The Sacramento News and Review published a story by Alexander Zaitchik called “Why Twitter Sucks: Once harmlessly annoying, Twitter has become an undeniable player in the social-media landscape. Should we really fear the tweet?” I do agree with some of his points: there are a lot of meaningless posts (I’ve posted many myself), it’s completely self indulgent, it’s not the most eloquent form of communication and it feeds our rapidly shrinking attention spans. However, I think Zaitchik completely missed the mark on Twitter because he doesn’t seem to understand the communication potential of Twitter and the potential of “smart Twittering”. He doesn’t even reflect on “thick tweets” or “aeious” (already existing information optimally uploaded).
This is my posted response to Mr. Zaitchik: “I both agree and disagree with your assessment of Twitter. It’s terrifying to imagine a society that settles on communicating in 140 characters. Like you said, it marks the decreased attention span of the 21st century. However, there are smart ways to use Twitter. Like most new technologies, people use Twitter literally – what are you doing? However, the technology should not be limited to answering that question or composing 140 character diary entries. Twitter can be used as a platform to share work with a collection of followers. I write a blog, write and edit for my school paper and write for San Francisco Weekly. When I write a new article I send out a tweet, alerting people I’ve created new media. I wrote real pieces, 500 words or more, but I use Twitter as a platform to expose my work to a wide audience. My school paper uses Twitter to alert followers when we have new stories online and our views drastically increased when we started tweeting. I even found out about your story from someone I follow on Twitter. Don’t accept that a technology is bad from the lowest common denominator of users, there are people using Twitter in great and exciting ways.”
Living on my own has been a great way to force me to learn how to cook. I spent my entire high school life as a vegetarian, so I never learned how to cook meat. Since I moved into my apartment I’ve explored the internet looking for exciting things to cook, thinking of foods to cook that aren’t pasta related. With a student budget in mind and a fondness for produce and meat, I’ve attempted to craft delicious meals out of what I can find on sale or in China Town. My first big success stories were delicious sesame asparagus with perfectly cooked tri tip steak and incredible vegetarian coconut curry made with my boyfriend, Brian. Now that I have a blog I decided I should keep track of recipes and cooking success stories. Here are two more.
Chicken Pot Pie! I got this recipe from my mother who found it in “Real Simple Magazine.” She knew that chicken pot pie was one of my favorite foods, and probably also assumed I’d struggle trying to make it from a complex and time consuming recipe. This pot pie was fairly inexpensive, very easy to make and low in fat and calories. All good things in my book. The recipe is intended to feed six people, so Brian and I ate it for several days. It microwaved very well, always a big bonus. These are the ingredients and directions: 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 onions, chopped, 4 carrots, diced, 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup dry white wine, 2 cups 1 percent milk, 1 10-ounce package frozen peas, 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, kosher salt and black pepper. 1 9-inch store-bought piecrust, thawed if frozen. We also used one potato and instead of using white wine we borrowed some of our roommates red wine. We used the Betty Crocker pie crust. All you need to make it is water.
Directions:
1) Heat oven to 400° F. Cook the chicken in a pot of simmering water until cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes; let cool, then shred.
2) Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and carrots and cook, stir-ring, until they begin to soften, 6 to 8 minutes (do not let them darken).
3) Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the wine and cook until evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add the milk and simmer until the sauce thickens, 2 to 3 minutes.
4) Stir in the chicken, peas, thyme, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Transfer to a shallow 1 1/2- to 2-quart baking dish.
5) Lay the crust on top, pressing to seal. Cut several vents in the crust. Place the pot pie on a baking sheet and bake until bubbling and the crust is golden, 30 to 35 minutes.
I also found a guacamole reciple that I adore. I’ve always made guacamole and I’ve made it as many ways as you can count — with salsa, with hot sauce, without tomatos, with guacamole mix. Usually it’s just not quite right. It just never tastes like it does at the taquerias or restaurants and I can’t ever figure out why. Determined to make the PERFECT guacamole I explored the internet. Then I found avacado.org, the California avacado website. They have an entire section of their website devoted to guacamole recipes called”Guacamole Central.” From there you can find a whole variety of recipes — guacamole autentico, classic guacamole, cajun guacamole, south of the border guacamole. Even a California guacamole with goat cheese and pine nuts. They have a feature that lets you plug in the amount of people you’re cooking for and it adjusts the ingredients to suit your party. To make mine I mix the autentico and the classic.
To make guacamole for two here is my recipe:
1) Slice up one quarter of tomato (I usually use hot house, but in the summer I’ll try with heirloom) and onion (personal preference with onion comes in big time here, but I usually slice up about a handfull).
2) Mash up the avacado meet with a fork in a bowl with lime juice (I squeeze in a quarter of a lime) and a little bit of garlic (you know, to taste).
3) Mix in the tomato and onion. Add in sliced fresh cilantro to taste. Sprinkle in cumin (the secret ingredient!) and salt.
4) Add some hot sauce or peppers if you like it spicy and it’s ready to serve! I like to serve mine with quesadilla. Nice and golden brown.
Keep checking for more recipes in the near future!
Filed under: DMP
I created a map of San Francisco using Google Maps. The points around the city mark locations that either my classmates or I have taken photos of and blogged about. As I continue to blog and photograph this map will become increasingly filled with points. This is my experience of San Francisco!
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Filed under: Blogs, DMP, USF | Tags: Blogs, DMP, Future of Blogging, Self Expression, USF, Why I Blog
This is my first personal blog, however this is not my first involvement with the blogosphere. I work one of the many companies that saturate the Internet with content all day every day, “SF Weekly.” I write for their blog, “All Shook Down,” writing music reviews. The Weekly has two blogs in addition to the one I write for, putting out a dozen or so entries on each every few days. A miniscule blog compared to “the New York Times” or “Huffington Post,” but still a lot of content. There’s pressure to post often, a corporate infrastructure that judges a blog not by content, but by page views and click throughs.
From this background, I completely understand why writers like Paul Boutin have abandoned the blogosphere in favor of other technologies. My blog will never get the views of major sites and I’ll inevitably have to deal with the trolls hiding around the internet. However, I’m not ready to give up on blogging. I think aggression towards blogging comes from expectations. Writers expect their page to get millions of views, comments and links. It probably won’t. Is that a bad thing? Is the only purpose of writing for other people to see it? Is there something wrong with blogging for the self? Absolutely not.
I don’t have the time to be a full time blogger. I read blogs every day that update on a regular basis, anywhere from three to ten times a day. Those people are incredible — rich with time, energy, patience and ideas. I subscribe to the slow blogging sect. I think I have something important to say and I want to say it. However, I also believe blogs should be written in reflection. If bloggers think about what they say before they say it, there’s going to be more depth. Blog when you have something to say, not just for the sake of blogging. Let ideas wash over you, let thoughts flow onto the screen. I don’t advocate for the blog as diary approach, but I think everyone has something to say about the news they read, the pictures they see or the movies they watch. Why not give commentary? Criticize? Perhaps even comment ideas expressed in other blogs. Whether people read it or not, there’s always a place for self-expression.
