Monday, August 20, 2007

reflection from up the pike

I remember when I met my first blogger at this forum on Affordable Housing about a year ago. All five of the candidates for County Executive were there, but it was Russ Louch - of the now-defunct Political Yak - I was excited to meet. Finally, I was in a circle where people actually wanted to talk to me about The Issues.

so much more AFTER THE JUMP . . .

In a year, I've gone from being some frustrated kid on the bus to being a legitimate blogger, if you will, and from one of three bloggers in Silver Spring to one in nearly a dozen. The scene looks considerably different than it did in 2006, and I'm sure this time in 2008 it'll have completely changed again. Blogs come and go. Big ideas eventually turn into burnouts.

And I seem to have forgotten that. Being written up in the Examiner and the Post; finding out the County Council reads me; having random strangers approach me at work and say "I love your blog!" - it's easy to feel like Just Up The Pike is bigger than it really is. Recently, my own temper and inflated sense of self-worth has gotten the best of me - several times - and I'm forced to remember why exactly I started doing this in the first place.

I've lived in Silver Spring my whole life and love this place with all my heart. That's why I do this - working long hours, pounding the pavement, talking to as many people as I can - with no compensation. I want the East County to get the recognition it deserves, but it will regardless if I'm here or not. Silver Spring doesn't need me. I need Silver Spring.

Thank you so much for reading - and still reading. Every comment, every mention, every hit motivates me to keep going, as long as I can.

Dan Reed
www.justupthepike.com

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dan -- keep up the good work. And don't dismiss going into Journalism. You already are reporting.

Anonymous said...

Since when is Silver Spring ritzy? If I could convince my family to move, I'd head for Hyattsville or College Park! The AFI is the one thing in SS worth keeping!

Anonymous said...

Dan how can I subscribe to your blog?

Dan Reed said...

I'll admit I don't know a lot about this myself, but to subscribe you want to go to a "feed aggregator" (something like Google Reader) that can take all of your subscriptions (to different blogs and the like) and put them in one place for you - instead of having to go to each blog's site directly. There are links on the homepage - you copy the address in the link to a feed aggregator and you're set.

Or something like that. I never really minded going from one blog to another, but a lot of readers appreciate the convenience of blog subscriptions.

Scenic Wheaton said...

Your blog is a fantastic Silver Spring scoop. (Better then the Gazette).
Keep up the good work!