Blogger News Network
May 6 2008
An Interview With The Stiletto Our Blogger Of The Month
Posted on May 6th, 2008 by Simon Barrett in Blogosphere News,
I had the opportunity to chat with our Blogger Of The Month, a blogger
who uses the mysterious nickname of The Stiletto.
I have to ask this one, (I’m nosy) why do you use the mysterious pen
name? And can you tell us a little about yourself?
The Stiletto has a particular interest in the Armenian Genocide and
when she writes about it, she often gets vituperative ` and sometimes
threatening ` comments and e-mails from Turks. As much as The Stiletto
admires Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was assassinated by
Turkish nationalists in Istanbul in January 2007, she does not want to
share his fate. Hence, the nom de guerre.
The Stiletto is a classical or laissez-faire liberal ` which means
that according to today’s political taxonomy, she is a
conservative. Her idealism and beliefs never changed, but the labels
did. Anyone who wants to know more about The Stiletto, is welcome to
read her bio or these FAQs.
Politics seems to be your writing specialty, are you a political
animal?
The Stiletto is intensely ` perhaps insanely ` political.
What got you interested in politics?
The Stiletto cannot remember ever not being interested in
politics. While other kindergarteners were watching cartoons, she was
watching the evening news with Walter Cronkite. Perhaps one can’t be a
news junkie without also being a political junkie, and vice versa.
How, and why, did you enter the writing business?
Before starting The Stiletto Blog, The Stiletto would e-mail articles
she found interesting or provocative to her friends, but she
eventually wanted to reach ` and perhaps influence – a wider circle of
people than just the ones she knew. Plus, The Stiletto had been
contributing political humor to various Web sites, and decided it was
time to strike out on her own. She started The Stiletto Blog to share
her thoughts on what she deemed the important issues of the day ` but
without beating people over the head. For this reason, humor is an
important element of The Stiletto Blog. Even if you don’t agree with
The Stiletto on an issue ` or any of them, for that matter ` she can
still make you laugh, so there’s no hard feelings.
The writing game is a brutal game, your articles get lots of comments,
some are less than complementary. How do you deal with your critics?
The First Rule of punditry is: Don’t ever apologize, don’t ever
explain. You have to have the courage of your convictions.
The Second Rule is: Try never to be wrong, so you don’t have to
violate the First Rule. You have to do your homework, and be able to
back up your position with facts, figures and supporting documents `
which, as a blogger, you can imbed into your narrative so people can
check things out for themselves.
The Third Rule is: Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, just
like you. The only thing The Stiletto doesn’t abide is ad hominem
attacks ` she will not allow anyone to define her as a `racist,’
`nativist’ or some other pejorative a commentor will resort to when
(s)he cannot disprove your argument or is too lazy to try.
Politics is clearly your favorite arena, but do you write about other
things?
The Stiletto Blog is about `politics and other stuff.’ The Stiletto is
also a geek so she also writes about her other interests, which
include technology (AI, astrophysics, DNA computing); her attempts to
learn to drink scotch (she’s a vodka aficionado); and her love of
muscle cars (she actually coaxed a Prius to go 105 mph once). It goes
without saying that The Stiletto is mad about shoes, and has quite a
collection of them.
You got an Honorable Mention in the Webby awards. That is quite the
achievement. Can you tell us about how you got involved?
Thank you. Maybe this is chutzpah ` or the fact that each category
entry carried a $250 fee ` but The Stiletto entered in only one
category, Political Blogs. Admittedly, the odds were stacked against
The Stiletto Blog: It’s a one-woman operation; it’s done on a
shoe-string budget; its political orientation is right of center; and
it’s an independent operation, not part of a larger media or corporate
entity. The Stiletto was hopeful that the quality of her content would
enable her to hold her own against her MSM competitors ` but was still
pleasantly surprised (shocked!) when she found herself in the same
company as CNN, Time magazine, The New York Times and other huge media
firms. Being recognized as a Webby Official Honoree shows that Big
Media hasn’t completely taken over the blogosphere, and that there is
still room for independent bloggers to have their say and make an
impact.
So whats next in your career?
The Stiletto is hoping that The Stiletto Blog becomes one of those
blogs ` such as, Captain’s Quarters, Betsy’s Page, My DD and The
Volokh Conspiracy ` that MSM pundits cite in their own columns. Plus,
a link on The Drudge Report wouldn’t hurt, either.
Thanks for talking with us today, and good luck with your endevours