My Five Seconds on Channel 7

Just saw the clip (here) after I got home from work. One of those cringe-inducing moments when you see what you actually look like.

Here's what really happened:

WJLA reporter Steve Tschida picks up on the DCist post about Shaw being the 2nd most blogginest neighborhood in the country, and sets out with his cameraman cruising our lovely streets looking for one of those hip, young bloggers. He waylays my neighbor, who outs me as a blogger, and they knock on my door. I happen to be home, having just dropped my mother off at National Airport, and answer the door while putting on my tie to go to work. I'm probably not exactly what they're looking for, being neither young nor hip, but they're on a deadline, so they'll take what they can get.

I agree to talk on camera, but am flustered because I'm late and totally unprepared with anything to say. He asks me the most obvious possible question ("Why so many blogs in Shaw?"), and I answer--basically--"Duh." Soon it's obvious that they're really just after the crime angle, so I gather my wits a little and point out that despite that extraordinary stolen bicycle footage, local bloggers aren't really a bunch of vigilantes taking pictures out their windows of crime in the street. I add that the blogs have really increased residents' awareness of what's happening in the neighborhood, not just crime, but lots of other issues--in my mind the biggest contribution they have made.

Then they want some action shots at the computer. I'm not sure what to do--posting some zingy comment isn't too exciting on screen, so I start scrolling through most of the Shaw blogs. Looks like they picked up shots of "In Shaw" and "Off Seventh". Then that was that.

Tschida hung around a little more, and I made a couple of suggestions about stories that they might cover that would be a lot more indicative of what's going on in Shaw. He might actually be interested because he lives just a few blocks away near Logan. Maybe, maybe not.

I have learned from sad experience that reporters almost never pick the parts of the interview you wish they would, so you just hope they won't pick the parts that make you look the dumbest. In this case, I think it's a shame that they made Shaw sound so much worse, crime-wise, than it actually is. That, by the way, was their spin--they didn't get it from me. And I wish they would have picked up on some of the other, more positive, aspects about life here that appear in the blogs.

Still, I guess it's always a bit of a thrill to be on TV--otherwise why would all those squealing throngs stand out in the cold and rain for the Today Show? Actually, this was the second time I've been on WJLA. I won a little money on Jeopardy back in the 90s, and it was amazing--people would actually recognize and stop me on the street. But alas, fame is fleeting, and soon no one was offering sexual favors for an autograph any more. ;-) Not expecting that kind of response from this. Sic transit gloria mundi.