Blog Smog
Didn't want this site to be about what I had for breakfast, what books I’m reading, what music I like. I didn't want it to be blog smog -- information haze -- that's little more than a personal masthead for the ship of self.
By Kevin Sites, Mon Sep 27, 9:14 AM ET
Didn't want this site to be about what I had for breakfast, what books I’m reading, what music I like. I didn't want it to be blog smog -- information haze -- that's little more than a personal masthead for the ship of self.
When the site's producer, Xeni Jardin, coaxed me into the blogosphere while I was covering the invasion of Iraq for CNN, I thought it would be a great way to share with anyone interested what I'm seeing and experiencing in conflict zones around the world.
Obviously this blog is the prism of my own sensibilities, but hopefully with a few less filters -- news stories without the middle man. Plus I wanted it to be much more about people, somehow providing evidence of the connections we have to each other regardless of how geographically, linguistically or culturally removed. Finally, I wanted it to be about the small things -- observations and conversations that might pass without fanfare that are actually divining rods to quiet truths.
I've tried to accomplish this by being counterblogintuitive: going with long pieces rather than short posts, allowing digestive time with long lags between new entries (generally, driving Xeni crazy by my inability to grasp the obvious strength of the medium -- its immediacy).
My approach also created a choppiness in the narrative and tended to sacrifice stories and characters for the textures and colors of packaging. I realize that there are so many people you'd probably like to meet, details you'd want to see, conversations you need to hear -- small things that provide greater understanding of our world. So rather than trying to collect them all and relay them back according to my timeline, I will try to share them in a much more timely and frequent manner, through shorter and more frequent posts, or even just an image a day to help you maintain some connection to the story I'm covering. Let me know what you think. And, as always, I appreciate your interest and concern for my personal well being and for those I write about.
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Scheduled Conflict Coverage
Hot Zone Watch List
- Algeria
- Angola
- Burundi
- Chad
- Ivory Coast
- Korean Peninsula
- Liberia
- Nigeria
- Peru
- The Philippines
- Thailand
- Uzbekistan
- Zimbabwe
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