Since moving to Richmond almost two years ago I've really neglected to reach out to the Richmond blogging community as I had always intended. A recent Richmond event awakened me to the larger network of RVA bloggers and I started reading some of the local blogs. There's great writing talent in this area and I think the blog carnival idea suits this community very well. So I'm happy to host this installment of the RVA Blog Carnival; sans theme, though I'll probably find or impose one on it anyway.
PJPink happened upon a wonderful Richmond eatery called Relish and documented it on the River City Food and Wine blog. Great job, and there are more reviews where that came from. Also in the reviews category, longtime RVA blogger Matt Walters gives U-Haul a piece of his mind on their screw-up with his online order. He even shares the letter he wrote to their corporate headquarters! A shocking expose.
The creativity of Richmond is well represented in the RVA blog community. First off, je ne se pais shows off a great photography find he made: photos of old Richmond grocery stores. The photography fun continues with Phriendly Jaime's return from a blogging hiatus at West of Shockoe. And the Richmond Craft Mafia, a local group of crafters who maintain the Off the Record blog to keep their fans informed, whipped up a vendor spotlight photo presentation of jewelry from My Precious Studio in anticipation of their upcoming show. My wife is also a member and will be participating, but she's currently documenting the construction of a new kiln at her studio on her blog.
There's also a fair amount of activity on the subject of blogging itself lately. The Shambling Darkness Project announces the Second Rvablog Congress, the location of which seems a little curious. Also, j's notes addresses the issue of whether or not there's a need for a blogging code of conduct with particular emphasis on the Virginia blogging community. Tasteful blogging also seems to be the issue over at The Krehbiel Strikes Back, where Thomas Krehbiel laments another Virginia blogger's tacit support of violent intimidation tactics used by counter-protestors at the recent antiwar demonstration in D.C. (mainstream and alternative local reporting).
I guess this moves us into political territory, so I'll go first: I actually tackled the counter-protester issue from another perspective here at SMC. My reaction to the protest was a driving motivation behind my announcement of the Richmond Left Libertarian Alliance and a first meeting, which hopefully will facilitate dialogue and cooperation between left-leaning activists and libertarians on the issues they agree on. Local libertarian blogger Robert Russo critically examines the Alliance on the RichmondLiberty.org blog. While he agrees with me on the latent opportunities to forge ties with allies on the Left, he doesn't think our group's emergence signifies a split within the libertarian movement.
But I haven't addressed as many local issues yet, mostly because the existing bloggers do such a great job publicizing community stories in Richmond. Don at Save Richmond exposes a new development in the ongoing saga of the $65 million arts center, and there's really too much information reported there to summarize here - check it out! Steven Retherford at Sisyphus tackles the issue of community organizing which is a topic of keen interest to me. Finally, SLANTblog's F. T. Rae announces the return of SLANT magazine, which examined Fan District life and now will once again! Congratulations!
One last Richmond nugget for all local geeks: the Central Virginia Ruby Enthusiasts Group maintains a blog at their site, and they're having their monthly meeting on Tuesday, April 10. If you're interested in diving into the Ruby language, this meeting is a codejam so come on out!
Well, that's it for this edition of the RVA Blog Carnival. Hope mine wasn't too long (or self-promoting), but go easy on me - this is my first carnival contribution. I had about 1000% more fun than I expected writing it, though, and I hope to see some of you at the meeting Saturday! Ross over at Haduken will be hosting next week's RVA Blog Carnival installment.
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