Deutschland über Nevada
Damn1. For a dude who lived here for about, what, a year (and wasn’t it in South Lake Tahoe at that?), Sven seems to give a crap about Nevada. Now, I’ve never been the biggest fan of the sites he runs; I’m not exactly partial to sites that are overtly politically slanted, but this new one, My Silver State, deserves a lot of credit. Actually, it pains me to say this, but I felt the same way when Conservablogs was launched. I like the idea of allowing people to just sign up and go. It’s brave, it’s interesting, and it’s what the web is about. I also happen to be a big fan of the community blog idea. It takes some guts and a lot of time to nurture.
My hope for My Silver State, not that I have a say, is that they become what Nevada desperately needs: a place for ideas to actually be discussed intelligently. Let an opposing viewpoint in once in a while and actually entertain that it could be (gasp!) the correct viewpoint. Obviously, it remains to be seen if that will happen.
1 Being a German minor makes you capable of employing the umlaut without a problem and without having to look up how to type it.
Ryan Jerz is an all-around good guy who shoots photos and video, builds websites, and works in athletics at the University of Nevada, Reno. He received a Masters Degree in 2007 from the University of Nevada, Reno's Reynolds School of Journalism.