Watch this episode on the PA Live! site: http://pahomepage.com/palive-details?nxd_id=238202
Our PA Live! Blog of the Week this week is Michelle Hryvnak Davies' mhryvnak.net/blog (http://www.mhryvnak.net/blog/).
Six years ago when I started NEPA Blogs I was on the prowl for blogs to add and bloggers to bring onboard as co-administrators. I had already brought in Gort, with his extensive collection of links to political blogs throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania and beyond. Another blogger who caught my eye was Michelle Hryvnak Davies (two l's in the first name, silent H in the second, and an e in the last.) Not for her blog connections - which were extensive - but for the quality of her writing. She wrote about this area, her life, work, everyday things - but she did it with such a wry, intense, almost caustic sense of humor, you couldn't turn away. It wasn't just that she was writing what you were thinking, she was writing things that you didn't dare let yourself think. And you were doubled over in laughter reading her posts.
Michelle eventually noticed the traffic coming to her site from NEPA Blogs, saw what we were doing, and started offering suggestions for blogs to add, blogs neither Gort nor I would have found on our own. I realized that Michelle would round out our group nicely, and asked her to join us as co-administrator.
Michelle is an intensely involved person. A working mother of two who is constantly seeking new ways to challenge herself, whether through participation in various local runs or seeking more and more computer skills certifications, her energy and enthusiasm have been incredibly valuable to both NEPA Blogs and Northeastern Pennsylvania in general. About a year ago, when I was letting NEPA Blogs slide into oblivion, Michelle pumped new life into the site and expanded it out onto every major social media platform, creating presences on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and (most recently) Pinterest. She secured media coverage for NEPA Blogs, including an interview in Happenings Magazine, an appearance on Blue Ridge Cable's ComputerWise TV, a half-hour program on local progressive radio station WFTE, and a regular spot on PA Live! She also took the lead in publicizing Blog Fest, ensuring that what could have been a cocktail party featuring a handful of political bloggers being chatted up by political candidates instead became one of Northeastern Pennsylvania's best networking events for bloggers.
Her blog, mhrynak.net/blog, has been through some changes over the years, but it's back and as good as it ever was, with Michelle's special brand of observational humor. Michelle continues to be active in Northeastern Pennsylvania through her volunteer work - even setting up NEPA Blogs as an information center during the Flood of 2011 - and in the local online community with her work with NEPA Blogs and beyond. Her blog will continue to tell her story, and her work with NEPA Blogs will help to ensure that other people's stories will be heard, too.
Viewers will be seeing a lot more of Michelle starting next week, when she takes over the weekly presentation of the NEPA Blogs Blog of the Week right here on PA Live!
If you have a blog you would like us to link on NEPA Blogs, or know of a blog you think we should link, please let us know! You can always drop us a line at nepablogs@gmail.com!
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