I suppose I could look up the actual date, but the ides of March is close enough. Rhetorica is 20 years old.
It is one of the oldest, continuously-published weblogs on the internet. For most of those 20 years it was about the rhetoric of the press-politics relationship in America. I briefly enjoyed a large following and much stimulating conversation in the comments. Things began to shift as my academic career matured and as I soured on the idea of being able to offer much of value in a social media world.
My career took a turn in 2014 when I decided to give documentary filmmaking a try. Early success (def.: managed to complete a couple of films and make a few festivals) led to creating a documentary certificate program as part of our digital film and TV program at Missouri State University.
I still teach journalism — mobile, ethics, and public affairs reporting. But my despair regarding the state of the professional mainstream product means I don’t yammer about it publicly as much as I used to. I think the problems are not fixable. So I’ve moved on.
Rhetorica is now my documentary film blog. I hope it lasts another 20 years.
