Tooting One's Own Horn

The Baltimore Sun featured yours truly among the County's many fine bloggers in a lengthy article in yesterday's paper. It's great to see the article finally appear -- the interviews occurred back in December and January -- though the online version doesn't have the print version's nice photo of Jessie Newburn and Chris Bachmann ogling an iPhone.

I encourage you to read all the local blogs, made especially easy by the HocoBlogs website and Twitter page. As I wrote in a recent post, bloggers play an increasingly important role in sharing information about local events and community, especially as local newspapers are in an accelerating tailspin. So support your local blogs and tell your friends! UPDATE: See also the feature article in today's Washington Post on restaurant bloggers pros and cons. A happy coincidence.

I particularly want to extend special appreciation for two people in the local blogging community. Jessie Newburn is a remarkable multitasker who writes her own blog (Jessie X), runs the HocoBlogs site, Twitters up a storm on her own, and finds time to host frequent gatherings of Hoco bloggers (that I've been derelict in attending). She's an inspiration and valuable catalyst for helping new bloggers and making Howard County a more interesting place. And speaking of inspirations, HowChow continues to generate a terrific blog on interesting restaurants and food finds in and near the county. He is very deservedly the number one Baltimore area blogger on Urbanspoon, and just got a nice mention from Elizabeth Large at the Sun for his post on the opening of Coal Fire Pizza in Ellicott City.