First off, let me say that, on a whole, blogs are a great addition to the media world.
Blogs provide alternative voices, catch corporations in their corruption and are a great tool for getting information about events, changes to policy and knowledge essential to having a well-informed democratic society out into the world for further discourse.
With that being said, there are also some blogs that, to be frank, are full of shit. In actuality, most of them would fall into that description. ASPSU’s blog straddles the line, falling somewhere in between.
For those of you who, like myself up to a couple of weeks ago, did not know that ASPSU now has a blog, it can be accessed with the address blogaspsu.blogspot.com.
But be forewarned, this isn’t an exclusive look into the lives and wonderful things our compatriots at ASPSU are involved in. It isn’t a record of what some of the staff’s day-to-day tasks are, like most citizen blogging.
There are poems. Lots of them.
And while I am not a writing critic, I must say I have seen a more substantial grasp on the mechanics as well as some creative intuition in poetry from my fourth-grade nephew.
But the content and style of ASPSU’s poetry isn’t where my beef lies. It is concerning that with all the plans and changes that the “Bridge the Gap” slate proposed in their campaign, there is a surprising lack of real commentary from the folks in charge about what their administration is doing, or what it is planning to do.
An open forum, like a good blog should be, has the ability to discuss tough questions and tackle some of the changes in policy this administration hopes to accomplish by explaining updates and giving an inside look into the inner workings of ASPSU.
If necessary, some mediocre poetry may do this. The problem is this commentary isn’t currently on the blog.
Sure, fall quarter has yet to come about on the calendar, but there are issues on this campus that I, and hopefully other students, want to hear ASPSU’s opinion on. One example would be the end of the teacher’s strike and a finalized contract coming out in August. So far, sadly, nothing has been noted on the blog about this issue.
To be diplomatic, there are a few entries that are worth reading, such as ASPSU President Hannah Fisher’s entry on the Student Senate’s accomplishment of getting tricycles at the child care center out of storage and into kids’ hands.
That sort of endeavor is something that I think the student body should know through the voices of those who did it, especially after the inaction of last year’s administration. It would behoove this year’s administration to be as vocal as possible about the positive changes they are doing to our campus.
An example that qualifies as a good blog, encompassing all the criteria I stated above while still being irreverent with a broader audience, is Portland City Commissioner and Mayor-elect Sam Adam’s blog, www.commissonersam.com.
On the flip side, apparently all ASPSU Vice President Kyle Cady has to contribute to a dialogue about ASPSU’s activities are haikus about coffee and revolution.
And it feels like, through poetry such as, “Oh My Blackberry/How Do I Want to Throw Thee/Freedom is at Hand,” Cady is trying to beat his ill path toward artistic creation down our throats. Or maybe he is trying to be Tyler Durden.
Either way, I cannot swallow it.