Saturday around the blogs, and how you can help

On behalf of the In The Yo management, I want to say that while we have been going gangbusters on our individual blogs, this aggregate blog, despite our best intentions, has suffered from neglect over the past couple of months. If you can volunteer to sponsor a day of the week, please let us know; we may be able to use your help.

As you can tell from reading past posts, the format is one of basically three options: (a) significant bits of news, (b) best of the blogs or (c) a bit o' both. Original content, of course, is also welcomed. It only takes maybe 15-30 minutes to put up a post, which is why we aren't offering any lame excuses for the crickets you hear chirping around here.

One post of significant interest to Valley residents young and old comes from MVHS, about the famed Idora Park carousel:

In 1984 Jane Walentas purchased the 1922 Idora Park Carousel at an auction. She has spent the past 22 years painstakingly restoring this beautiful ornament to its original beauty. The carousel resides in Brooklyn, New York and Ms. Walentas is looking forward to the day when a Carousel Pavilion will be in the Brooklyn Bridge Park, and the Idora Park Carousel will have a permanent home.

A bus trip is being organized to see (and ride) the Carousel

Check out the post for more details, and be sure to report back if you take the trip!

Steel Valley Outdoors speculates on how the Vindicator comes up with story ideas and provides a poll to verify its hypothesis:

This is one of those stories that was assigned before any research was done. The poor reporter was told to go out and find out how gas was “forcing” people to cut back.

Well, they were. If they’re boaters or drag racers. D’uh. But most outdoor sports don’t take that much gas. Especially if you stay in your own back yard.

Meanwhile, Cleveburgh Disapora visited Youngstown recently and came away very impressed and waxing about liminal spaces:

I would characterize Rust Belt urban liminal space as the landscape beyond the purview of the inert politics crippling the economic development of the mega-region. This is where we Rust Belt Bloggers can have the greatest impact in terms of improving our cities. One of my goals for the trip back to Cleveburgh was to explore the in-between neighborhoods and business districts, what I believe to be a geography of innovation.

On that count, Youngstown delivers and exceeded my own expectations.

A follow-up post builds on the enthusiasm:

I want to proclaim Y-Town as the official cultural capital of Rust Belt Chic. The model I have in mind is the migration of Slackers to Austin with Dallas-Ft. Worth being the actual global economic engine and ascendant world city. Youngstown and Pittsburgh have that kind of potential.

The way the rest of country knows so little about Pittsburgh, the entire Rust Belt lacks an appreciation of Youngstown. After touring Youngstown, I'm anxious to visit other Rust Belt cities and see the hidden gems residing there. Cincinnati tops my list. But in my mind, the "Y" in Generation Y stands for Youngstown.

This excitement stems from a recent blogger summit in Buffalo and the Youngstown hospitality and tour-guide prowess of Shout Youngstown's Janko. More coverage of the summit from Pittsburgh City Paper.

Blogging in Style

Let's take a look around the blogs tonight:

Steel Valley Outdoors is Camping in Style. Check it out for some video.

A Commonplace Book is a bridesmaid. A bridesmaid to be reckoned with:

According to Bizarre Origins of Wedding Traditions, “Historically, that dress you’ll never wear again was actually selected with the purpose of tricking the eye of evil spirits and jealous ex-lovers (spicy!). Brides’ faithful attendants were instructed to wear a dress similar to that of the bride so that during their group stroll to the church it would be hard for any ill-willed spirits or former boy-toys to spot the bride and curse/kidnap/throw rocks at her.”

First of all, it’s a great dress (really it is). Now, I’m fully prepared to deal with evil spirits. Jealous ex-lovers too, for that matter, and this bit of history led me to speculate which of Nina’s exes might actually turn out to be a wedding day stalker (I won’t name him here, but let’s just say he published a book about a certain evil and anorexic blond conservative media gadfly/demon). Is it wrong that I fantasize just a little about going all crazy white girl on him? It’s that displaced anger again.

The job of the best man was even better: “the original duty of a “Best Man” was to serve as armed backup for the groom in case he had to resort to kidnapping his intended bride away from disapproving parents. The “best” part of that title refers to his skill with a sword, should the need arise.”

Shit. Why can’t the maid of honor have a sword?

Shout Youngstown covers the recent Regional Learning Conference at the Youngstown Club:

One of the benefits of the meeting was the ability for individuals to interact with their counterparts from each region - bloggers met other bloggers, economic development professionals met other economic development professionals, and neighborhood leaders met other neighborhood leaders.

And after lunch, participants moved throughout the Youngstown Club to attend presentations on the following topics:

* Data-Driven Decision Making
* CDCs as Agents of Change
* Addressing Vacancy
* Economic Development Strategies
* Designing Sustainable Communities
* Networking and Blogging for Change