Can you give us a brief history of banshee blog (where the inspiration came from, is this its first version, etc.)? Also, what's the deal with banshee blog contributors? How do you know them? Why do you keep them around, etc...?
~ Curious
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Dear curious,
Great question. Banshee Blog was born on December 30, 2003 -- between semesters of my third year of law school. The initial post explained the reason why I wanted to start this website, but only about twenty people probably read that post. Here is a brief excerpt from that original post:
I just finished reading In, But Not Of by Hugh Hewitt. The subtitle to this book is "A Guide to Christian Ambition." The basic gist of the book is that it is important for Christians to seek positions of influence in America. Mr. Hewitt says that one of the first steps to being a person of influence is participating in the public discourse. Thanks to the Internet, the Market Place of Ideas is not such a gated community as it once was. Mr. Hewitt recommends blogging as a great way to start sharing ideas with the public. He believes that if you write something interesting, people will find it. So, that's why Banshee Blog was born.
Sounds a lot more high-minded in that post than Banshee Blog actaully turned out to be, huh? I'm not sure Mr. Hewitt had incessant dog show posts in mind when he encouraged his readers to engage the public. I don't think there's been a single photo of Smarty Jones on Mr. Hewitt's blog.
I gave Mr. Hewitt all the credit in that original post, but really Mimi was the inspiration for this blog. She is the one that recommended that I read the book. She is also the one that encouraged me to go ahead and put something on the web. She was also the only other contributor in the infancy of the blog.
This isn't the first time that I've ever attempted a website. I had several short-lived attempts at publishing fiction online. But, this is the first blog that I've ever had. It's only about a year old, but it has had some pretty major facelifts in that year. Polling and pictures are probably two of the most notable upgrades this blog has seen. Unfortunately, you can't see the old version of the blog because the archived posts have all been converted into the current format.
As for contributors ... well, some are family. Some are friends. All are clever and creative. The contributors have a variety of different perspectives and life experiences to draw on. As such, they bring a variety of topics and opinions to the site. However, they all share certain core beliefs that give the blog some continuity. I like the idea of having contributors, because I think it is way more fun to be part of a team than to go it alone.
~ Wild Banshee
If you have a question burning in your mind, please Ask Banshee.
