Kickin’ it in the blogosphere

By Cindy Yurth
Navajo Times/NAM

DENVER — When I took a job with the Navajo Times four years ago, I figured I’d spend most of my time bumping around dirt roads in my pickup truck.

This prediction turned out to be eerily accurate. And yet, here I am on the second seating level at the Democratic National Convention, rubbing shoulders with delegates. OK, she’s an alternate — Jacqui Pope from Iowa. Jacqui and I have bonded over having just got kicked off the third floor, where we were both illegally squatting in the flash photography section.

The security folks let Jacqui, with her alternate delegate credential, onto the second floor. But they tell me the only media allowed on the second floor are bloggers.

“I’m a blogger,” I say brightly. The security girl squints at me suspiciously. Is it the grey hair?

“She has a laptop,” offers her partner.

Actually, it is strictly true that I am a blogger. At least, the folks at New America Media, which sponsored my press credential, have invited me to blog. I hadn’t planned to blog, because I’m not really sure what blogging is — I mean, I’ve seen so many versions of it, from stream-of-consciousness to thoughtful news analyses. I was just going to write as few news stories as I could get away with and enjoy the buzz surrounding what everyone is calling the most exciting Democratic convention in recent history.

I wouldn’t know, never having been to one, but it is pretty exciting if you’re into thousands of people in funny hats waving signs and flags, and 50 people in a row making the identical speech.

The gospel choir was a nice touch. In fact, the Motown-style band has everyone up and shaking their hips — even, as Jacqui observes, the white folks. Jacqui could have sat anywhere on the second floor as an alternate delegate, but she decides to follow me to the blogging section, since we’re both enjoying being pissed off at the security people who kicked us out of our seats, even though our new seats in the blogosphere are tons better.

I missed the one thing I really wanted to see, the Navajo Code Talkers bringing in the colors — allowing 15,000 journalists various levels of access to the convention while preserving security is, apparently, a very tricky business, and getting into the hall was a process. Even Flo McAfee, director of credentials for the specialty press, seemed to find the credentialing process mysterious and couldn’t really explain to us how the committee decides who gets which credentials.

I SO very lucky that this was all taken care of for me. Thank you NAM! Here I am in a place I never thought I would be, doing something there wasn’t even a word for when I was in journalism school: blogging away. At least, I suppose I am blogging.

Wow, here’s Nancy Pelosi! Cool! Am I doing this right?

Mostly, the bloggers I’m eavesdropping on seem to be trying to outdo each other with their chance experiences.

“I can go home now,” boasts the guy next to me. “I just ran into George McGovern.”

“No way!” I reply. “What did he have to say?”

“Nothing, he was just trying to find his seat,” the blogger replies. Why are these people — I mean, um, us bloggers — being given better seats than the legitimate journalists? Oh well, I guess it’s the wave of the future. Or the present. What was it Obama once said … “The future starts now”?

If I were writing a news story, I’d probably have to check on that.

Vive le blog!

The convention starts out kind of boring, with everybody Obama ever met standing up and saying what a great guy he is in front of this amazing, multimedia backdrop that steals the show from some of the speakers. But it keeps getting better. I am determined to be an objective journalist and not get caught up in the hype, but 20,000 bodies swaying to music, yelling and waving signs create an unavoidable energy field.

Although it’s pure psychological manipulation, Teddy Kennedy’s appearance is a show-stopper.

Michelle Obama is even better, Jacqui and I agree. All the style of Jackie O, but much more outspoken.

Even McGovern Guy is starting to make himself useful, pointing out Spike Lee, documentarian Ken Burns and … oh my gosh … the entire Kennedy clan is sitting in the next section over from us! If I hadn’t ended up in the blogosphere with McGovern Guy, I would never have even noticed them.

One of the bloggers (say, am I the only one in this section who actually has a laptop out?) tries to one-up McGovern Man’s uncanny celebrity scan of the convention floor.

“I got a credential to the Lexus beer and wine bar,” he tosses out.

This seems to impress the blogosphere way more than even the Ken Burns sighting. When you think about it, how would anybody actually know what Ken Burns looks like?

Jacqui drops that she and some other Obama supporters had lunch with Michelle when she was campaigning in Iowa.

The bloggers’ ears perk up. You can almost see their brains scanning their files to one-up Jacqui’s Michelle Obama lunch, but nobody’s got anything. I feel proud of my new friend.

Is anyone besides me actually writing anything? Someone in the blogosphere yells at the Kennedy clan next door, trying to get them to turn around so they can get a picture of them. The bloggers are way more fun than real journalists, and that’s saying a lot.

A pastor is giving the benediction, which seems anticlimactic since the entire audience by this point is already convinced their candidate walks on water. I’ve been in the hall since 4, and it’s 9:30. Where did the time go? This blogging stuff is pretty fun. Can you actually get paid for it, or do you live on wrangled credentials to hor s d’oevre buffets? If I point to some random Black guy on the other side of the hall and say, “Hey, look, it’s Denzel Washington!” will it up my cred enough to follow Lexus Guy to the wine bar?

I guess I have three more days to find this stuff out. Then it’s back in the pickup truck for me.

NAM DNC LIve Coverage

Election 2008