Blog for Arizona

Blog for Arizona

Who’s Your ‘Best Blog’? Blog for Arizona

by
Blog for Arizona
Blog for Arizona authors and contributors (most of us, anyway)

The Tucson Weekly has been sponsoring its Best of Tucson contest since 1987. This year–for the first time ever– the contest not only gives you six ways to vote for the best pizza in town, but it also allows you to vote for the Best Blog in Tucson. With the Arizona Daily Star’s dramatic reduction in staff a few years ago and consequent reduction in original content, the final death of the Tucson Citizen, and the recent sale of the Tucson Weekly and Inside Tucson Business, news from blogs is increasingly important in the Tucson media market.

We here at Blog for Arizona hope you will vote for us as the Best Blog– before the April 30, 2014 deadline. Why vote for us?

Top 10 Reasons to Vote for Blog for Arizona as Best Blog

10. Blog for Arizona is a statewide political blog that is not afraid to step on the toes of the rich and powerful.

9. Blog for Arizona has a searchable calendar, with political and community events from around the state.

8. Blog for Arizona is not the mouthpiece for any political party or candidate. Yes, we grouse about Republicans and Tea Partiers more than Democrats or Progressives, but just ask the Blue Dogs, and they’ll tell you that we’re not easy on them either. We care about integrity, and we’re not beyond holding anyone’s feet to the fire.

7. Blog for Arizona has 11 seasoned bloggers and several contributors– including three women. This blog has more than one voice. Yes, Blog for Arizona has a decidedly progressive tone, but we don’t always agree with each other– which is a good thing because that gives you– the reader– more information upon which to make wise decisions.

6. Blog for Arizona has new content throughout the day– every day. With so many authors, BfAZ publishes as many as 10 new stories per day.

Read more

Blog for Arizona

Blog for Arizona Has New Look, Improved Functionality

by

ColumnTopBlog for Arizona– Arizona’s longest running and most prolific political blog– has transitioned into the modern era of mobile communication with a new look and greater functionality on Word Press.

Nearly 20,000 blog posts by 11 authors have been transported from TypePad to Word Press– a gargantuan task. Special thanks to Dave Safier (who was with Blog for Arizona when we started this project) who worked with TypePad, Word Press, and Go Daddy on the technical aspect of the transfer. I worked with Safier and BfAZ founder Michael Bryan to create the new masthead and the HTML for some of the features. (If you knew how long it has been since I coded HTML and how little I know of CCS, you’d be really impressed. I want to add a special shout out to the technical support offered by WordPress.org.)

Read more

Google Is Killing Google Reader as of July 1: Now What?

by

Google-reader-is-deadby Pamela Powers Hannley

Corporate giants work in mysterious ways. A case in point is Google's decision to abruptly end its popular Google Reader service, which allows users to get "feeds" from their favorite blogs. 

Blog for Arizona has almost 900 followers. (Hey, thanks!) The problem is that more than half of these followers are using Google Reader to stay up-to-date with our musings.

What's a person to do? So, you know the theory that if you ask the universe a question, the answer will appear to you? Well, that's what happened today.

I Googled something completely unrelated to Google Reader's death and up popped the following post about transporting your Google Reader blogs to Feedly.

Digging a little deeper, I found several other stories about what to do post-Google Reader. The catch is: If you want to maintain your current list of blogs to follow and you want to transfer said list to another service, you have to do it before July 1, 2013! (Or you are SOL and you have to re-essemble your favorites list.)

Here's what The Verge says about Feedly…

Feedly appears to be the heir apparent to Google Reader’s throne, a modern take on RSS that blends some of the niceties of Flipboard (like a “magazine view”) with useful Reader features like keyboard shortcuts and tags. But its biggest advantage may be that it’s the only RSS application that also has excellent and free companion mobile apps. In a world without the ubiquitous Google Reader API, building your own mobile apps is the only way to make sure you can pick up where you left off — in this way, Feedly is the only real Google Reader alternative.

Connecting by Feedly and other links, after the jump.

 

Futurist Watts Wacker on Corporate Goodness & Storytelling

by

Skyscrapers.20-sig-sm72by Pamela Powers Hannley

Has social media pushed us beyond the information age and into the age of goodness?

With the blurring of the lines between news and entertainment and the blurring of the definition of a "friend", futurist Watts Wacker told attendees of the Public Relations Society of America Western District Conference that we are creating a macro culture that will "replace the information age".

Wacker's presentation was a string of observations about "cultural transformation" in our evolving world.

In the global village that is social media, people and corporations can no longer differentiate themselves by what they do-– for example, sell cars, bake bread, play music– because so many others are performing those same services, and thanks to social media, we all know about them. In the information age, we relied on corporate media and advertising to tell us where to buy a car, what bread is best, and who is the greatest rock band ever. Now we get information from our "friends". According to Wacker, corporations, celebrities, and just plain folks have to differentiate themselves by who they are… as people (since corporations are people, my friend.) 

White privilege? Video is worth a thousand words (video)

by

Undocubus-me-788_n

by Pamela Powers Hannley

Dave Safier posted a short story this morning– Presented Without Comment— about the Three Sonorans' putdown of Safier's endorsement of Kristel Foster for the Tucson Unified School Board (TUSD).  (Whatever, I said I didn't agree with Dave either. People are allowed to have their own opinions.)

What Safier failed to mention was that the Three Sonorans also used the occasion to crack on Blog for Arizona and progressives, in general, and me, in particular. So, what else is new? Morales likes to pick on women who are vocal and active in politics. Just ask Loretta Hunnicutt, Kyrsten Sinema, Dolores Huerta, Janet Marcotte, DeeDee Blase, Adelita Grijalva, Gabby Giffords, Regina Romero, and Kristel Foster–to name a handful of his past targets. 

Sexism aside, I take issue with Morales' assertion that progressives take action and protest on the street corners when unions need our help but not when Latinos need our help. This false dichotomy implies that only white people belong to unions and that's why only white people care about them. Wrong. 

After the jump, watch the anti-SB1070 protest video, the protest video against anti-union legislation proposed by the Arizona Legislature, and testimony regarding anti-union activities at the IBEW Hall. You'll see progressives standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Latinos in all three videos.  (BTW, in the photo above, that's me in the turquoise dress, between the two cops, covering the UnDocuBus protest in Charlotte.)