Saturday, January 10, 2009

Pittsburgh Writer in Colorado

Drive-by readers of this blog often assume I live in Pittsburgh. For example, my post about the migration from Los Angeles to Nashville prompted this quip from a Music City blogger:

Still, such numbers tend to be rah-rah moments for we shameless creatures in the media business, a chance to strut hometown superiority over a larger, supposedly cooler city. And so The Tennessean did, regaling readers with tales of sold out "Nashville is the new LA" T-shirts and anecdotes about our fabulous quality of life. (Using the same data, a writer in Pittsburgh was able to declare that city the New Washington, D.C.)

Unfortunately, the Nashville writer didn't see fit to link to my post. Doesn't that violate some unwritten blogger code of ethics? I kid.

In such a location-independent medium (see yesterday's post about living in Pittsburgh while working in NYC) I find such geographic assumptions curious. My blogger reality undermines the expected order of things. I think our perception of place has yet to catch up with the diaspora opportunities. Also, we've yet to acclimate to the emerging landscape of social media innovations. Our cultural technologies lag behind the latest software.

I guess you might say that I live in a sunnier Pittsburgh, both literally and metaphorically.

2 comments:

The Urbanophile said...

Unfortunately, there is an element of geography here. If you don't live in a city, the leadership is unlikely to take what you say seriously. This is one of the problems to overcome with the diaspora concept. You've got to treat the people who left like they are still citizens, not traitors.

Burgher Jon said...

I know what you mean. I actually live (or at least half live) in a warmer Pittsburgh (Charlotte), though I do make it back home at least a few days a month and still own my house in Pittsburgh.

BTW, look for an IntoPittsburgh success story to appear on my blog in the next couple days... when it does feel free to reprint it here.