My Friends and Co-Workers are Damn Good Writers

A number of my friends and co-workers are blogging or have recently launched blogs.

Scott Lauber, my college roommate, has been blogging for some time down in Delaware about the Philadelphia Phillies. Granted, his job is to cover the team, so the fact he's blogging isn't a huge surprise. [Phillies fans out there should know that Scott has filed a few posts from my living room while on "vacation."] Scott is my first close friend to have published a book; his is about the Phillies remarkable run to the World Series Championship last year.

I recently found "Choosing my own adventure," written by Jen Gabriel, a floormate of mine from freshman year at Boston University. My co-workers Lisa Mokaba and Kevin Carter launched blogs in the last year.

Their writings are entertaining, informative, and funny. Not to get all idealistic, but it is neat that the web provides an outlet for these individuals, whose jobs do not allow them to publish their own work. The early days of blogging on the web saw numerous technical individuals who were charting their lives online. Over the past few years, writers have made their way to the web. At least that's what I am observing.

While the newspaper industry crumbles around us, the web could become a great forum for ideas and thoughts. I still think that no matter what we will forever miss (in ways we can't even know) the news reporting and insight previously provided by the thousands of journalists now out of work. But at least everyone can benefit from the writings of my thoughtful friends.

By the way, for those of you who read my recent post about the death of journalism, there is a must-read article in the current issue of the New Republic, "Goodbye to the Age of Newspapers," which provides a much more detailed account of the implications of the journalism crisis.

Among the more striking sections is a quote from Tom Rosenstiel, the director of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, who said that because of the end of many publications, "More of American life will occur in shadows. We won't know what we won't know."