Taking the Pulse of Our Blog
Colleen Scheck, senior producer
Trent films one of Rural Studio’s projects, Antioch Baptist Church. (photo: Mitch Hanley)
As noted in this week’s broadcast of “An Architecture of Decency,” our production trip to the Black Belt of Alabama in October 2007 was the birth of our staff blog, SOF Observed. Since then we’ve offered many different types of posts under the guidance of our senior editor, Trent Gilliss. As we’ve experimented with various levels of tone, length, personal disclosure, and multimedia elements, we’ve done so with an overarching philosophy to pull back the curtain, share our production experiences, and highlight what we are seeing in our big world of “religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas.”
What captures your interest informs us, and sometimes surprises us. Rossini’s “Meow” by “The Little Singers of Paris” (fun) and Spiritual but Not Religious (reflective) had distinctly high responses. We’ve kept our eyes out for thoughtful perspectives on headlines, such as Hendrik Hertzberg’s commentary on the Catholic abuse crisis. Guest contributions (want to be published?) like Chelsea Roff’s entry on the meaning of sacred space have also grabbed your attention. We’ve focused on visuals, Purim Around the World, and sound, Forgiveness and Revenge, A Call for Music Ideas, and good behind-the-scenes stories: Archbishop Desmond Tutu is “Mad About Mango”.
So, we thought this was a good occasion to ask you: How are we doing? What are your impressions of SOF Observed? What would you like to see more of?
