Family Pride

Three internet things made me proud of my family this month (I'm always proud of my family, but these things made me especially so). Jordan's blog has a gorgeous new look and a new title reflective of her url. Liz launched her vintage baby clothes shop on etsy — I love how Liz follows through on her good ideas. And Steve made some political history. As he has done more than once throughout his political career.

I may have mentioned this before, but it's pretty darn cool and definitely bears repeating: Steve has been blogging longer than any elected officeholder in the US. Upon learning about blogging, Steve immediately saw the impact it could have, the transparency it could offer and the feedback and discussion it could provide, and jumped right in.

This month he took advantage of the internet to try something new. Steve is sponsoring a bill this session, and as is the custom, he took it to the media so they could ask questions and have the chance to report about it to their readers. But. Instead of going straight to the traditional press, he went to the new media outlets instead. The Utah Senate invited all the political bloggers they could find in the state to call in, attend in person or join the discussion online. Which made the discussion far more accessible to far more people. From what I understand, this is the first time this has ever been done.

Steve and I don't always line up the same way politically, but I think he's a flat out genius (confirmed here and here). As such an enthusiastic social media fan myself, I love that Steve is making use of these tools for the benefit of his constituents. To me, it looks like progress.

Yay social media!

The photo at top is my family (at least parts of my family) in Tijuana.