When I was in college, and immediately afterwards, my friends and I did a short-lived online magazine. Not many people read it, and it didn’t last long, but at the bare minimum it was good practice. And I enjoyed it, and we scored some good things, including a photo essay from Iraq.
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Contra Mark Penn, no. I mean, you could, but you probably won’t, and definitely not from the get-go. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do satisfying and important work. My favorite blogger in the world is a guy who goes by the handle Billmon. He used to run a blog called the Whiskey Bar, which he killed off because of adult responsibilities, but he still stops by at DailyKos, where he started and made his reputation.
And there are more people out there like that. Doghouse Riley, an idiosyncratic, pseudonymous Indianapolis blogger, who I discovered in the comments section at Roy Edroso’s marvelous blog, which I also love; Edroso recently got picked up by the Village Voice, much to their credit. Digby. The guy who runs T.R.O.Y. blog. The academics at Lawyers, Guns, and Money. Hilzoy. All these people are as or more important to me than the employed writers whom you’ve heard of.
In that case, there are plenty of places in Chicago – or wherever you may be – that I’m sure would love to have your contributions. There’s Gapers Block, the Windy Citizen, Chi-Town Daily News, the Beachwood Reporter, and that’s just on the Web. Lumpen is an outstanding magazine, as is their sister publication Proximity. They’d all be better off with whatever time and energy you can spare, especially if it’s an infusion of veteran experience.
