By Day And By Night

In my twitter bio, I write: "I fight crime by day and blog by night."

And it's true. Here's an update on both aspects.

I've been on the job about 3 months now, and it's almost hard to believe. They're keeping me busy at work. Here's just a sampling of what I've done:

• Pitched events to major media markets.
• Comprehended the budget and appropriations process in Congress.
• Learned to love Excel (sorting columns saves my life!)
• Recruited, interviewed & selected interns. (Wait, wasn't I just in the other seat?)

I am learning a ton, and so thankful for the opportunity that this job has provided me. But as for the other part of my twitter bio, I really do "blog by night." In addition to Digital Disciple, I write for 2 others.

Capital Comment Picked Up By Hyperlocal News Site "TBD"

Here's the big announcement: Capital Comment has been picked up by TBD, a new DC-based hyperlocal news site that launched in early August. I'm totally stoked for this opportunity. TBD operates on original reporting and collaboration from WJLA-TV. It has a huge emphasis on community engagement and links to local DC blogs. I'm honored to have Capital Comment part of the Community Blog Network. I'll have a more formal announcement on Capital Comment itself. I also praised TBD's launch in a recent blog post, if you want to learn more.

Here's my bio from the TBD site:

The Bluevine Collective Provides A Creative Worship Space Online

In May, I met with Stan and Matt, a pastor & media guy from St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Indianapolis. At the time, they were just about to launch a creative, multi-author blog project called the Bluevine Collective. I knew I was headed off to Washington, D.C. to start my first job out of school, but really didn't know my role for the Bluevine Collective.

Once I got rolling though, I wrote about themes of hospitality, caring for the poor and homeless. Now I'm in the middle of a series on the clash of the Gen-Y dating culture, feminism, and the Church. I would LOVE your thoughts on the whole topic, so feel free to stop by and leave a comment or two.

The other bloggers add insights about meditation, spirituality, music and relationships. If you haven't already checked out the Bluevine Collective, do it now.

So, between work and juggling 3 blogs, I've managed to stay pretty busy.

Blog Hopping (And My 100th Post!)

My inspiration to become a blogger started with Evan McBroom back in March 2009. I met with the church marketing entrepreneur at an Indianapolis Panera to learn about his career path.

I expected to do all the listening, but within the first five minutes I was the one put on the spot. He asked me point-blank: "So, what's your blog about?" Oops. I didn't have an answer. It was enough to get my hands to the keyboard and start whipping up an idea for one. Thanks for the inspiration, Evan! And here's what happened next:

Digital Disciple has been my primary blog to explore faith, media and ethics through the Meg Biallas lens. It started with coverage of first-ever conference: the Religion Communicators Council in March 2009. Since then, I've written about observations in technology, the future of journalism, musings on faith, and more. Thanks for reading it, too, because this is my 100th post for Digital Disciple!

I started Capital Comment in August 2009 to keep a running commentary of my adventures as a D.C. intern last fall. But all good internships must come to an end. I never believed I'd be able to resurrect the blog, but I have - and with good reason: I moved right back to D.C. for a job! I'm still working out some of the fancy kinks of Wordpress, but its been a great learning process for me.

My supervisors at National Public Radio let me blog for NPR's All Tech Considered, which covers technology and culture. I explained Facebook policy changes, wrote about iPhones that control smart homes, and even ticked off Google when I questioned if Google's free holiday airport wi-fi was truly "free."

Then in December, I met Gen-Y career blogger Heather Huhman on Twitter. She had just started a blog called the Classroom To Cubicle Project, driven by recent graduates and pending grads. That a fabulous experience - I read job hunting advice from my peers all over the U.S., and contributed what I'd learned in my search as well.

In my final semester at Butler University, I wrote a guest post for the admissions web portal. It was fun to take what I learned about social media from the NPR Social Media Desk and give tips to incoming college students.

And now? I'm a weekly blogger for The Bluevine Collective, a multi-author blog project funded by the United Methodist Church. It's run by two awesome church guys from Indianapolis - Pastor Stan Abell and Media Ministry Dude Matt Peyton. The project is experimental -- we hope to evolve into a place of spiritual growth and even a mode of worship. My most recent post sparked a series of comments about ...well, you'll just have to read it. We also take submissions - poems, commentary, musings - all of it!

Thanks for sharing the blogging journey with me!