Marc Canter and I grew up with two different poetry cultures, mine about 200-1000 years older than his. I grew up reading Icelandic sagas, Beowulf and Chaucer in the original middle English, Tennyson, and for light reading - Shakespeare and Gilbert & Sullivan. I sang barbershop in high school and college so I kinda missed that whole rock and roll thing, not to mention hip hop.

I envy Marc's swoosh and boom, that raucous counterpoint of the giddy and the sordid. Marvelous in prose and verse. Voice writ large.

Andrew Orlowski summarized in this article a post and thread that tore into Dave Winer and BloggerCon. A few thoughts.

First, the academic study of blogging is a very good thing. Like any other area of human behavior, we may be able to add to our body of knowledge. I attended BlogTalk in Vienna this Spring where social scientists from all over Europe shared their studies and reports. I don't think Dave is assembling the same kind of academically rigorous conference.

When people talk about the effect of cars on the environment and cars on pollution and cars that kill people, we don't blow them off just because cars are ordinary and everywhere. Not every driver cares, especially when they're driving, but these topics can be matters of life and death. There are millions of people who've picked up this new form of writing in public. What happens as this new tool goes mainstream? (You might get a kick out my Don't Blog! slide show. Tres pessimist.)

Second, the invitations were sent either on request (you could submit your own name) or when people on several mailing lists suggested names. The idea was to invite people, of any political persuasion, who'd have something to say on one of several blog related themes. First among them is blogging, democracy, politics. So you can imagine why people as diverse as Tom Tomorrow and Instapundit were invited, not the message but understanding the form and the medium. It's a deep and powerful subject.

Third, the money thing is completely FUBAR. Most conference organizers will line up sponsors and budget things before announcing a conference. Dave has done spontaneous and free gatherings before, co-opting a community college lecture hall for a few hours on a few days' notice. This is more ambitious and Dave clearly didn't secure funding to cover operating costs. Since the first announcement, they've started a pool for sponsored attendance, where sponsors can adopt one or more visitors, waiving the $500 fee. I'll pay for my transport (I can swing by to visit family, friends, and interesting strangers) but $500 out of pocket for one day  is too much for me.

Last, I wrote a little thing called "The Bloggers' Platform" for the California recall election.
Five goals upon which the blogosphere may be able to agree. I'd like to see an evolution of concerns and values that are distinct to our communities.

[a klog apart]