When we had lunch back in April when I visited LA (one of my invigorating 10 days in the City of Angels), much of what you talked about seemed positive, not all doom and gloom about the future of media. Obviously, your trip to Portland left an impression on you. Your mention of community and “finding your people” resonated with me. I’ve been looking for “my people” for 47 years and haven’t found more than a precious handful of them along the way. Maybe the time is drawing nigh for me to leave New England behind. I think that when my son finishes his MFA, in Providence, I’ll have a clearer sense of where I’ll domicile next. Until then, I’m biding my time, holding down a job that’s fairly challenging, and trying to muddle forward with my own writing.

A very dear friend moved to Portland not long ago and she loves it. She is the new Ex. Dir. of the Community Cycling Center in Portland. Who knows–maybe I’ll paths will cross again in the Pacific NW.

Keep pressing forward in your quest and don’t be deterred by the current crop in charge; they continue to run their papers, and other media ventures into the ground. It’s time for something vital, and new.

Much success to you and new adventures in 2010, whether in LA, Portland, or elsewhere.

I’ve seen it happen over and over again with a variety of groups here: they start out somewhat intimate, with a lot of energy and connection among participants, and everyone has such positive feelings that they tell their friends, and then they tell their friends, and suddenly the organizers are looking for a venue that can hold 250 people. Great for speed-networking, but more challenging for the kind of intellectual synergy that you seem to crave.

Terrific, thoughtful post, One of the best to come out of the conference. But, please, don’t lump me in with Ron Buel re: old guard vs. new and the Twitter corner. I had no problem at all with that group, though I later challenged some of the critical remarks as not being based on what was actually said.

One of the things I noticed sitting back there with the Twitter group during a couple of subsequent sessions — the attention required to properly Tweet makes it very difficult to actually listen to what is being said. So some of what was happening back there was reactive to what people thought was being said or who was saying it as opposed to what was actually transpiring.

I am always uncomfortable with generalizations and stereotypes. So the above references only some of what was happening. But it was noticeable.

I was saddened by Ron’s division of the group into old white guys and everyone else. That is an old, false and damaging way of discounting the complex roles played by the widest range of players in an enormously complex dialogue.

I am by no means an old guard journalist. Anyone who reads my blog knows that. But I am a traditionalist in supporting a form of quality journalism that, until recent times, was nurtured and supported by legacy media. Most of the people participating in this conference brought sophisticated, nuanced points of view to the discussion. And the people I met defied easy categorization or stereotyping.

I hope something grows out of this effort. As I said in my remarks, I have seen too many talk fests lead nowhere. Any real-world action growing out of the Portland conference will constitute a win.

Steve Smith

We can’t wait til you’re here full time!

michelle rafter