Celebrity Hardship

I am once again in the news: Matier and Ross mention me in their column today, and I also appeared on the local CBS affiliate. All this attention is very neat, especially as it's focussing attention on what I think is a large serious problem that needs fixing (Muni's failure to hold drivers accountable, and their lack of transparency when it comes to customer service).

But I'm finding it pretty stressful, too. These old-media news sources are uncomfortably one-directional -- the people reading the paper or watching the news can't easily respond to me. On a blog, the comments make it so easy to participate, and everyone has ownership in the conversation. That doesn't mean that everyone gets along and reaches a satisfactory agreement; but there's at least an exchange of ideas, and once in a very rare while, that exchange is positive. On the other hand, with one-way media, the message seems to float in from far, far away, fixed in time like a painting. Being able to respond to commenters on blogs would be like a painting that pops to life and asks, "well, what do you think I'm smiling about?"

Whoops. I just compared myself to the Mona Lisa. Probably a good sign that it's time to get over my 15 seconds of fame.