by E. Ross

It’s been a busy week of building blog alliances at Bent Alaska.

When the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner published an article about the fake web addresses that went to an anti-Berkowitz blog and to gay sites in San Francisco, the author Robert Dillon described the gay pages as “gay lifestyle” sites. I was dismayed to see a professional journalist use that phrase, so I posted a response here and sent an email to Mr. Dillon. He replied on his blog Alaskan Abroad, and noted in the comments that his AP Stylebook agrees with me. He also linked to Bent Alaska, and listed Bent in his blogroll. Thank you, Robert!

Alaskan Abroad is a well-read blog, and Robert Dillon is the Washington D. C. correspondent for the News-Miner. It didn’t take long for someone to notice his post.

Philip Munger of Progressive Alaska saw it and followed the link to Bent Alaska. In his Saturday Progressive Blog Roundup, he included Bent with other blogs that he was adding to his blogroll, saying “Why did I not know about this site until this week? It is great!” Thank you, Philip!

Progressive Alaska is subtitled: Spreading the word about the growing presence of progressive Alaskans and their powerful ideas on the web. The current focus is on the political races and the environment, but a variety of progressive issues are covered on PA.

Then Linda of Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis saw the mention on Progressive Alaska and came for a visit. She left comments on several posts and listed Bent Alaska in her blogroll. Thank you, Linda!

Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis is another great progressive blog, and Linda is a long-time ally of the LGBT community. She sang with the band “Sky is Blu” and performed at the March on Washington in 1993. She also worked on the municipal ordinance that added sexual orientation to the protected classes of employees in Anchorage.

Meanwhile, Brendan Kelley at the Anchorage Press commented on Bent Alaska about the fake addresses going to gay sites. Fighting hate speech is part of Brendan’s job, and he was one of the trio of reporters who uncovered evidence linking the web site trick to Jake Metcalfe’s campaign. Metcalfe has now dropped out of the race, because of poor campaign decisions and a lack of funds.

If you live in Anchorage, you probably pick up a copy of this free alternative paper on Thursdays. Wherever you live, you can read and comment on their articles online at Anchorage Press.

These writers are our allies. They are also well-informed citizens and good reporters. Most of them are dedicated to progressive issues, including civil rights. If you want to keep up with political and environmental issues in Alaska, visit these sites regularly and leave an occasional comment.

That’s how we build alliances in the blog world.