Back from Philly, Whew

Todd and I got back yesterday from the AAN national convention in Philly (Pa., not my Mississippi hometown). It's good to be home—where it's actually cooler than it was in the Northeast, believe it or not. As usual, we worked hard (Todd gave a presentation; I coordinated one; and I did board meetings and the like), and met lots of folks. One thing that is cool is how accepted and welcomed Mississippi is in the alternative-newspaper world after only five years of membership. People really admire what we're doing with diversity and online (blogging way back in 2002, oh my), and are impressed with the native talent that we are blessed to have working for the paper. The best moment for the JFP were the awards we won—including two first places. The big one was the community service award we won for our team's investigative work (and blogging) over the last three years that helped put James Ford Seale in jail. That meant a lot—and felt a whole lot like Mississippi standing up to publicly face and confront our past. It's very different from having "outsiders" assume we haven't changed; it's great to give them award-winning evidence that we are actively evolving.

We also drank a bit at various shindigs; the Philadelphia City Paper (host alt) had almost too much free booze donated (not a bad problem to have, or maybe it was), and they planned all sorts of great events for us. We missed the special 7:30 a.m. viewing of the Liberty Bell because we were out bowling until 2 a.m. with the Charleston City Paper folks. Y'all would love them: a couple and their friend who had a crazy idea to do an alt in the South—sound familiar!?—but they bought an existing paper, though, and turned it into something amazing and award-winning. They're a decade old now and doing very well. I took fun pictures on my Treo (and some video) and will post it over on Lounge List when I get a minute.

But, it's good to be home. We always come back from AAN convention with renewed energy and ideas, and y'all will be seeing some of those very soon. Oh, and folks were very impressed with the LoungeList. We might be the first alt to have our own social network. It's so good to be first, instead of last, eh?

OK, back to the grindstone and my recent investigative series. Cheers.

 
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