering UA members to pursue projects that are important to themselves and the student body at large.

Finally, we plan to increase efficiency of the UA through a more transparent process and productive meetings.

So, when posing the question: "Why should I care about student government?" the answer is really that student government cares about you. Whether you pay us heed or not, we work on tangible projects that improve student life.

The real question is, what do you want your student government to do for you?

Originally published in the Daily Pennsylvanian on 5/11/07.

~BT

VideoVets: Bring Troops Home

Moveon.org released a television ad directed by Oliver Stone featuring John Bruhns, a former sergeant in the Army who served in Iraq.

Check it out and donate to help get this ad on the air. If you aren't already a member of Moveon.org you should join.


~BT

Penn's W. Lacrosse Beats Syracuse

Penn's No. 2 ranked Women's Lacrosse team continued an incredible season (14-1, 7-0 Ivy) by fighting back from a 5-goal deficit to beat Syracuse this past Sunday.

The battle of conference champions did not disappoint as Penn scored six unanswered goals to end the game. Syracuse (12-5, 4-1 BIG EAST) had led by a 7-2 margin early in the second half.

The Quakers will now carry their program-record 11-game win streak into the NCAA tournament, potentially as one of the competition’s top seeds. Their opponent will be unveiled during the selection show Monday evening at 8 p.m., webcast live at www.ncaasports.com.

And fellow Sphinge, Sarah Waxman played a key role in the comeback:

Penn’s comeback was keyed by a pair of risky long clearances by goalkeeper Sarah Waxman, both of which resulted in goals by Edwards. Penn’s defense also did its part, holding Syracuse to 19 shots overall and just seven in the second half – far below the Orange’s 36.4 shots per game average.

The Women's Lacrosse team is a prime example of some of the great Penn teams that are completely under the radar. Penn Athletics should do a much better job advertising Penn sports and encouraging students to attend games, especially when we have great teams that we can be proud of!

~BT

Penn talent on display online

Although there is a decent amount of Penn-made video content online at the moment, I wish there were more and better stuff. Student groups should make it a habit of posting video content on YouTube to publicize their amazing talents. Also, there are so many great speakers and other events on campus that could be filmed and put online. For starters, why doesn't UTV-13, Penn's student-run television channel, not put their content online?

Getting the content is only the first step. There should also be some centralized site devoted to gathering and organizing content from Penn. This is something the UA has been working on and we focused on Penn adopting and implementing ITunesU. Weirdly, the DP editorial board thinks that Penn can't handle ITunesU and that it is a distraction for the UA. I completely disagree and think this will turn out to be a great resource for students. And I'm not the only one! Many people responded vocally to the editorial as did James Russell on the DP's blog, The Spin saying that ITunesU is common sense.

Hopefully, Penn's ItunesU will go live sometime this summer and then we can start gathering content. Until then, I put together a list of Penn videos I found and liked enough to bookmark. Here are highlights of Penn online content:

Strictly Funk: "Let's Get Retarded"


Hype's Intro Video


Dhamaka's full length iPod intro video


~BT

Chris Mizell Headed to CFL

Huge congratulations to my fellow sphinge Chris Mizell who just recently signed with the Montreal Alouettes.

Chris Mizell was a unanimous first team All-Ivy selection as a senior and he is set to head to Canada as he will sign with the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL

The Alouettes are a great team too! The Alouettes won their division last season and consistently make it to the Grey Cup, which is the Canadian Superbowl, for you American readers. They have made it to the Grey Cup four out of the last five years and they even won the Grey Cup in 2002.

And Chris has never even been to Canada! How crazy is that?

We are definitely going to see and hear more from him in the future. Way to go Chris!!


(Thanks to Lex for the heads up)

~BT

1 Month Old!

I was really surprised to notice that I have been blogging at Progressive Dispatches for 1 month now, mainly because it feels like I just posted And we're back! So, why post about a such a minor milestone?

Well, I had previously blogged for 3 months at Canadian Liberal @ Penn in the summer of 2005. True, I am only 1/3 of the way to my previous record in terms of longevity, in terms of number of posts, this is my 21st post so far, which is getting close to my previous record of 27. Unfortunately, I am not anywhere close to the amount of traffic I used to get, which is disappointing because the traffic provided me with active comments and conversation with others that made blogging more fun and meaningful. But last week's discovery of a burgeoning blogosphere at Penn has been pretty cool.

This time around, I found blogging to be both easier and harder. It has been easy because of the large range of topics that I want to blog about but tough because of the high speed and breadth of the constant flow of new information. The sheer size of the American political system allows for a sizable political chattering class of pundits, strategists, lobbyists, and has seen the emergence (pdf) of a vibrant progressive blogosphere that is fascinating to watch flex its muscle within the Democratic party. The progressive resurgence nationwide and the real notion that I could be part of this avant-garde progressive movement has been exciting. Most of all, it it the desire to bring this progressive infrastructure and success back to Canada that is most interesting me about US domestic politics right now.

In comparison, I was able to blog about Canadian politics at a much slower pace and there were less blogs and not much of an online opinion infrastructure. Granted, I was blogging within a nascent Canadian blogosphere dominated by well organized conservatives. Progressive Bloggers had just been founded and was quickly followed by Liblogs, both of which I joined and saw a steady traffic of around 50 unique visitors per day.

We find the the same thing at the early stages of the development of the US blogosphere. It started with conservatives having a powerful top-down infrastructure which has since stagnated. Meanwhile there has been an incredible growth of the progressive blogosphere with some asking whether it has reached its apex. This example shows how the Canadian right is able to effectively emulate their American counterparts and implement similar policies, strategies and ideas on a slight time delay.

In Canada, Conservatives have long mastered the art of borrowing from the US conservative movement and I don't see why Liberals shouldn't do the same thing on the Progressive side. Across the pond, British bloggers are similarly learning from recent progressive successes in America. From an initial glance, the Canadian landscape seems to have grown in size but I don't see Canadian blogs having the same sort of impact on politics yet.

(cross-posted at Canadian Liberal @ Penn)

~BT

A Penn Blogosphere?

After noticing an uptick in traffic and checking my handy StatCounter report, I realized that I had been linked by Kevin Burke, a fellow Penn blogger. He put together a list of Penn blogs and I have to say that I was pretty impressed that he was able to find them all. When I tried to find other Penn blogs I only came up with this:

• The Spin
• Sphinx Citings
• Sophomore News & Events
• Penn Amnesty Intl
• I'm not even hungry

It was also pretty cool to see that someone I know, Stu Stein, is also blogging at The Un-Wharton.

This could be the start of a real "Penn Blogosphere" where Penn bloggers actually interact online and become responsive to one another. The first step to solidifying the network would be for all of us to link to one another and aim to increase our collective readership. Maybe it's just among seniors, but it feels like most Penn students don't actually read blogs regularly, let alone anything beyond the major professional blogs. I would like to see more Penn students reading blogs and for those blogs to have conversations about what's going on at Penn. Ultimately, we could get to the point where those conversations actually have an impact on campus.

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

~BT