Exit133

April 9, 2008 · Daniel Blue

DB: Zombie Kings and Gritty Glitter

In all of our discussions and musings and expression on this medium, is it possible that we have missed some important voices? Truth, it seems (oh boy here we go..) is found when the 67 different voices of this community speak in unison on any given topic. I want to figure out how to make that pool grow, I want a deeper more well rounded truth.

Sometimes I don’t make any sense. Sometimes I don’t make any dollars or any cents. I think that Tacoma is developing a wonderful population of alternative press organizations, this very blog is on one of them, and you may have been directed here from another one. I want to know if we are meeting the needs of the people, I want to know if we are making any sense to the population of Tacoma. Sometimes I am afraid that we are only talking in circles to ourselves. I think this because some of the circles that I hang out in just aren’t interested in the high media or the alternative media or the internet media. Are there issues we are ignoring? Are there perspectives that we have not tapped?

I am attempting to create a survey that addresses the information needs of Tacoma’s art, culture and alternative media. I am willing to share the results of the survey, if you are willing to help formulate the questions. I feel confidant that armed with the right questions, we can continue to serve the needs of the Tacoma whole.

Can you come up with some questions that will help us all formulate the new platform we have chosen to express the spirit of our town? Seattle is strange and grungy, Portland is locally owned and brewed, what is Tacoma (and if you say gritty and alcoholic I will puke a mixture of sand/glitter/wine and glue on you)

An epic survey of the unbroadcastable shortly comes. This is your chance to ask the questions about the soul of this city that you want to know the answers to. The answers to those questions will help us plug the holes in our grand discourse. Do we know anything about the whole? Remember, creative questions will inspire creative people to answer. I want to invite some more voices to the table. This survey will perhaps be the beginning of that invitation.

What???

What I mean is, give me the questions you want answered, I will ask it to a population we have perhaps not reached with our media and share the answers/results with the whole. Its like a wikisurvedia. I think this information is important because we aren’t going to get it from the polls and we aren’t going to find it from the market, there is another whole body of people in this town that defy demography, I think I can find their ears and I think I can translate their dialect.

Here is my example question and perhaps the first question on the survey:

If the whole population of Tacoma were split into two metaphorical groups: the zombies and the people running from the zombies, who would you say is the zombie king?

or how about:

What do you want Tacoma to be known for?

Filed under: DB

11 comments

  • RR Anderson April 9, 2008

    All I want to have happen is for your survey results to be collected together and published online someplace.

  • Marguerite April 9, 2008

    What do you want Tacoma to be known for?

    Is it a cliche to reply that I would love it if Tacoma was known as a big city with a small town feel? Is that too overdone?

  • in-tacoma April 9, 2008

    unicorns and rainbows

  • Droid16 April 9, 2008

    Trick question. Zombies don’t have kings, they are an anarchic society of single minded individuals who only organize under a collective pursuit of a diverse group of bad actors holed up in a penetrable fortress .

    I would love to have Tacoma known for the honest hard fought pride it has in itself, its history, its arts and economy. We just need to get there.

    also art glass and bowling.

  • drizell April 10, 2008

    “_____ enjoys big city conveniences without losing its small town charm.”

    That is the most overused statement in the United States to describe small cities that are not yet willing to accept the role of a larger city. The key word here is “charm”—in my opinion, this is the most hideous word you could use to describe a city.

    Real cities use adjectives to describe themselves as big, brash, exciting places to be. Read just about tourist brochure from Seattle or Portland and you’ll want to be there, to be part of the action.

    When you say a place is “charming,” it unintentionally implies slow and quiet, like a bedroom community with a couple mom and pop stores and gift shops. It doesn’t evoke excitement about a place.

    How does Tacoma define itself? “Tacoma enjoys big city conveniences without losing its small town charm.” Look it up for yourself.

    To the outsider, Tacoma is a quiet, sleepy place, and that’s how the majority of Tacomans want it to be, as evidenced by how they advertise the city. The artsy and alternative community is still so small in Tacoma that most people who live here don’t even recognize that they live in a city capable of becoming what many of us in the blogging community wish it to be.

  • Mofo from the Hood April 10, 2008

    Mr. Blue, you mentioned that 67 different voices of this community speaking in unison equals truth.

    You ask if it’s possible that we have missed some important voices. You say you want a deeper and more rounded truth.

    Mr. Blue here is my question for the Survey of Truth, and I’ll offer it in a form that I know you will appreciate. I’ll offer my Survey of Truth question in a dialect that I’m confident you can translate.

    You’re writing a gospel,
    A chapter each day.
    By the things that you do,
    And the words that you say.
    And people read what you write,
    Distorted or true.
    So what is the gospel,
    According to you?

  • Alex Thomson April 10, 2008

    And what exactly does “the bogging community” want for Tacoma, drizzel? Do tell, but don’t isolate yourselves and call it community.

    My questions for the survey: What role does Point Defiance play in your idea of Tacoma’s identity? What other treasures have our Tacoma anscestors left us? What ques can we take from the Tacoma of 100 years ago, what has worked for this city in the past?

  • I'm for Change (for tacoma) April 10, 2008

    My Questions:

    * Does Tacoma want an urban downtown/areas or does it want to be a community of suburbs filled with families?

    * Is Tacoma open to having new people move here? What if these people are perceived as being “rich” or “yuppies”?

    * Do current Tacomans (Tacoma-ites?) really want new companies to move in considering the resulting ripples this will send throughout Tacoma? Such as higher incomes, higher educated people, higher prices, higher housing costs…

    * Is there really a parking problem in downtown?

  • Jamie Chase April 10, 2008

    Do you know your neighbor(s)? How are they like you? How are they different?

  • tom bishiop April 16, 2008

    How much are you willing to pay for your safety?

    How far are you willing to drive for good jobs?

    What is the price of peace?

  • Alex Thomson April 16, 2008

    Why do you read the stranger?

    To what page do you go first?
    Headlines on Cover?
    Horoscope?
    Funnies?
    Lust lab?
    Music News?

    Who is your favorite Artist?