Friends, mutineers, countrymen, lend me your ears. There is something that has been bothering all of us here at our North Dakota headquarters for quite some time now. We talk about it often in hushed tones. It is the extreme dearth of fresh new desi bloggers out there. We are ever vigilant and constantly searching for freakishly interesting and smart bloggers to be pulled into the Mutiny and to blog tirelessly for you. We can’t keep doing this forever on our own, especially since many of us are going through transitions in our busy lives. To be perfectly honest, I think that when the time comes we will suddenly and viciously pull the plug on SM. It will be just after the moment we feel that we’ve got no blog left to give and nobody else is capable of picking up the keyboard to mutiny forward. If you like spending time on this website then don’t say we didn’t warn you. I sometimes wonder, if we never existed would more of you be blogging now? Must we burn Rome to save Rome?
So what am I asking? Some of you need to start blogging and do so with a purpose. Almost all of the guests we’ve had were bloggers even before SM was created. Where’s the new blood? We aren’t looking for suggestions like, “Hey what about so-and-so? Why don’t you ask them to guest.” Please don’t use the comments following this post for that. We wouldn’t be worth the ink on our blog unless we were also good scouts. We scout bloggers, sometimes for months, before inviting them to guest for you. Most often we find them by the content of their blogs, especially if they consistently leave interesting comments on SM or expounding on something they read here first. We are scouting several of you right now as a matter of fact.
As you may have noticed SM is very secretive (as all good mutinies must be to survive infancy), but for the first time ever I am revealing the basic requirements we look for in new bloggers (besides being desi). No surprise here:
1) Must be North American or have lived in North America for a significant amount of time.
2) Has a fabulous voice (voice = great writing + interesting perspective) and can cover a wide variety of topics (not just a small range of topics that they know really well). With a little research and a little snark they should be at ease writing about the policies of the International Monetary Fund or Diwali Barbie in under 90 minutes.
3) Have experience with blogging or internet publishing. We are too busy to teach people how to publish something on the web and how to use basic html tags. If you’ve run your own blog for a while then all this should be easy. Thus, if you aren’t already a blogger then you probably won’t be a good fit until you become one, even if you just won the Booker (just kidding Kiran…call me).
4) Be a fearless and passionate writer, not someone who worries how they “sound.”
Now maybe you are thinking to yourself, “Hey! I’m a blogger and I meet all those criteria, why haven’t they approached me?” Please don’t take it personally. You might be a great blogger/writer but we also look at other things like how much time we think you have, how well your tone complements ours, and several other intangibles. We love to see diversity in our guest bloggers but we’ll never invite someone just for the sake of being diverse.
Just today I got this email:
Hi!
I’m a South Asian American born and raised in the U.S. (my parents are from Pakistan), and right now I’m a senior in high school. I was wondering if I could write for this blog. I’ve been following it for a year and half now, and I am absolutely enamored by it! I’ve noticed though that there aren’t any Pakistani voices, so I thought I could contribute to that. K, hope to hear from you guys soon! Thanks!
You know, we’d love to have a Pakistani American and especially a young one write in this space. I’d personally (not speaking for my co-bloggers) like to invite guests that are 18-30. Perhaps some of them are hating grad school as much as I was when I started blogging. If you think you got something to say then start saying it and we’ll find you. We’re always watching.
Don’t make us burn this blog down to save the spirit of the Mutiny.
Abhi: I think you should invite Pardesi Gori to contribute once in a while. No, really! She has a pretty good grasp of Indian culture as practiced at the mundane level, as opposed to the more classic version that exists largely in theory and perhaps in the nostalgia filled minds of first geners like me. Besides, don’t you think SM could use someone writing from India or “South Asia?” (I’m learning, I’m learning.)
If my choice of author is a little too iconoclastic, just consider my recommendation to select someone living in South Asia. It would round off the SM group very nicely, adding a twist of the original to our transplanted culture.
Good luck in your search, and keep up the great work, all of you.
Apart from Meena, I’m probably the youngest commenter here, and I agree 100% with Neal here. I’d much rather hear what the 40ish-but-with-a-young-and-passionate-heart desis have to say.
Abhi wrote:
Ahem. I’m starting to worry about your Reading Comp skills.
Ok ok hangs head in shame. I WON’T talk about him then.
this might be of interest to you then.
“Ahem. I’m starting to worry about your Reading Comp skills.”
Come on SM Intern. This is not a classroom where instructions must be followed to the letter. I read what Abhi wrote about not recommending anyone, but I had an idea and decided to share it with all of you. Sorry.
Shruti: What’s wrong with 60-ish and yet with young-and-passionate-heart? I suspect this is Abhi’s ploy to keep me out of the loop. Try and stop me sonny boy. Every move you make I have been watching you!! On second thought may be I am too antique for all you ABDs. Do not panic folks. Sepia Mutiny will survive, as it was founded on good solid Concept.
ouch, my knuckles…
“Shruti: What’s wrong with 60-ish and yet with young-and-passionate-heart? “
And the 50-ish.
It seems the Uncle-ji’s are coming out of the woodworks. Where have you been Yo Dad and Shodan? I thought I was the only old fogey around here.
Yo Dad for president!
I don’t think that’s going to be Constitutionally plausible at the moment…
No, but if someone asks you not to do something, then the polite thing to do is respect their wishes. Let’s keep this thread productive; we get unsolicited advice about what we “should” or “need to do” with this blog all the time.
As Abhi stated, there is constant talk in the bunker about potential guests, the lack of good blog out there and how we wish certain people who leave fantastic comments would blog. We already notice all the people who have been suggested in this thread, despite Abhi’s request that you not do that. The entire point of this post was to call out desis who have a great voice but choose to do nothing with it.
Yo Uncle, Neal actually said 60 year old, and I’d be totally fine with that too… or 50, whatever 🙂 Basically, I just want to hear what the older generations have to say (I don’t care which ones, as long as it’s not mine) because I’m already aware of what my generation is going through – I’m living it, dammit! Older people are landmines of forgotten or untold knowledge – stuff that I could never come up with by myself. What I get really excited about are the inter-generational similarities, especially from the left-leaning and/or eccentric older desis. It’s very encouraging.
No, no, no. I love your comments, so you can’t be too antique for me (I’m not an ABD either). I’d tell Abhi to let you blog, but the intern will get mad again. They have to let that poor thing sleep. He/she has been really grumpy lately…
Constitutional plausibility is severely over-rated when it comes to the ability to win elected office.
I love older people. They’re cuddly.
Vivek, you and I both need to sleep.
You’d be grumpy too, if you suddenly had a spike in your workload. I don’t know what everyone ate last week, but suddenly I have WAY MORE TO CLEAN.
😮
l-landmines?
I mean I know sometimes my mother’s advice FEELS like it blows my legs off, but man!
If you let them go on, they’ll explode, I think.
You’re in California and I’m in Tamil Nadu. How is this possible?
Ok this is getting a bit elitist now. There are so many posters/commenters here with a fantastic voice that DO blog. Have you seriously gone thru all of them as guest bloggers? And if there are those that YOU guys think SHOULD be blogging well hell spell it out and tell them. This whole “you should blog because you have a good voice” where the “you” is so nebulous and while there are so many good “you’s” out there is a little hokey folks! There are so many talented people out there who write about everything under the sun while being brown.
Well it’s everywhere. I’ve discovered for myself thru the commenters on SM (for which I’m eternally SM’s bitch) so what are you doing wrong?
To JoAT: Dishoom, Dishoom!
JoAT: I swear, that comment is one reason why I consider you one of my through-the-glorious-SM finds…..
1) I am sorry the intern irritated you, you are one of my favorite people here. A beating will commence shortly.
2) If we re-read Abhi’s post, he addresses the question you raised above here:
3) As for this…
…speaking for myself, why should I single people out? I don’t want anyone blogging under duress. I might dig someone’s voice, but if they don’t have the motivation and commitment to blog on their own, then if they guest here, I’m going to have to chase them to blog 3x a week. Uh-uh. Ain’t gonna happen. This post was meant to speak to those people who think, “Wow, I should totally blog…I like this form of interaction and expression” but for whatever reason, haven’t done so yet. Maybe this will inspire them to get to it. Seems like it already has. That’s the EXACT reaction I was hoping for…
Nothing. 🙂 I’m not trying to be an asshole, but if you love this website, it’s because as imperfect as we may be, we’re doing something right. As we discovered in the past, someone who has a great personality or who is a solid writer or who has a great blog of their own may not work out once they are brought to the bunker. Everyone here writes, edits and monitors their own posts. Sometimes, finding someone to keep up with just those basic requirements seems impossible.
We all write about what interests us while simultaneously realizing that if there is breaking news then we must be ready to handle THAT, too, regardless of whether we’re politically-inclined or in to it. Yeah, the bar is kinda high. A larger pool of bloggers to peruse will only help us find the next great Mutineer even faster.
Here are the folks who comment regularly here (or did at some point) whom I’d love to see blog, who don’t currently link to blogs of their own:
Ikram (I know you’ve said on various occasions that you don’t think you have enough to say to have a blog of your own – I don’t believe it, but if that’s in fact the case, try a group blog!) Deepa Shruti kavita desitude
There, I’m calling y’all out – hiya!
On the other hand, if you actually have things you need to do for your own livelihood or for the benefit of society beyond a relatively narrow form of awareness-raising which prevent you from the blogging, I guess that’s cool too…
Aw fuck man, now I’m a good example…
Oh no the dishoom dishoom is for Abhi not the poor Intern or Rajni 🙂
You never do anything wrong ANNA 🙂 I get your point.
I’m fuming over the following words. Do you know what that will do for those folks out there like me for whom this is a lifeline?
Personally I’d love to see Kush Tandan, Razib and even AMFD because they are such a riot and such a wealth of information and god knows both those qualities are necessary.
Word, Emdee-di. 🙂 I totally agree.
Awwww group hug MD & ANNAbanana
Oye Neal…all this fuming business you’ve been indulging in today, you got angst baby, use it to blog as the masters suggest!! Angst is necessary to blog!
In this case, does the intern not equal Abhi since everyone “polices” their own threads?
Oh no guarantee of that 🙂 You never know who’s back there hehehe…
Nope. 🙂
While everyone is responsible for their own threads, obviously they aren’t tethered to their laptops. They go to work, they sleep, they eat…that’s why it’s such a lovely thing that other Mutineers (in different time zones!) are always keeping an eye on the site, to step in when necessary, no matter whose thread it is. 🙂
Is joke, Jane-auntie!
taken out of context…uhm….yeah….
Mutineers on call…learn something new everyday. “Abhi, you’re needed stat, and don’t forget the crash cart and the enema bag”. Oh wait, that latter part was supposed to go with the previous quote…
You diaant jus auntie me! I’m going to go all belan (rolling pin) on your ass now. Watch your back kid!
Would anyone else second a motion that Yo Dad should start a blog?!?
Yo Dad should have a weekly agony-uncle thread here on SM.
No. It would never work. You know happened between Commodus and Marcus Aurelius don’t you?
Only if I can read your posts with the lights turned off.
Damn, now I can never break up with a girl that reads this blog and knows how I do it.
Why else would I read the blog of a Jared Leto look-alike? 😉
No, but I start a new job in a month that’s going to own me.
Gracias mi boxeador favorita.
Damn kids these days.
Nope, the relationship between us isn’t the best right now.
Sorry, I can only handle so much agony.
Go JOAT!
True, but then this would be a commentless article, since we would all be busy blogging to make our voices heard. Was that the purpose of the article?
in my own narcissistic way, i’ve seen the comings and goings of different guest bloggers and have wondered why an invite never came my way when i was pretty actively reading and participating on this site. for whatever reason, my comments didn’t seem to generate much of a reaction on a consistent basis. maybe it was my timing – Anna, I still believe threaded comments would best serve these posts – since I would frequently reply to comments made way ahead of mine. maybe it was my take on things. as i have decreased my levels of contribution and stopped thinking about wanting to contribute here as a guest i also stopped linking to my own blog b/c i didn’t see the purpose.
regardless, i’m glad to see the authors here understanding the need to infuse some energy with new contributors. i’m a 25 year old indian american so my voice comes from a slightly younger perspective than the SM bloggers. i hope that you include someone 22-28, so they are post-college but pre-freak-out-about-not-being-settled-down. i love this site and bring it up regularly in conversations with friends. kudos for working to improve it.
See i had a blog (xanga) since high school which i would not give out here because its like a diary, somewhere I can vent and just say random shit. I am not brave enough (like some of you) to put myself out there for scrutiny or others, and for what. No real appreciation sometimes as seen here sometimes on SM.
boo guest blogging. plus I only blog about football and stupid stuff I do on campus.
This is directed at everyone, because both of these questions have come up in the past. “Why haven’t you asked me to blog?”
We haven’t asked you to blog because chances are, we’ve discussed you and decided that for whatever reason, you aren’t the best fit. It’s not personal and it’s entirely possible that some of us really dug you; however, that’s not enough…we operate via consensus. If we want to keep this a quality site, we have to make the best decisions for it.
Also, being asked to guest isn’t a prize we give someone for coming to the party and having a good time. If someone reads us and leaves lots of comments, we love them for contributing their nearly-always-edifying point of view, but that doesn’t entitle them to guest. No one is entitled to anything. Choosing guests is a complex process; after this post, you can tell that there are MANY factors which are taken in to consideration. The bottom line is, we love this site and want it to remain mutinous; we act accordingly, in pursuit of that goal.
And while I’m redundantly answering frequently asked questions…
“Why haven’t you linked to me?”
As our FAQ clearly states, “We add the blogs we love, are addicted to and read daily.The best way to get noticed by us is to leave great comments and link back to your own blog using the comment form.” It’s true. If one of us reads you, then you get added. Everyone who is on our blogroll has a fan in North Dakota.
Amongst desis that’s either 22-24 or 22-45, depending on gender, family pressure, and a few other factors 🙂 I don’t think that any of us have ever blogged on that topic before, but if there’s demand out there 😉
Hey, fellow-bloggers/commenters, jai singh’s idea about an agony-aunt or uncle desi advice blog is hilarious. Tongue in cheek advice to the desi crowd….has anyone done this before? Outside of the bad Indian girl website – you know the website I’m talking about.
You could have this total case of characters who would answer the questions. Oh, if I weren’t so lazy…..
PS: I love it when people call me didi! Anyone else love the warmth of Indian style address? (doesn’t that sound perfectly hinglishy? Indian forms of address)
Gasp! What would Nehru think, Anna?!
I’m no veteran blogger, although I have written down a thought or two. I’m 24, born and raised American Desi who’s been a bit of an outcast in Indian society. I think a non-Desi with close desi ties or someone “not so desi” would be a nice addition.
So – since you folks keep hours like i do, are probably out to the world right now and are going to check this when you get up, here’s some atmospheric music for you as you go about your chaitealatte. click on ‘mirror’ . there’s nothing deep. just mellow music to soothe a frayed mind. to stay topically brown-ish, the groups name is ‘the beige’.
I don’t know, I find this post a little perplexing. In some ways it is totally understandable that the Mutiny needs to propagate over time; people’s lives change and get busy, but also a diversity of voices is probably good for the blog itself. At the same time, is it really necessary to want everyone to blog independently before being invited to SM?
I understand ANNA’s point about folks not being reliable if they don’t blog on their own, but I have to agree with folks’ arguments regarding why individuals blog. I blog, but I would never link in my SM comments because these blogs are for family/friend updates, etc. While a blog is inherently public, it need not be super-public, you know?
Also, I personally really appreciate SM’s coverage and its centrality. It appeals to many readers and is accessible to a wide variety of people. Why compete with a good thing when you can refer stories, ideas, etc., to the same group? While this may broaden coverage, I find that the SM bloggers are really receptive and cool about blogging ideas.
Ok, this was probably totally unhelpful, but just a few thoughts. Why not try out a few folks whose comments you like/appreciate, or perhaps contact them individually?