Tonight’s gathering of Tucson Citizen bloggers was reminiscent of my days on the Tucson Citizen’s Editorial Advisory Board. This new crop of citizen journalists is remarkably broad, notably intelligent, and clearly wired into the community, affording the reader a genuine sense of place. It is this sense of place that used to be the hallmark of the dailies.

“In the nineteenth-century newspaper, the relationship between the observer and the observed was reciprocal: the newspaper described the city; the newspaper in turn was sustained by readers who were curious about the strangers that circumstance had placed proximate to them.”
Richard Rodriguez; “Twilight of the American Newspaper” Harpers; Nov.2009

The irony of this loose connection of bloggers, is that they are fulfilling the mission that was once aspired to in the brainstorming sessions of the volunteer citizen panels of the 1990’s.

There is a phrase in the Mexican community that captures this group of local observers. “La vida es corta pero ancha” Loosely translated to mean, life is short, but ever so wide. That is the nature of news in my world.

Again, I turn to Richard Rodriguez, writing in the November issue of Harpers. ” It is like a giant newspaper being assembled at all hours, from every corner of the world, still with news but no roots in a place. Perhaps we do not need a sense of place anymore.”

A year from now the readers will speak, about the value of “TucsonCitizen.com,” and the sense of place it gives to our town. In the meantime, I am proud to be a member of a club that will have me. And I am equally proud to have made the acquaintance of some of you this evening. Carry on.