The Pakistani Spectator

Would you please tell us something about you and your site?I’m a retired journalist/photographer of 30 years. A journalist is
suppossed to remain objective and report the facts without opinion even
though some stories you can’t help but have opinions. It can be a very
difficult job. I started my two blogs to get that out. “Midnight Ramblings,
midnightramblin.wordpress.com is a blog that takes several stories of the
day with some commentary by me, which most of they time I try to inject
some humor, and then post them online for readers to hopefully smile at.
Often times the stories consist of people who do foolish and unusual
things. It’s in the format of an Ezine/blog. My other blog “What were they
thinking?,” mikelclassen.wordpress.com is more of a traditional blog that
covers one subject and has a little fun with it.
Do you feel that you continue to grow in your writing the longer you
write?For me writing is like breathing. I’ve done it all my life and I wouldn’t
be able to live without it. I write full time and it is my profession. The
more you write the better you are and the easier it gets. Writing allows
you to learn and understand, because hopefully you are learning about your
subjects and people.
Why is that important to you?I think I just answered that.
I’m wondering what some of your memorable experiences are with blogging?Meeting a man that has very little time to live and having him become my
blogging mentor. We communicated over about 2000 miles of seperation, but
we became friends because we liked each other’s work. He taught me some
tricks and gave me advice on how to make my blog more popular and the ins
and outs of posting your work on the internet.
What do you do in order to keep up your communication with other
bloggers?I read other blogs and make comments. If we become friends I correspond
e-mail.
What do you think is the most exciting or most innovative use of
technology in politics right now?The internet. Video capture is everywhere with vid cams and cellphones,
very little goes unrecorded. With websites like YouTube and MySpace some
amazing things get posted and it catches people in moments that they might
prefer to forget. It helps us to see who they really are instead of some
face that some publicist thought would go over.
Do you think that these new technologies are effective in making people
more responsive?Absolutely. People see these things and then comments and opinions fly,
particularly from the bloggers because there are no restrictions on them.
Part of blogging is editorializing and opinion. Blogging becomes a
conscience. Comments allow you to agree and disagree. It sparks debate and
thought and anyone can join in on it. There’s a beauty in that.
What do you think sets Your site apart from others?Humor. I think there is too little of it and if you can entertain a little
while you are trying to make serious points, people remember it better. If
nothing else, the reader goes away smiling and will probably come back.
They may think that blogger is full of crap, but they’re funny. They’ll be
back.
If you could choose one characteristic you have that brought you success
in life, what would it be?Stick with something. If you have a problem, dig in your heels and solve
it. Don’t whine about it, fix it. There’s always a way. Writing has more
ups and downs than anything and you roll with it, it’s part of it. Just
keep going. Eventually it will work.
What was the happiest and gloomiest moment of your life?Happiest: when my children was born
Gloomiest: when I was homeless, broke and had no where to go.
Do you think [the use of Twitter and other social networking tools by
politicians] is bandwagon jumping or what?No it’s using the tools available to them. The idea is to reach the most
people in the most efficient way. It would be stupid if they didn’t.
If you could pick a travel destination, anywhere in the world, with no
worries about how it’s paid for - what would your top 3 choices be?England, Egypt, China. Actually there aren’t many places in the world I
wouldn’t want to go so those are just the first three that come to mind.
I’m intersted in everywhere.
What is your favorite book and why?King Solomon’s Mines by H Rider Haggard. They just don’t write books like
that anymore.
What’s the first thing you notice about a person (whether you know them
or not)?How much they talk. I prefer people that have two sided conversations
instead just wanting to hear themselves. Their volume is also an indicator.
Loud is not good. That’s someone who desperately needs to be the center of
attention.
Is there anyone from your past that once told you you couldn’t write?Everyone. It wasn’t that they told me I didn’t have the talent. They said
that I could never make a living at it and it was a stupid idea. I didn’t
care and here I am.
How bloggers can benefit from blogs financially?Get it popular and sell advetising on the blog page, just like any other
website. Also if a blog is popular, many times there are book deals for
bloggers. I see them all the time.
Is it true that who has a successful blog has an awful lot of time on
their hands?Yes. I do mine full time. For a blog to be popular, posts have to be
regular or people lose interest. If you get readers coming into your blog
with frequent checkbacks and they don’t find new material, you will lose
that reader. Blog readers require regularity so if you don’t have time to
blog, don’t expect success.
What are your thoughts on corporate blogs and what do you think the
biggest advantages and disadvantages are?For people that are interestred in what a company is doing they are great.
It keeps their customers in touch and it makes readers feel that there is
someone out there. If you try to call someone on the phone these days and
have to wade through a menu, you start to feel like there’s nobody there
that cares.
What role can bloggers of the world play to make this world more
friendlier and less hostile?The blogging community is a world within a world. We are people from all
continents trying to make our voices be heard and bloggers are getting more
and more attention and respect all the time. I see us as the world’s
conscience. The best thing we can do is promote peace and understanding,
tolerance and individualism, not hate and incendiary rhetoric. At the very
basic people everywhere are all alike, We want to grow, live, raise our
families, and earn a living. That’s common ground and we can build on that.
Simply recognizing it is a big step. Words are power. Readers interpret
those words and it is up to us to take care that they can’t be
misinterpreted. What we write about and how we write it is our mandate. The
whole world has access to our words and we need be sure we shoulder that
responsibility properly.
Who are your top five favourite bloggers?I don’t really have favorites.
Is there one observation or column or post that has gotten the most
powerful reaction from people?Yes! I wrote a piece on a man from Denver, Colorado, USA that wants his
city to form a commission to deal with extraterrestrial aliens because a
friend of his had a video of one peeking in a window. The man with the
video claimed to be the most abducted man in the country and had hundreds
of UFO visitations. They became instant celebrities and I have had
thousands of hits on the one blog about this. People love weird.
What is your perception about Pakistan and its people?It’s a country that is struggling to get itself on its feet. I’ve never
been there so all my impressions come from the media. The world is
uncomfortable with Pakistan’s nuclear program and it worries about
difficulties within the different religious and political factions of your
country. I’m sure the people there are like all people who just want to
live an prosper.
Have you ever become stunned by the uniqueness of any blogger?No, I’m more stunned by how bad some of them are.
What is the most striking difference between a developed country and a
developing country?Infrastructure. How they have access to their people and the rest of the
world. Is there internet, because it gives acces to world wide health
information, literature, and communication.
What is the future of blogging?It is a boom. I think it will find its way more and more into the daily
routine of the life of people. It is like getting up and reading the
morning paper and seeing what so and so has to say. Bloggers are
columnists. They show news, politics, and everday life through countless
eyes. Think what this does for history. There are more records from more
perspectives of human events than there ever has been. It’s really kind of
amazing when you think about it. All of it uncensored, real, down to earth.
It overcomes, boundaries, borders and ideologies. It’s a beautiful thing.
You have also got a blogging life, how has it directly affected both your
personal and professional life?It hasn’t. I’ve always been a writer. I’ve just shifted into a different
style is all. My wife is a writer too and so she understands the necessity
of time spent.
What are your future plans?To keep blogging and write books.
Any Message you want to give to the readers of The Pakistani Spectator?Peace, long life and prosperity. May they follow you everywhere.