THE ESSENCE OF BLOGGING
At The McHale Report we have been blogging since shortly after the turn of the century. Back then we were known as El Rocinante, a much cherished title that originates in the early 1990s when we published a periodical by the same name. We have gone through several transformations and we have evolved or devolved, depending on the perspective of the critic, into our present presentation. We have also added Facebook as a forum to promulgate our message although we are serving a 30-day sentence accusing of bullying and hate speech.
Why do we blog? The obvious answer is our addiction to writing. If we go two or three days without writing, we suffer severe mental withdrawal. We begin to think that we are meaningless. Why do we exist? we ask ourselves. Writing in a fulfilling diversion. We feel sorry for people who don't record their existences.Secondly, as young men and women who comprise the staff at The McHale Report, we were raised as journalists. We came of age when the press ended the war in Vietnam and the presidency of Richard Nixon. Our first editor began each day in the newsroom with this booming question," Who are we going to fuck today?"
In a simple statement, we blog to inform and entertain.
Our detractors often find fault with our presentation. They don't understand that a blog isn't trying to duplicate a newspaper on-line. A blog is anything that the publisher wants it to be. There are no limits to its format. We have our style and we are both comfortable and content with it. That doesn't mean there isn't room for change, but we don't hear much negative feedback from our readers in regards to delivery
Even though our publisher has been writing non-stop about Brownsville for almost five decades and generally doesn't go a day without submitting an article or a commentary to The McHale Report, there are those who argue that The McHale Report survives by merely reposting pieces from the mainstream press and the alternative press. They also complain that photos standing alone are a dereliction of duty. It's called wild art for those who once plied their trade at dailies but have forgotten the concept invaluable for filling space.
Since we conceive ourselves as a news outlet, we search for other sources that will impact our audience. We believe that El Rrun Rrun's Juan Montoya, The Brownsville Republic's /DP-M, The Brownsville Void's Booby Witless-Cervezas, The Brownsville Beacon's Diego Garcia and The Brownsville Observer's Jim Barton (the latter two when they write) make important contributions to educating the community about the mass corruption in most our institutions that condemns this woeful stain on the map to being known as the Third World Capital of the United States instead of the New Orleans of the Rio Grande River. And, surprisingly, The Brownsville Herald raises a pertinent point occasionally that we believe should be repeated for broader appreciation.
We go about our business with no pretensions. We have spent many peaceful days and nights composing our blog and reposting on Facebook. One day we picked up a tennis racket and fell in love with the game. That's probably the best explanation for our joy in blogging.
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