The Guardian and the Army Times are both carrying stories on a blogger by the name of Andrew Olmstead. Andrew blogged for the last 5 years for a local newspaper, and had quite a following, as well as several blogging awards. Why is this story interesting?
Andrew died in early January in Iraq, and had an arrangement with friends back home to post a ‘final post‘ (caution:brought tears to my eyes) on his blog – his way of leaving a bit of a legacy, and getting his final word in. Powerful stuff, if you ask me.
Why do I think this is remarkable? Well, it shows the power of the citizen journalist blogging in this digital age – even in death you can still get your word out, almost instantly, with the help of technology and some friends. Andrew loved blogging, as reflected in part of his final post:
“Believe it or not, one of the things I will miss most is not being able to blog any longer. The ability to put my thoughts on (virtual) paper and put them where people can read and respond to them has been marvelous, even if most people who have read my writings haven’t agreed with them.”
This is not about political position, Liberal or Conservative, etc. This is about the ability of a person – any person – in the digital age to extend his reach, get his word out – whatever that word may be – even from beyond the grave.
You can read his archived posts, both on his blog, and at the blog he ran for the Rocky Mountain News.
RIP, Andrew Olmstead.
Technorati Tags: Andrew Olmstead, blogging, Iraq, Rocky Mountain News
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January 10th, 2008 at 4:19 am
Olmsted.
June 9th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
The last trade was a doozer. Hopefully, this entry is more timely.