Introducing ‘javascripts’

Here’s something new and here’s why. 

Like everyone of a certain age, I’ve had to make a transition to an increasingly digital world. This is especially true of “newspaper people.” Our world was rocked by the internet. (And the internet ain’t done with us yet.)

It hasn’t always been easy, though I’ve weathered the change better than a lot of middle-aged reporters and editors I know. 

One thing I’ve had a tough time doing — forever — is adjusting to the concept of blogging. I write columns. Blogs are supposed to be brief, frequent, conversational, casual, interactive and… did I mention brief?

But I write columns. No matter how hard I try not to.  I tried to write a blog years ago, but I wound up just publishing my weekly newspaper column on the blog site. Fail.

Now that I’ve almost completely transitioned to the digital realm I want to give this blog thing another shot.

Hence… the debut of my new column — er, I mean blog — which I’m calling javascripts. It’s a play on words, java being both coffee and a computer language; and scripts being, well, you get the idea. JavaScript , as you may know, is one of the most popular programming languages on the web. 

I created a logo for this column that reflects the collision of the two worlds I’ve lived in: print (fondly referred to as “dead-tree” by digital-media types) and digital. It shows off my “I love the smell of newsprint in the morning” coffee mug (purchased at the Newseum), my iPhone 4s and my Airport wifi base station.

Full disclosure: The only time I smell newsprint in the morning these days is on Sundays, sometimes, when the Times, in all its delicious, intimidating girth, finds its way into my house. But I still love the mug. It’s huge and holds a lot of java.

So, here’s my blog. Brief. Conversational. Casual. And, I hope, interesting. Its topics will range from my personal ruminations about life, to things going on in our community, or beyond. When I can’t resist the urge to pontificate about some serious subject (and you know that’ll happen) I’ll publish a more traditional piece without this cute little logo.

I’m going to try to write at least one javascripts entry every day, in the morning, as I’m enjoying my morning java. That’s it for now, because before you know it, this will be 750 words. 

Denise Civiletti, reporter, editor, digital maven and former newspaper editor and publisher, lives and works in Riverhead. She vaguely remembers having a life away from electronic gadgets before being consumed by her role as a digital-hyperlocal-news-entrepreneur-pioneer — lol— publishing RiverheadLocal.com with her husband Peter Blasl.