A wise
man once said, “Those who can’t do, teach.” But a lot of wise men have said a
lot of stupid shit over the years.
So I’ve abandoned this hogwash phrase and decided to try to learn from those who can do, and do do, what I’m doing – writing a blog. In this post I’m going to be profiling Mark Richardson, Editor-in-Chief of the prominent music blog Pitchfork, and prolific blogger on his personal blog http://www.markrichardson.org/. For a quick summary of his professional work (and “hardware usage”), check out this short interview with The Setup. As the editor-in-chief of one of the biggest and most influential music blogs, Richardson is clearly an expert in music and writing. But it’s not his work at Pitchfork that I’m going to talk about; rather, it’s his personal blog, which has become a true inspiration for me since I started following it a mere week ago. He blogs pretty much every day, usually posting a few small things and a larger post each day.
What I like most about Mark’s blog is its style. But “style,” in an of itself, is a meaningless term, and in this case manifests itself in many ways. The point, though, is that after reading Mark’s blog for a little while, I feel a distinct style, whatever that word may mean, emanating from it that, I hope, represents Mark’s personality and interests – his real-life person style if you will.
So how is this style portrayed? I think the choice of content plays a big part. Obviously, Mark is a music-junkie – you don’t become the editor-in-chief of Pitchfork listening to a record “here and there.” And, in stride, most of Mark’s posts are music related. But he doesn't let that limit his blog. He sprinkles in muses about culture in general and comments and links to anything he reads and finds interesting. It is in these posts that his personality, perspective, and feelings come out, and they give the blog balance. By widening his scope, Richardson redefines his target audience: it’s not just music junkies like himself who are checking in to see what tunes are on his mind, which he already expresses through his Pitchfork pieces. Instead, his personal blog is like an expansion pack for his more formal Pitchfork writing – it’s more personal, covers more topics, and is much less structured. It’s succinct, no-frills posts linking to songs. But it’s also longer musings addressing whatever is on Mark’s mind at the time. It’s both at the same time. And by ditching the structure and the limitations that his professional writing requires, he is able to appeal to audiences just interested in things – music, art, technology…culture! – the things everyone does, or at least should, care about. And he makes these things interesting with his unique perspective and thoughts, and in doing so he establishes this ineffable concept of style that strikes me.
My favorite of his recent posts, and one that demonstrates this style I’m talking about, is innocently titled At the Laundromat. What starts as a description of Richardson’s launderly and literary tendencies turns into an amazing story of his interactions with a mentally ill woman at his Laundromat and a commentary on the way we interact with the homeless and the disabled. He so effortlessly uses straight-forward storytelling to get his point across by giving details into his personal thoughts (about the story) along the way. And he doesn’t make any attempt – actually, none at all – to convince you that his point is “true” or “right.” He doesn’t even explicitly say what his point is. He just tells a story, from his perspective, and lets it be, lets the reader take from it what he will. This is what I like most about Mark’s blog – he makes a point without making a point.
Another post that stands out for me is this, in which he comments on a quote from the afterword of You Are Not A Gadget. I think this is a great example of extremely effective use of third party material. The way he presents the post, with the quote (third party material) in much larger font, makes that outside material the focus, with his comments serving merely as condiments for the proverbial hamburger. Again, he lets you take the quote for what it is, not overemphasizing his position or forcing his perspective on the reader.
Ultimately,
I strive to take my blog in this type of direction: I don’t want to limit
myself to long posts on specific subjects. Rather, I want to make my blog a
more accurate expression of my thoughts and feelings and will start posting
more random, stream-of-consciousness type items that reflect my own style and personality.
