Blogging on Blogging

By Keith Boykin, in pop culture
Friday, September 2 2005, 9:00AM

Atlanta, GA -- The New York Blade newspaper was working on an article on gay New York City bloggers last week and they asked me to answer a few questions about my own experience as a blogger. My answers were folded into a larger story that was supposed to be published in the paper today, but all I found on the Blade website was a smaller article published last week.

So instead of waiting for the media filter, I thought I should provide the full interview here on my site. Everyday, more and more people are launching their own blogs to communicate their own messages to the world. For those of you who are thinking about starting a blog of your own, this interview might be helpful to give you some perspective on what the experience means to a fellow blogger.

What made you want to start your blog?

I started my website in 2002 as a way to publicize my work as an author and lecturer. When my web designer asked me if I wanted to create an interactive site, I didn't know what he meant. He suggested I develop a blog and a message board as a way to generate new content and build traffic to the site. I was skeptical at first but I decided to give it a try. He was right. I write almost every day on the site, and readers post comments. We have developed a two-way conversation, and now the site gets tens of thousands of hits a day.

What does blogging give you that a journal/diary doesn't?

Blogging is public. Journaling is not. With a blog, you get to put out a message to the world that you can't do with a diary. Blogs also allow bloggers to comment on current events without the filter of going through the media gatekeepers. In the past, if I wanted to write something about the latest Pat Robertson or Louis Farrakhan controversy, I would have to write an op-ed, submit it to a paper and hope they would publish it. Now I'm the writer, editor and publisher, and I make the decisions about what goes on my site.

How do you decide what to write about and are there things you would never make public?

I write about whatever moves me, from politics to sex to pop culture. And I only write about what I want to write about, not what other people want me to write about. I get a lot of emails from people who say "You should write about this or that," and I listen to them, but at the end of the day, I only do it if it's something I want to write about.

My blog is usually more public than private. I tend not to write about my personal life experiences unless those experiences are relevant to my thoughts on current events. And I don't write about everyone I know, either, because I don't want my friends to think that if they talk to me I will post our conversations on my blog.

Similarly, I also use discretion in deciding which personal photos to post on my site. For example, I had a big birthday party last weekend in Fire Island and I posted more than a hundred pictures on my site, but I consciously chose not to post some really good pictures because I knew the people in the photos don't want to have their images blasted on the Internet.

Do you think that by having a blog readers think they know you intimately, and what are the good things and pitfalls of that?

Yes, people definitely feel they know me because they've read about me on my blog or they've seen casual photos of me on my site. As an author and television personality, I'm already a public figure, but there used to be more distance between public figures and the public. Nowadays, many public figures have their own blogs to communicate directly to the world. I think it's a great way for public figures to get out their message without being edited by the media. On the other hand, it does create the impression of intimacy that can be difficult to navigate at times.

I meet thousands of people every year while I'm traveling around on tour and people always come up to me and say "I read your blog everyday." Then I think about some of the things I've written, and I gasp. Sometimes you don't expect certain people to read certain articles, but once you post something on your blog it's fair game for anyone in the world to read.

For example, I love to wrestle, I'm a part of a local amateur wrestling club and I write about wrestling from time to time on my blog. I can't tell you how many guys have come up to me and made some remark about how they want to wrestle me or something like that. But then some professional acquaintance from my days in the White House will tell me that he read about my wrestling adventures, and I will cringe. It's very odd for strangers to know that much about you, but I chose to make it public so I can't complain.

What blogs do you read on a daily basis and why?

I read a cross section of blogs about politics, pop culture, current events and black gay issues. My favorite blogs are Boing Boing, Gothamist, Republic of T and Rod Online. I like blogs that are updated everyday with new content, and I like blogs that provide information I'm unlikely to find elsewhere.

What one entry are you proudest of? Why?

I can't pick one entry that makes me most proud. I would pick three. The first is a long story I wrote in May 2004 about the murder of 15-year-old Sakia Gunn. I went to Newark and interviewed Sakia's mother and grandmother and went to the place where she was killed. It was a very touching piece.

My second favorite is an article I wrote in February of this year about "The 10 things you should know about the down low," and I used the piece to debunk the common myths about the DL.

My third favorite is an article I wrote 3 years ago about homophobic gospel artist Donnie McClurkin. To this day, I get hate email every week from Donnie McClurkin's fans and groupies because of that piece. I'm very proud of that fact, although I no longer bother to read their mail.

What one entry do you wish you had not written? Why?

LOL. I'm not ashamed of anything I've written on my site. The great thing about the Internet is that if you don't like something, you can always take it down. If you make a mistake, you can always go back and correct it.

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