Happy (Belated) BlogDay

BlogDay 2006

Call this the late edition. This is very very late. But better late than never. Blogday was August 31. An important day when bloggers celebrated their existence and highlighted the work of other bloggers dear to them. I was obviously "out to lunch" or out partying somewhere, enjoying time off from my day job.

In this great post on the topic, Rebecca McKinnon, co-founder of Global Voices, asked bloggers the world over to answer several questions on their blogs so that the community of bloggers could be better understood. She also explained the significance of BlogDay: bloggers' free speech and filling of gaping holes in mainstream media.

Here is my list of belated answers to some of the questions she asked of bloggers. Ive decided to do that instead of the 5 blog picks the rest of the world is doing so as not to piss off any of the french-speaking bloggers I cover for GV, all of whom are superstars in my opinion.

If you are a blogger, it is not too late for you to partake too, BTW. Rebecca just asks that you leave a link or trackback in her initial post's comments section .

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• Why did you start blogging?

To get a couple of misconceptions about the place I come from (Haiti, and more broadly the Caribbean) off my chest. Not to portray it "positively" mind you but to portray it in its complexity, good and bad -- not bad alone.

• What do you blog about mainly?

Caribbean current affairs, with a broad understanding of the Caribbean and including its various non-Caribbean metropoles, Brooklyn where I live and of course Miami.

• Do you blog in your first language or in another language, and why?

I blog in English because lots of Haitians both in Haiti and abroad understand the language and because I live in the United States. Also english blogging about Haiti helps Caribbean partners better understand the country. My understanding is that many other non-American bloggers for whom English is not the 1st language do the same.

• When you blog, how would you describe what you write? Is it part of a conversation? Is it ranting? Is it a daily diary? Is it journalism? Is it some or all of these things at different times? Does the definition matter?

The definition matters little to me but I'm pretty sure that I synthesize and analyze information that is hard to find in MSM and that I package it with my own brand of uniqueness.

• Have blogs started to have an impact on politics in your country? Have they started to influence what stories get covered in your country’s media? We’d love to know some examples.

Not that I know of. Although there is a vivid and opinionated Haitian internet (mostly run from abroad) there is not yet a proper Haitian blogosphere either in our out of Haiti.

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It is worth noting that on BlogDay, Le Blog de [Moi] named me as one of her 5 picks for the day, finding me to be gay-friendly and well written. If you can't read French, here is a translation:

Wanna know what's going on in the francophone or anglophone Caribbean via local bloggers? Just click! All live from Brooklyn.

Thanks [Moi]! You have a hell of a blog too and it's always a pleasure to read you. Click here for translations of [Moi]'s often hilarious, always biting posts that I made for GV.


BlogDay 2006 - blog de [moi]

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