Buddy's Books and Bait.....the future

So I have been a blogger now for a month. When I started Buddy's Books and Bait, I had every intention of using it solely as a classroom teaching tool. I planned to utilize the blog to "communicate" with students--posting assignments, announcements, and other in-class information.

But I soon realized that I was having too much fun voicing my own political opinions. Plus, many of my beliefs are considered extremely "radical" by the higher-ups at my place of employment--and why invite that kind of controversy. Finally, I wouldn't be able to write fuck or use any other expletives if my students were using the blog. So I separated the blog from the teaching portion of my life. One issue solved!

Issue number two--what to do with the blog? If you are a Books and Bait reader, you know that I have included a hodgepodge of articles. There have been book reviews, poetry, political rants, and even commentary on foreign policy issues. While I understand there is no right or wrong way to construct a blog--I am inclined to be a bit more organized in purpose. I have found, to my delight, that Books and Bait has helped me find my political "voice"--and I will keep using it as my personal megaphone. But in the upcoming months, I am planning to push Books and Bait in a slightly different direction--or at least give it more focus.

There are already many excellent national, leftist bloggers. And while I remain interested in global and national affairs--I think this humble little blog of mine might be more useful if I concentrate on state and local affairs. There are a number of local, city, state, and even regional issues that need to be examined and discussed. And I don't just mean political matters--but even social and cultural issues in the Twin Cities. Let me offer a few examples of what you might see in the upcoming months on Buddy's Books and Bait:

-details of Minnesota legislative issues important to liberals and progressives

-examination of local problems like homelessness, teen pregnancy, domestic abuse
-book reviews by Doctor J and others....maybe more on Minnesota books and authors
-continuing columns on fiction and poetry by M.J. Workman
-restaurant reviews
-coverage of Twin Cities museum exhibits and historic site presentations
-film reviews (only high culture foreign films)

In addition, I plan to use this venue to practice what I might call quasi-journalism. It's one thing to sit here and write about the Bush administration or events in Europe. But writing about state and local affairs will allow me to actually "cover" those events and even interview local officials--something I hope to do.

So thanks for reading Books and Bait. And please contact me at any time with comments or suggestions.