Lisa Sorg to contribute to Bull City Rising
August 18, 2015
I'm very pleased to announce that Lisa Sorg will be contributing stories about Durham here at Bull City Rising, beginning this week.
As an award-winning writer and editor at the INDY Week, Lisa has long established herself as one of the most prominent and knowledgeable voices about Durham. Lisa is someone whose perspective I've often agreed with, sometimes disagreed with, but always appreciated.
We'll both be trying this out over the next few weeks, taking on a bit of an experiment in this little blogging adventure at BCR. We're not entirely sure exactly where it'll take us, but I'm looking forward to the collaboration. And, I'm especially eager to be able to help share Lisa's reporting, analysis and experience with our readers.
One thing I've long appreciated is the camaraderie that developed in the 2000s between Durham bloggers and the local media. Editors and reporters from the Herald-Sun, the N&O, WRAL and WTVD and others have always been gracious and collegial, even as we approach stories from different angles and sometimes compete on approaches to stories.
Lisa and the INDY Week were perhaps the most collegial and engaged of all over the years, from co-sponsoring a U.S. House District 4 debate to meeting up for drinks. I hope you'll enjoy Lisa's contributions in this new forum.
I had a college professor who gave me a B on a paper because I tried too hard. My thesis was out of reach and I didn't execute/support it sufficiently. Yes, it was an amazing thesis and I clearly was smart - but I hadn't truly tried hard enough for *that* thesis. Had I aimed lower I would have received an A. The lesson was if I was going to aim that high, I needed to back it up with the work. The idea isn't itself enough.
So I'll say it - Lisa is very smart and knows Durham. Her work - of late and to me - feels rushed and incomplete. I hope that in bringing stories to BCR she'll have more time to work on refining and supporting the ideas and that her voice continues to inform people about Durham.
Posted by: Natalie | August 18, 2015 at 11:39 AM
Indeed, BCR has always held itself to a high standard, which is why it was so celebrated upon return. BCR facilitates a higher level of intellectual discourse, welcoming those with dissenting views. This juxtaposed from the spiteful agenda weilding hackery that had become the Indy. State facts objectively, Lisa, then offer insightful interpretation without name calling. That's the BCR way. Welcome aboard.
Posted by: John | August 18, 2015 at 12:28 PM
I amused by the comments here. For the record, I've received countless B's on college papers, and still find Lisa's articles to be a good read. This is the first time I've been to BCR, so I can't comment on the 'high standards' but I haven't found much fault with her writing at the Indy.
Posted by: Mike | August 18, 2015 at 01:48 PM
Whoa - Let me be clearer. I LIKE Lisa Sorg and am glad she's contributing here. I assume that without the deadline of a weekly and everything else a managing editor does beside write, all of the aspects of Lisa's work that I appreciate as an audience member will be amplified here.
For example - sure, Bill Bell has recently called for affordable housing downtown. Great, but he's been mayor for how many years? What has he done in the past 20 to encourage downtown's rise as a mixed income residential area? From my perspective as a downtown resident for 13 years, relatively little. That doesn't make him a bad mayor, I just question his come lately urgency and the relatively narrow definition of downtown that's being bandied about. If you include all the way to Golden Belt and South Side and Cleveland Holloway and West End downtown is still relatively affordable to many working families.
Posted by: Natalie | August 19, 2015 at 08:06 AM