Inner Harbor's One-Year Anniversary, and the Blog's "Street Value"

One year ago today, I posted my first entry in Inner Harbor. In the past few days, I've reflected about the blog, some of its entries, and comments I've received both publicly and through private communication. I'm deeply appreciative and grateful to all who have read the blog, reacted to it in some fashion, and/or wanted to be followers. As a writer, it is deeply satisfying to know that the entries have stimulated a reader's thinking, entertained in some way, suggested new perspectives, and/or offered topics with which one was unfamiliar.

I have enjoyed contributing to Inner Harbor nearly every day since May 29, 2010. The writing itself has delivered personal rewards well beyond anything I had anticipated. The second year will provide its share of challenges. I'm looking forward to them. I also want to improve and expand my writing repertoire, and to deepen my knowledge of certain subjects. These aspirations means I'll have a full plate.

I don't know the blog's "monetized" worth. Google includes a tab in the blog dashboard that references this financial Holy Grail. I think that gives far too much respectability to the commercial process. For me, a blog has "street value," in which the Internet is the "street," and the "value" is analogous to the cops' fanciful estimates of the retail price of contraband. Right now, the blog's principal value is what readers find in it and my own personal satisfaction in the conception and writing of it. That's fine with me for the time being.

And now, for a holiday weekend bonus, here are a few quotes for your consideration:

1. "When I see that a little chambermaid is capable of taking on Dominique Strauss-Kahn, I tell myself I do not have the right to remain silent." -- a municipal employee of a Parisian suburb explaining why she came forward to accuse a junior minister of sexual harassment. The bureaucrat in question, meanwhile, is countersuing his accusers for slander. (BBC)

2. "I expect to hold it for a very, very long time. I'm not looking for an exit for a long time." -- New York Mets' minority owner and hedge fund manager David Einhorn on his $200 million dollar investment in the baseball team. (Newsday)

3. "We don't have a motive right now." -- North Miami police lieutenant on last night's drive-by shooting of a local poet and cafe owner. (Miami Herald)

4. "I saw evil that day in the eyes of the people who wanted to rip me to shreds." -- Wisconsin state assemblyman Kevin Petersen, reflecting on his March 10, 2011 encounter outside the Wisconsin state capitol building with demonstrators after he and Republican colleagues voted to eliminate most collective bargaining rights for municipal employees. As the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel blog entry noted, "Petersen's account differs, however, with reports from Capitol police and other law enforcement who said the protestors were generally well-behaved and there were only a handful of arrests in the three weeks of protests over the bill." (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)