Paging All of Jersey's blogs

Paging all of Jersey's blogs
Sunday, August 21, 2005

By JACI SMITH
HERALD NEWS


For those who want to take their minds for a ride, there's a new amusement park in town.

Today marks the 14th week of the Carnival of New Jersey Bloggers, and much like a real carnival, this virtual one offers something for everyone.

Blogs are sites that feature personal musings and opinions, written by "bloggers" for all to see; the carnival brings many of the blogs written by New Jersey residents together. It is hosted each Sunday on the Web site of a different Garden State blogger, whose primary responsibility - much like any good carny's - is to hawk links on his or her site to the different contributors.

To date, more than 100 bloggers from all over the state have participated.

"It can be difficult for New Jersey blog readers and writers to find each other. The idea behind the carnival was to bring as many N.J. blogs as possible together in one place each Sunday," wrote Enlighten-New Jersey, the blogger who created the carnival, in an e-mail about the event. Citing a number of threatening e-mails, Enlighten insisted on remaining anonymous.

Enlighten borrowed Tillie, that quintessential Jersey fellow whose face graced the boardwalk at Asbury Park, as the event's mascot. If you find a blog that features Tillie's creepily grinning face, you've found someone who has been to the party.

Many blogs are politically oriented, so it's no surprise many of those participating in the carnival feature pointed opinions on the day's issues. Recently, conservative bloggers in this "blue state" engaged all comers by calling for a "blogcott" of Cindy Sheehan, the military mom who camped out near President Bush's Texas ranch in protest of the Iraq war. Looking locally, Dynamobuzz reflected on the state's political scene a year ago, writing that former Gov. James McGreevey should have said "My truth is, I'm a lying crook," instead of "I'm a gay American." Meanwhile, Riehl World View blogger Dan Riehl uses his blog to follow the story of missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway.

The carnival also features blogs reporting news outside the mainstream. One such blog, Uneven Stevens, was created by alumni of Stevens Institute of Technology to report on the allegations of financial misdeeds by the school's administration.

And what would a carnival be without food? Recent blogs included where to find great Jersey City soul food, the finer points of Swedish meatballs and a recipe for Peruvian potatoes.

Depending on how much you read, you could leave this virtual playground with that overloaded mind and body feeling that you get from eating one too many fried treats, then riding one too many roller coasters.

"Jersey bloggers are generally frustrated. They are frustrated with the press' inability to reach Joe Public, frustrated with the state's general image," wrote Jeff Faria of Hoboken, aka Mister Snitch, via e-mail. "I know bloggers have acquired this image of guys (mostly) sitting around in their underwear, unemployed, venting, rambling. But since the public doesn't think all that much of journalists to begin with, bloggers don't have that much of a credibility gap to leap."