Sunday morning, very bright, I read Your book by colored light
That came in through the pretty window picture.

One of the most important rules about having a successful blog, all the experts say, is to have a clear niche. Write about one thing, stay on message and keep your focus. If you’re going to write about technology, stay with technology. If you’re going to write about progressive politics, stay with that. The same goes for religion, personal blogging, etc. The rationale for this seems to be the fear that strikes many media educators about what is happening to the way people consume media.

More and more, people are searching the web for viewpoints that match their own. As a progressive, I can go out and find other people writing from a progressive viewpoint. As a Christian, I can find people writing from a Christian viewpoint. The more different viewpoints a write brings to their blog, the more they will narrow the audience, the theory goes.

Yet the increasing Balkanization of our media consumption is something the media educators fear. Take a look at EPIC. How do we deal with the dangers of an increasingly Balkanized society of media consumers?

For me, the first line of defense is rejecting the adage to keep my blog confined to a narrow niche. Instead, I will write about politics, about being a husband, a father, a brother and a son. I will write about media and technology and even religion.

I started blogging several years ago as many of my friends from a different online community moved from a synchronous text based programmable game-oriented chat room to blogging. I spent a lot of time at a place called LambdaMOO. The space was created around the space of the originators house. I think a house is a great metaphor for that sort of space, as well as for the space that a blog creates, and I named the Orient Lodge Blog after the house I was living in when I started the blog.

In the dining room, there is a picture of Gov. Dean holding my daughter at one rally or another. It sits next to a crucifix and some crafts that my wife made to liven up and add a touch of hominess to the dining room.

At our table, we have had a wide variety of guests, political, religious, business leaders, and technologists. There has been great food and great laughter. There has been communion. I seek to share this communion online, knowing that if the experts are right, I will drive away everyone who doesn’t match my unique and eclectic views, yet believing that we are better than that. That we can sit down with people

So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able,
And where does magic come from? I think magic's in the learning,

So, I hope that my gifted pagan anime-loving lesbian readers, by Buddhist technology activist readers, my atheist progressive political readers, my cancer surviving southern Christian mommy readers, my retired conservative economic professor readers, and a wide range of other readers can all sit at the table and share ideas.

(Note: Lyrics are Hymn by Peter, Paul and Mary, and The Christians and the Pagans, by Dar Williams. It is my belief that both are protected by copyrights and the use falls within the best practices in fair use, specifically, “quoting copyrighted works of popular culture to illustrate an argument or point.” For more information on Fair use, please check out The Center for Social Media’s webpage, Copyright and Fair Use.)