Last updated on January 3, 2023
I’ve recently been accused of not being a hipster, so I’m a little sensitive these days. But Garry Trudeau might be a tad bit out of touch with the times…
I don’t usually read Doonesbury, by Garry Trudeau. I do like it, think it’s extremely clever, but I regularly read only a handful of comics. (list to be divulged at another time.) But for some reason, I looked over and took a look at a story arc starting October 17.
One of his characters, Rick Redfern, the journalist, about 50 years old or so, I guess, just started a blog. He’s excited because somebody finally linked to him. (I wanted to get permission from uclick to reprint it, and it took a couple of days to get an answer – No. Unless I want to cough up $50. From a BLOGGER? You gotta be kidding.) So here’s a link.
Since I don’t regularly read Doonesbury, I was confused. I looked at the cartoon title. Was this a rerun? Nope. So…did Garry Trudeau just. discover. blogs???! If true, oh my gah. I am appalled. I just started this blog a few weeks ago, but I’ve been contributing comments to blogs for 6 years now, and have been running my Griffith Park blog for over 18 months. True, when I go to parties, most people I meet still say they don’t read blogs! Even the younger ‘uns! But Garry Trudeau is….the man au courant. Or at least I used to think so.
I found a blogger here, Robert Niles, who has a different take. He names it: What Doonesbury’s Rick Redfern did wrong:
The real-world WaPo has taken one of the newspaper industry’s most aggressive approaches to staff blogging and chatting. If Redfern had worked at the real WaPo, he undoubtedly would have had the opportunity to start a blog long before he faced a buyout. He could have developed his blogging voice, as well as an online following, with the help of one of the newspaper industry’s top dot-com staffs.
He has some interesting tips on how to start a blog before you get laid off from your paper, which would be great, you know, if one had the newspaper job to begin with.
Well, at least I don’t have to worry about Garry seeing this, as blogs aren’t on his radar – should we call it bladar- yet.
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