A double milestone

Eleven months ago, I started this blog. Didn't have anything special in mind. I simply thought I owed it to myself and to students who'd be taking my "Opinion and the Blogosphere" weekend seminar at Portland State.

And now here I am, in the waning minutes of Feb. 1, looking back at how far I've come since March 1, 2009.

The stats speak for themselves:
-- This will be Post No. 260 -- an average of roughly two dozen posts per month.
-- I have 33 followers. (Actually, a little less than because I know a couple of people are listed twice. But, hey, I'll gladly take 33 ... although I fully suspect some folks haven't read a single post in months.) Among my followers: family members and longtime friends, along with a long-lost childhood friend (Tommy, a shoutout to you, my best friend from first grade!) and some awfully nice new ones.

I'm due to teach the "blogosphere" class again this weekend, which is what prompts me to write now rather than wait a full 12 months before looking back at the life of this blog.

Back then, I wrote:

It's about time...How will I sustain this? I'm already on Facebook; don't wanna do MySpace. I'm online every day, much of the day, owing to my job as editor of the Sunday Opinion section at The Oregonian. It's about time...It's about getting started, as the title of this post says. Choose an image: dive in, dip your toes in the water, take the first step, just do it. So I'm doing it. I have no illusions about this, by the way. Just one guy on the Left Coast laying the first brick of what I hope will be good for the soul, good for the mind.

For those of you who've been around for most of Rough and Rede's existence, I appreciate your presence and your perseverance. You've had a front-row seat as I've experimented with content -- topics have ranged all over the place, I know -- and voice. Oh, how I admire writers who have such a distinctive voice that you can read them and instantly recognize them.

I've enjoyed maintaining the blog. It is, after all, mine and mine alone. I've zigged and zagged from the personal to the philosophical to the mundane to the inane -- and, hopefully, occasionally wandered into the Land of Insight and Genuine Revelation. Who was it that said, "How do I know what I believe until I write it down?" I think there's a lot of truth in that.

Thinking back on some of these blog posts, I recall the ones where I had to come to grips with becoming the father of a soldier and getting past my pacifist nature to be able to fully support him as an Army enlistee. I also recall the ones where I've written about religion -- me, the non-spiritual guy, the skeptic -- and surprised myself with my openness toward and respect for people who choose to lead a faith-driven life.

When I began writing this blog, I honestly didn't know whether it would generate any or much online conversation. To be honest, it's been pretty much hit and miss as to when comments will appear. As a blogger, please know that each and every one is greatly appreciated. It's a reminder that I'm not writing into some big, black hole where my voice is swallowed up without a sound. As often as not, it's the observations about everyday life that prompt a comment, which is fine. I like seeing what connects with people.

One thing I'm sure of is that this blog is far more effective as a means of self-expression than Facebook. For some time, I've meant to comment on what it is that led me to spend less time on FB -- and virtually no time on Twitter -- and more time on my blog. Eventually, I'd like to explore that in some depth. For now, suffice to say that Facebook makes me feel like I've walked up to a stream -- no, a river -- and it's rushing by with all these leaves and twigs representing little pieces of information that are hard to grasp and ... gone too soon if you don't reach out.

A good blog, on the other hand, feels like a place where you've been invited to come in, poke around and sit for a while. You can get to know the writer beyond staccato witticisms and pointless observations on FB.

Wow. Here I am rambling. Guess I should try to wrap this one up and sign off.

What I meant by "A double milestone" was that I'd hit a certain threshold by blogging for 11 months and that I was preparing to teach the PSU class again.

A year ago, I had nearly 40 students. This term, I see, I'll have 11 or 12 students, unless there's a last-minute rush of late registrants. No matter. I'm taking a furlough day tomorrow and will spend much of it prepping for this weekend's class. As good as last year's class went, I want to make sure I bring my best effort to this year's class.

Image: http://bleongcw.typepad.com/simple_is_the_reason

Celebration Weekend

Saturday and Sunday have come and gone, leaving wonderful memories in their wake. I speak, of course, of the two-day celebration honoring Nathan's graduation from Portland State.

On Saturday morning, we managed to spot him on the arena floor from our 300-level seats in the Rose Garden, as he and his fellow grads settled in for 2 1/2 hours of speeches, announcements and conferring of degrees. Afterwards, we wrapped him hugs and posed for pictures until our cheeks hurt.

We took him to Navarre, just named The Oregonian's 2009 Restaurant of the Year, for brunch and were not disappointed. It's a tapas place, serving small and large plates of farm-fresh produce, combined with different meats, herbs, oils, spices, etc., in a totally casual atmosphere. Think shared tables in a space about the width of a two-car garage.

On Sunday, we hosted a backyard party that drew family, longtime friends and neighbors, plus two sets of Nathan's friends -- those he knows from PSU, those he knows from the DJ music scene. Of course, there was some overlap in the latter two categories, which made for great energy and conversations, once everyone started socializing.


We ran out of food and nearly ran out of beverages before making a spontaneous decision to buy three XL pizzas and keep the party going a couple hours longer.

All in all, it was a great weekend and a real treat to see Nathan, deservedly, in the spotlight.

And now, let the job search begin...

The Graduate

This weekend we'll be celebrating a long-awaited, much-anticipated milestone: Our oldest son, Nathan, will get his bachelor's degree from Portland State University. Actually, make that plural. He's graduating with degrees in business and marketing.

To say he's traveled a long and winding path to this point is an understatement. To say we admire his perseverance and celebrate his accomplishment, similarly, doesn't begin to convey our pride.

Nathan graduated from high school in 1998. That fall, we moved him into a fourth-floor dorm at the University of Oregon, with a good feeling that he'd come into his own in a place known for its liberal campus politics and comprehensive course offerings. I still remember pulling away from the curb that day, feeling wistful, as he waved goodbye. The emotions hit Lori and me like a ton of bricks as we headed back to the freeway for the two-hour drive back home.

Over the next three-plus years, it became evident the U of O and Eugene weren't the best fit. Too school was big, too impersonal, too unstructured. Nathan left school, moved around a bit, struggled to find to work and, finally, broke off a toxic relationship with his then-girlfriend.

To our delight, he came back to Portland to right himself. He enrolled at Portland State and proceeded to bear down in pursuit of the goal that had eluded him. The difference has been astounding -- nothing less than a transformation. His grades have steadily improved (including a 4.0 last term ), he's made a whole new set of friends and he's become a fixture in the city's nightclubs as a DJ with the moniker Nathan Detroit. Along the way, he's dropped a lot of weight, changed his diet for the better and reintegrated himself into our family.

On Saturday, he'll be among the thousands of graduates in cap and gown, striding across the stage at the Rose Garden Arena to accept his college degrees. We'll take him to brunch and celebrate. On Sunday, we''ll have a get-together here at our home for friends and family to again recognize his success.

Of course, we wish he were entering the job market under entirely different conditions. Still, at 29, he's now much better positioned to compete for a job now and in the future.

We thought long and hard about what name to give our first-born. Then and now, the name fits. In Hebrew, Nathan means "gift of God."

This weekend, we'll give him all the love, support and encouragement we can muster to get him started on his new path.

Pomp and circumstance and a drive to succeed

At this time of year, we're immersed in high school graduations and college commencements. No doubt, it's a great time to recognize the accomplishments of the class of 2009 as its members receive their diplomas and degrees and move to the next phase of their lives.

Next Saturday, we'll join our oldest son, Nathan, in celebrating his graduation from Portland State University with degrees in business and marketing. (More on him later this week.)

Within the larger community, there's much to admire, too, in the hard work and dedication of this year's Academic Achievers -- some 456 valedictorians and straight-A students from Portland-area schools -- who were recognized in The Oregonian.

Three personal stories stood out to me in recent days. I share them here as models of inspiration, desire and redemption:

Stephanie Lutz, overcoming homelessness and her mom's drug problems, to graduate as a star athlete and student from a working-class school on Portland's east side. "From chaos, with honors."

Berenise Delgado, above, rising above cultural and economic barriers to excel at one of Portland's poorest schools. "A valedictorian at Roosevelt pursues her dream of college."

Courtney Bliss, floundering at first but then finding herself at a small, alternative high school in Portland that few people even know about: "Finding an educational fit."

Seeing Courtney and her classmates graduate Thursday inspired me to write something as well on "Portland's Focus High School."

I've always been a strong believer in the opportunities that public education can bring. As these young ladies demonstrate, you've got to want it ... because no one is going to just hand it to you.

August and "Perfect Sand"

All this week, I've tried to practice what I preached during the class I taught at Portland State last winter -- namely, to spend some time surfing the Web, exploring the blogosphere and becoming part of the universe made up of tens of millions of blogs.

These past few days I've mentioned blogs by my co-worker Mike Francis, new media professor Pam Cytrynbaum and news reporter-turned-food writer Heather Lalley (all of whom, now that I think about it, are graduates of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism).

Today, I recommend to you "Perfect Sand," written by August. (That's her screen name; in real life, she is Rachel, living in Cincinnati).

But, first, some more background. When I began the class, I cited a few statistics, which even now boggle the mind.

According to eMarketer (May 2008), there were:
-- 94.1 million blog readers in the U.S. in 2007 (representing 50% of Internet users)
-- 22.6 million bloggers in the U.S. in 2007 (representing 12% of Internet users)

According to Universal McCann (March 2008), there were:
-- 184 million people worldwide who had started a blog, including 26.4 million in the U.S.
-- 346 million people worldwide who read blogs, including 60.3 million in the U.S.

According to Technorati.com:
-- 77% of active Internet users read blogs.

Summing up, Discover Magazine in 2007 said:

"The blogosphere is the most explosive social network you'll never see. Recent studies suggest that nearly 60 million blogs exist online, and about 175,000 more crop up daily (that's about 2 every second). Even though the vast majority of blogs are either abandoned or isolated, many bloggers like to link to other Web sites."

Given the explosive growth in this experimental medium, and allowing for extremes in quality, is it any wonder you can purposefully search for a blog on a specific topic and find treasure as well as trash? Likewise, is it any surprise you can stumble across something that disgusts or delights you?

It was the latter method that led me, about a month ago, to a blog that instantly appealed to me. It had all the qualities that I touted to my class: Well organized, clearly written with a distinctive voice, and thought-provoking content. A closer look revealed the writer's intelligence and tendency toward introspection.

What stood out to me? References to writers and topics that I care about, such as stories, teaching, writing, language, education. One post, "In the news," referenced David Brooks, the New York Times columnist, writing about a successful charter school in Harlem. Another, "Dishonor descended," discussed the words we use in everyday speech to either muddle or convey real meaning, citing the terms "waterboarding" and "water torture" as one example.

"Language," August wrote, "has the power to connect, to reveal truths, but it also can disguise or obfuscate...the truth."

As an editor, I'm all about clarity and specificity.

Anyway, I think August is a terrific writer. We've become followers of each other's blogs and I invite you to check hers out. http://perfectsand.blogspot.com/

And I hope you, readers, will expand this conversation by offering links to other blogs or Web sites that you recommend.

Students grade the teacher

Early last week, I received an envelope I'd been waiting for: the course evaluations for the special topics media course -- Opinion and the Blogosphere -- that I taught during the winter term at PSU.

Although the communications department chair(woman) had emailed me earlier to say I'd gotten positive reviews, I looked forward to seeing the details. Nothing helps a person more than specifics, including constructive comments.

Some 29 students responded. The evaluations showed: "All students agreed that the course helped them learn to find and use information and that you responded constructively to questions. The vast majority agreed (98%) the course stimulated them to think, found the assignments clear, and help them evaluate ideas."

Though it's hard to say what pleased me most in the different areas where I was evaluated, I was especially gratified to see the students rated me highly in conveying enthusiasm for the subject and strongly agreed they would take another course from me.

I tried very hard to prepare well for the class and I know from experience what I would do differently to make the experience even better next time. I'll have to see if my colleagues, Rick Attig and Susan Nielsen, want to make guest speaker appearances again -- they certainly played a big part in helping to convey basic knowledge about blogs and the process of writing and editing opinion pieces.

I've been asked to teach the course again during the winter 2010 term, and there is a good chance I may get to teach a second course -- details to be determined.

From the classroom to publication

I can't claim a shred of credit for this, but I can say I'm awfully proud.

Proud of Jennifer Knutson, whose op-ed --"Facing the recession: Picking up, start anew? No can do" -- was published online Saturday and in print Sunday.

Proud because Jennifer was a student in the weekend seminar -- Opinion and the Blogosphere -- that I taught recently at Portland State University. Check the March archives on this site for more...

Not only did she contribute greatly to class discussions, but she wrote a wonderful opinion piece for her final exam (a different one from the one cited above). I praised it as being worthy of publication and encouraged her to keep The Oregonian in mind if she were to pitch another piece. She did just that.

From an instructor's standpoint, it's great to see a student demonstrate initiative and follow-up.