The Pakistani Spectator

Would you please tell us something about you and your site?

 

My name is Dave Jones and I’m a marketing manager for a small publishing company. I run ResurrectionSong.com and formerly ran AfricaBlog (africa.resurrectionsong.com)–sites that have had about a dozen different contributors over the last five years or so. It’s a revolving cast of contributors and the sites tend to represent my own personality and interests–for better or for worse. Typically, I use the name zombyboy for writing and commenting largely because I never want my writing to interfere with my professional life.

 

Do you feel that you continue to grow in your writing the longer you write? Why is that important to you?

 

Yes and no. When I take the time to actually self-edit, my work is more a little more polished than it was when I started. On the other side, though, I also tend to censor myself far more than I used to. Everyone censors themselves, and, regardless of what some people say, telling the bald, unfiltered truth isn’t always a great thing. Not every thought that comes through my head needs to be spoken, written, or acted upon. I censor the things that I write on the site so that I don’t upset some of friends and relatives.

 

But a writer who self-censors too often risks writing nothing of consequence. I think I dance a little too close to that line now whereas when I first started I was much closer to fearless in my choices of topics and thoughts.

 

I’m wondering what some of your memorable experiences are with blogging?

 

I’ve made friends, met people from around the United States, and corresponded with people from around the world. I’ve been interviewed on the radio, interviewed for a few newspaper articles, and seen my writing in places where I never would have imagined it–it’s been great. One of my most memorable experiences was performing the wedding of a couple that I met through the site; it was such an honor to be asked and to be included in their wedding.

 

What do you do in order to keep up your communication with other bloggers?

 

I have a number of friends in my city–Denver–that I met through the site and through our Rocky Mountain Blogger Bashes. We meet every few months, email regularly, and sometimes even manage to slip out for curry, a concert, or a few drinks. Part of blogging is realizing that it’s very community oriented. Blogs that link each other and the friendships that you make are what makes up your blogging community. You help the members of your community by linking to their sites, commenting, and sometimes passing along a story that suits someone else’s site more than it does your own.

 

But remember that blogging is also temporary for most people (or at least cyclical). Not everyone who is active now will still be active in two or three years, so it pays to grow your community and extend yourself beyond your normal borders.

 

What do you think is the most exciting or most innovative use of technology in politics right now?

 

Seeing the candidates here in the U.S. interact with the new media faces has been fun. It’s a sort of quiet, continuing revolution against the monopoly that big media outlets used to have on the political narrative in U.S. politics. There is a lot of good in that revolution, not least of which is that the big media outlets that used to be one way conversations have been slowly forced into letting their readers and listeners take a more vocal part of the conversation. That’s exciting.

 

Do you think that these new technologies are effective in making people more responsive?

 

Certainly making people more aggressively involved.

 

What do you think sets Your site apart from others?

 

A lot of sites talk about the same subjects that ResurrectionSong does, so the difference has to be the voices of the people who have written for the site. It’s the personalities that set it apart. That and the fact that you can come by daily and not know what it is that you’ll be reading about–music, politics, technology, movies, American Idol, or whatever comes to mind.

 

Of course, that might also be what irritates people about the site. Er, sorry.

 

If you could choose one characteristic you have that brought you success in life, what would it be?

 

Perseverance. The things that I have that have value to me all came from a willingness to work for a goal and an unwillingness to give up the pursuit when things got tough. 

 

Which is convenient since nearly all of my most memorable failures have come when I gave up instead of slogging through the tough bits.

 

What was the happiest and gloomiest moment of your life?

 

My wedding was the happiest day of my life. Shame my marriage didn’t last. The death of my friend, Charles Eastman, was probably the gloomiest moment of my life. I’ll just leave it at that.

 

Do you think [the use of Twitter and other social networking tools by politicians] is bandwagon jumping or what?

 

Absolutely. But that’s not a bad thing.

 

Politicians, regardless of their party affiliation, tend to be conservative in the messages they give voters and the methods they use to run their campaigns. They always seem to be a little behind the curve when it comes to using new technologies. It’s good to see them catching up to the rest of us.

 

If you could pick a travel destination, anywhere in the world, with no worries about how it’s paid for - what would your top 3 choices be?

 

Instead of giving you three, I’m going to give you one–but that one is much bigger than you’d imagine.

 

For years, I’ve had a dream of flying to South Africa, buying a motorcycle, and taking a mostly unplanned trip through Africa (Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Kenya, Botswana, Ethiopia, Malawi, Uganda, and then somewhere finding my way around to Morocco). It would be a trip without time limits and without any overt agenda, just meeting all the people that I can and building the kinds of memories that live with you throughout your life.

 

What is your favorite book and why?

 

I hate picking one, so I’m going to cheat again and pick three: 

 

1- Sean Stewart’s A Perfect Circle is emotionally involving, beautifully written, and has a main character who really resonated with me.

2- Paul Theroux’s Dark Star Safari was given to me by a friend who knew about my dream of traveling through Africa. It’s basically my trip done in reverse. Theroux traveled from Egypt to South Africa and chronicled his journey in one of the most interesting, cranky, and intriguing travel books I’ve ever read.

3- Natan Sharansky The Case for Democracy is the kind of political book that inspires readers to believe in the promise of freedom to bring peace and prosperity to the world. It’s blunt, well-reasoned, and convincing.

 

What’s the first thing you notice about a person (whether you know them or not)?

 

I make immediate (and occasionally wrong) judgments about people because of their smile when they greet me. Is it friendly? Worried? Reserved? Condescending? Smiles are the first thing I notice.

 

Is there anyone from your past that once told you you couldn’t write?

 

Nope. In fact, through most of my life, others have had more faith in my writing than I have. 

 

Guess I showed them.

 

How bloggers can benefit from blogs financially?

 

Don’t even try. Through five years, I’ve made almost nothing from the blog. In fact, I’ve probably spent more on hosting and the blogging platform (ExpressionEngine) than I’ve made in paid links and a few donations. The benefit for most bloggers is going to be very personal in nature–most bloggers won’t make much money at all.

 

Is it true that who has a successful blog has an awful lot of time on their hands?

 

It certainly seems to help. Most of the biggest blogs I know don’t have to worry about posting during their lunch or on a break.

 

What are your thoughts on corporate blogs and what do you think the biggest advantages and disadvantages are?

 

Corporate blogs can be great if they are cared for carefully. Giving customers an avenue to directly give feedback on your products and services can be incredibly eye opening. That comes with two caveats, though: people are more likely to give feedback when they are angry, so the feedback often skews to the negative, and comments on a blog must be carefully policed so that a comment left by one of your customers doesn’t hurt you in a legal sense or in relationships with your partners. 

 

Like many useful tools, though, if you can’t do it right don’t do it at all. A bad blog–uninformative, filled with marketing jargon, or poorly written–will hurt your reputation and alienate customers. Don’t do it if you can’t support it and don’t do it if you aren’t committed to a reasonable level of transparency. 

 

What role can bloggers of the world play to make this world more friendlier and less hostile?

 

Stop relying on partisanship and acrimony as a crutch for gaining readership. Real change doesn’t often come because you shouted the other side down, it comes because you made a good, convincing case for your beliefs.

 

Who are your top five favourite bloggers?

 

I love every blog on my blogroll. If I had to narrow it down–and I hate to leave people out, because so many of them have been good to me or educated me. If I had to pick a few, though, I would probably pick Steve Green (VodkaPundit.com), Shawn Macomber (Return of the Primitive, who also writes for American Spectator and a number of other publications), The Line is Here (a Libertarian group blog), Primordial Slack (whose author, Joan, has a wonderfully engaging style), and Megan McArdle’s blog on The Atlantic’s site.  And to the rest of my friends that I didn’t mention: if they would have let me list the entire blogroll, I would have.

 

Is there one observation or column or post that has gotten the most powerful reaction from people?

 

There are too many to mention, and they almost always surprise me when they come up. My defense of gay marriage brought some pretty interesting comments from both sides of the argument. 

 

What is your perception about Pakistan and its people?

 

My perception of Pakistan is of a wildly diverse people–diverse politically and religiously. That diversity is a little scary when you realize just how important Pakistan can be in maintaining stability in the region and in combatting extremist terrorism. I’m not sure that I envy Pakistan’s people that unique position, though. 

 

Have you ever become stunned by the uniqueness of any blogger?

 

Jeff Goldstein of Protein Wisdom created a unique blog persona that no one else has quite matched. He no longer blogs regularly, though, and the personalities of the bloggers who have taken over in his absence don’t really fill the void.

 

What is the most striking difference between a developed country and a developing country?

 

So many things go into the creation of a successful developed country that I don’t think you can narrow it down to one thing. Reasonably stable economies grow along with stable governments that guarantee the rights of their citizens, allow free press to flourish, and encourage the political and economic involvement of its people. There is a sense of faith between the government and the people that allows for regular transfer of power without violence–and that is vital. You could talk about civil rights, education, and access to health care, too. 

 

What is the future of blogging?

 

WIth a blog that is over five years old, I’m pretty sure I’m a fossil. I think that answer will best come from someone younger and more forward thinking than me.

 

You have also got a blogging life, how has it directly affected both your personal and professional life?

 

Well, it’s made my girlfriend cranky, proud, and jealous at times; I’ve made quite a few friends; I’ve spent too much money on nights at the bar; and I’ve written a few paid articles for publication. It’s been great.

 

What are your future plans?

 

Get married, travel when I can, re-open AfricaBlog, and write the Great American Novel. Which, three out of four wouldn’t be bad, would it?

 

Any Message you want to give to the readers of The Pakistani Spectator?

 

Thanks for giving me this opportunity to talk about my site. I look forward to dropping by and reading more of The Pakistani Spectator.

Trackback URL