Ten Questions with Barry of Inn of the Last Home

1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
I feel I have a unique outlook on blogging that reflects my outlook on life – I have a number of interests I enjoy joining the internet community to comment on, such as science-fiction, television, sports and other subjects. My theatre and music jobs are a passion to me that I want to share with my friends and I have an eclectic writing style to which blogging provides an outlet. I feel there are a number of issues out there, political and otherwise, that are sometimes overlooked and I am able to bring a unique perspective to them – I’m someone who likes to fix problems and this is the best way I know how to address those types of issues, and sometimes there are just stories I hear about on the news I’m begging to get the blogging community’s perspective on. Finally I am so proud of my kids I can’t resist sharing them with the rest of the world.

2. Link us to one post that best defines who you are.
A Round Dog Day

This is the first of the “Conversations” posts I had with Tink/Gigglegirl – part of it was picked up by the Sentinel and printed in the paper. My relationship with my kids, especially Tink, is something I cover a lot in the blog.

3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
I don’t attach myself so fully to one issue that all my posts relate back to it one way or another. So many bloggers can’t separate themselves from their political beliefs every post seems to have a hidden agenda. Plus I don’t try and relate every move I make during the day, which can sometimes be tedious. I hit the high points and comment on what passes through my brain.

4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
I was a participant on the old k2k Knoxville discussion group in the old day when dinosaurs ruled the internet.. South Knox Bubba, as he was then called, was a heavy participant at the time that I enjoyed reading and discovered he’d created this new thing called a “blog”. I followed it and enjoyed it, then several other people started creating their own. I decided to start my own blog, named it after the Inn from the “Dragonlance” series of fantasy novels, and settled in for the long haul. My first post was on January 9, 2003.

5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
Whatever it is about the anonymity of the internet that allows people to believe they have the right to denigrate others’ ideas and personal life. Every blog out there is at risk from trolls and flamers that enjoy nothing more than putting down the ideas they don’t agree with and personally attacking the ones who created them. If you met in real life, etiquette would never allow near the kind of bravado that some people thrive on with blogs and other internet sources. What’s interesting is face-to-face discussion, when it’s open-minded and doesn’t degenerate into emotional displays, is much more effective in actually solving problems or debating points that any blogs. Blogs are great for gathering facts and putting out ideas but for real change it has to be done outside the internet world. A lot of bloggers have abandoned that pretext and only hide behind their online identities.

6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
I now love Bloglines, the RSS Feed reader. I keep up with every site I monitor very easily – plus I can save posts I want to read later, or return to for more information later.

7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog,who would it be and why?
I wouldn’t want anyone doing a guest post for me – the Inn is my site, and it’s my identity. I can’t figure out why bloggers line up “guest bloggers” when they go on vacation – I guess to them their site has taken on such a life of its own independent of the blogger themselves that it can’t survive their absence. That’s a little odd, to me, because I don’t want anyone speaking with my voice that’s not me. When I go out of town on vacation I hang a “GONE FISHIN’” sign on the blog and pick back up when I come back. I wouldn’t have a guest blogger take over anymore than I’d invite someone to take over my job or my home duties and pretend they’re me for a week while I’m gone…

That said, if I could actually interview someone for a post, I would want to interview George Bush and Al Gore together, to get their personal views on the war, other domestic agenda and today’s political process. If I had actual access to them without handlers and PR flacks, it would be really interesting.

8. How has blogging made you a better person?
It’s helped me organize my thoughts, and make sure I understand what I believe before putting them down on paper/the PC. I also have become more politically aware and more interested in the way things work around me. I’ve learned about other points of view, especially other religions and philosophical interests. I’ve also learned a lot about how people in other parts of the country and the world think and live their lives – and how interesting it is that most folks aren’t all that different than me. Everybody has the ability to communicate with everyone else, and that’s a wonderful thing.

9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
The #1 tip is don’t take yourself too seriously. Everyone has a unique perspective, but you do not have the only – or necessarily the correct – perspective. Don’t go into your blog assuming you’re right and everyone else is wrong, even about a single issue. Leave that for the radio talk show hosts – they do that for a living. Use the medium you’ve been given as an opportunity to make friends, get to know people of all kinds of backgrounds, engage in a community and find where you fit in. Don’t be afraid to be controversial or write about things you feel strongly about even though others may disagree. But be open to discussion, have a thick skin when criticism comes your way and be gracious when people agree with you. If you become popular, don’t encourage sycophancy. Don’t let others fight your battles for you. Defend yourself when necessary. Don’t become enamored with your own success, especially if it’s mainstream success. Don’t forget the community that helped you find success. And don’t sell out to a high bidder – be true to yourself and your beliefs. Remain genuine, and open at all times.

10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
My best friend is Big Orange Michael. I am happy to read his site – not necessarily because it contains scintillating prose (it does), insightful UT Sports commentary (it does), in depth analysis of TV shows that I like (it does) and a healthy does of happy uncle-ness (it does)….. but I just enjoy seeing my friend on a daily basis, even if it’s just virtually. We’re still part of each others’ lives, and he’s still my kids’ Uncle Mike.

For more information about Barry and Inn of the Last Home, be sure to check out Inn of the Last Home – A Blog We Luv. 

Categories: Personal, Ten Questions