The Blackbird Press
Some of you know I ran an underground paper at SAU known as The Blackbird Press. It was sort of a witty, artsy look at SAU and American Christian culture. It died when I ran out of money to print it, though it had quite a few readers.
It’s official, and by official I mean I decided: The Blackbird will return after college as a wordpress-based blog/site with multiple authors. I’d like to get started before the semester ends, but I doubt it will happen; my life is busy. Until then, I’m be scheming again. So for now this site is just being used for brainstorming. and probably occasional updates about how things are going.
So, what I need to address for now is what the focus of the new Blackbird will be. I have two audiences in mind. First is Christian intellectuals with a sense of humor and an appreciation for the arts. The second is people who may be somewhat interested in Christ, but generally unimpressed with “the church”, especially mainstream evangelicalism. There are plenty of those especially in our generation because, let’s face it, Christians can be pretty dumb. The site would be very critical of pop-Christian lamos like Joel Olsteen.
There’s a big hole on the internet where the blackbird belongs. Why do I say that? Maybe because every Christian site is a tasteless baby-blue mess from the 90s, which looks like it was made by 60 year old women who watch the 700 Club and collect precious moments figurines. If you don’t believe me, google “Christian” or “Christian blog” and look around.
I’m trying to decide exactly what should be on the site. So far there will be at least two reoccurring column-type things:
The Naysayer
Straight from the paper blackbird, The Naysayer usually goes after something popular/praised and explains why it’s dumb in a witty rant. For example, the last one before the paper explained why John Eldridge books are lame.
Red Onion Special
The section dedicated to satire, comprised of untrue articles. The name is a nod to America’s Finest News Source
You’ll notice that both of these are negative and/or sarcastic. We need some serious, classy stuff as well, but I’m not sure what yet. I’d like to deal with tough questions, and challenge some aspects of mainstream Christianity. For example: i went to a Christian high school where a girl could get kicked out for getting pregnant. So, why are Christians booting out the people who need them the most? Makes no sense to me. Churches need to start being real and quit worrying about their pristine images.
Anyway, any ideas for the site and its flavor? What would make you want to read the site? Hint: you’re supposed to do me a favor and comment on this.
Filed under: Productive | 4 Comments
Tags: blog, Christian, press, Underground
about me
I'm a writing major finishing up college. This blog is to a progress journal of my current creative projects.
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ialeks on Scourge of the earth trebmal on First story up and runnin… Bryn on blackbirdpress.org Justin on The Blackbird Press trebmal on The Blackbird Press
So yeah, you should totally do this… as for serious questions, dare I suggest an introspective section? Like articles about personal thoughts, questions, musings, failures, challenges, rantings, etc? It could be either serious or silly, depending. A sort of editorial of what goes on in the mind of the writer perhaps?
I dunno. Just a thought.
Grunge. And vector images. And grungy vector images. That’s my advice. Keep me posted; you know I’m all in.
Also, it would be a real shame if you haven’t heard of Wittenburg Door, the satirical Christian magazine.
One more thing: where’s your “Blog Subscriptions” widget? My Outlook 2007 has problems with RSS (ironically).
I have no such widget. You could always use some better RSS reader, though.
And yes, I’m familiar with the wittenburg door, but if you haven’t noticed, it’s dead. All the more reason for the blackbird to exist.