Should I vote in the Nashville mayoral election if I am moving to San Francisco before the end of this year? That is the question I face on this gray and rainy day. I prefer Karl Dean to Roberto Clemente, but is it fair to vote for either if I’m just going to be living in the Bay Area inside 3 months? I’m not sure that it is. I’d really like to see Megan Barry win a seat on the Council, though, so I’m going to cast my ballot anyway. I’ve always enjoyed the Barrys. Plus, I think she’d make a great progressive addition to the World’s Largest City Council. I’ve lived in Nashville for nearly 30 years of my life, so I think the city owes me one last say in the matter. Besides, I’ll be back to visit.
You see, I’ve taken a job with the local CBS affiliate in San Francisco, California, the land of godless liberals who have gay sex on the streets while shooting up. The kind folks at KPIX (whose website was voted best in the state by the Associated Press) recruited me to run a blog aggregator much like the one I used to run at WKRN here in Nashville. I took them up on their offer to fly out for two days to interview, and after some negotiating I agreed to take them up on a full-time position. I’ll be working from within the newsroom Monday through Friday combing through all the blogs updated daily in the Bay Area, highlighting posts I find funny or provocative or insightful or informative. There will also be an automatic aggregator. Many of you may be familiar with the concept.
If you are wondering why I said I wasn’t cut out for moderating a community blog site, only to take this job 8 weeks later, you likely aren’t the only one. I asked myself that question many times in determining whether to pack up The Boyfriend and the dogs and move 800+ miles to one of the most expensive places in the country. But, luckily, I learned from my very public mistakes made at NiT, and I’ve taken them to heart. This new venture will be less about me. I’m not that interesting anyway. What I mean to say, though, is that I will put less of myself “out there” and concentrate more on building a vibrant blogging community in what is already one of the most wired places on earth. Also, there were some behind-the-scenes issues going on at the old station that I never felt the need to air publicly that had a lot to do with my decision to leave. I denied it at the time, because the pain from The Situation was so overwhelming that that was easy to do. But it was a factor. Also, the area out there is just different. My “radical liberalism” that makes me, according to the locals, “as far left as you’ll find on the internet” would not raise an eyebrow where I’m going. Crusades by blogging GOP mouthpieces when I dare state that Gitmo detainees might not be guilty (of what they were never charged with) won’t set off a firestorm. I’ve always been a liberal in a Republican oasis, but now I’ll be more conservative than most just be virtue of my home state. I relish the thought.
But that site isn’t about politics. It’s about the people of the Bay Area. It’s about mothers and strippers and activists and students. It’s going to be what San Franciscans are talking about, so to speak. I’m thrilled at the idea of getting back into the newsroom. There is a hum in the newsroom, a sense of urgency and excitement that comes with daily turns and breaking news. This one happens to be filled with smart, engaging people who seem excited about the new media possibilities that await them. (Or, the ones I met at least.)
And I’m so excited about living in my favorite place on earth. The weather is phenomenal all year long, the people are diverse, the art scene is incredible (indie and foreign films in the theatre ’til my heart’s content!) and the opportunities are endless. There is a magic to that place, and I’m about to become a part of it. It hasn’t exactly been easy to absorb.
I’m going to miss my friends and family like crazy. I’ve lived here my entire life, so all my roots are here. But I’ve always wanted this. I used to drive down the long stretches of bending roads in Ashland City dreaming of taking the subway. The BART is close enough (and now I’m going to sell my car!). Long ago my “about page” on this blog said that I’d be moving to the Big City very soon. It was up there forever then I took it down one day, resigned that it would never happen. It’s back now and better than ever.
We haven’t decided yet on the timing, but I’m leaving no sooner than 6 weeks from now. I want to get together with many of you before I go for drinks and hugs. And mailing addresses. I’ll be 30 in October and everything I have ever known is here. I’m going to be homesick for a while I’m sure. But I can’t think of a place I’d rather be homesick in.
P.S. In the time since leaving WKRN I have been working as a copy writer at Magazines.com. I just want to take this space to thank the generous and jovial people who make up that great place. They took me on as one of the family–even if I was the black sheep–and made me feel very appreciated. And I learned so much in my time there. I’d recommend it as an awesome place to work for any copy writer in the area who wanted to earn a competitive salary while building what will be a world-class brand one day. It’s an exciting place to work, so if you are interested in doing that, please let me know.
70 comments ↓
Congrats!! Sounds like an exciting move and the folks in San Fran are gaining much by your relocation.
I am excited for you. Just remember we will all want to come see you. Guess they will think we talk funny. Congratulations.
[…] Gilbert has deftly weaved a political theme into a “THIS IS HUGE”-type announcement enabling me to share said post with you: Should […]
Yes, vote! If you still want for there to be a Nashville when you come back and visit, vote!
I guess the question would be, would it be OK for a person who knows they are going to die in the next few months to cast a ballot? If so, why not someone who is going to move?
Congratulations Brittney, I am so excited for you! I think you will really love it out there, and what a nice change of pace! It sounds like an awesome job–although many of us knew you would move on to bigger and better things. Best of luck!
What color is disbelief? Color me that. Congratulations, and best of luck!
Can’t you just bring back NIT in its original form? :P
Congratulations!
Congratulations! That said, oh lord have mercy, go vote!
I’ll certainly be interested in reading you take on the goings on in San Fran…if anything, you might be too conservative for that town :-)
Hurray! I am so excited for you.
Hey, welcome to the Wild West, a few weeks too early! I think you’ll like it here. I’m not in San Francisco (I’m in Portland), but I’ve visited SF and think it’s an awesome place to live. You’ll be house-poor for sure, but there’s more to life than going broke on a house.
You’re going to want to learn quickly how to refer to the city by name. I don’t recall which names are in and which are out, but I’m pretty sure “San Fran” is a no-no, and I probably fucked up by calling it “SF” above. You don’t want to piss off the locals. :)
Congratulations!!!!!!
Rawk.
.
[…] I’ll let her announce it for herself: You see, I’ve taken a job with the local CBS affiliate in San Francisco, California, the land of godless liberals who have gay sex on the streets while shooting up. The kind folks at KPIX (whose website was voted best in the state by the Associated Press) recruited me to run a blog aggregator much like the one I used to run at WKRN here in Nashville. I took them up on their offer to fly out for two days to interview, and after some negotiating I agreed to take them up on a full-time position. I’ll be working from within the newsroom Monday through Friday combing through all the blogs updated daily in the Bay Area, highlighting posts I find funny or provocative or insightful or informative. There will also be an automatic aggregator. Many of you may be familiar with the concept… […]
Wow, Congrats! San Francisco is such a wonderful place to live …. expensive, but wonderful. I’m so jealous!
Congratulations on the new job. Sounds like you’re excited.
You will live near one of the great hotbeds of Dr Who fandom in the United States….
OK, maybe that’s only a selling point for me.
And you should vote.
Congrats Brittney! The bay area is the epicenter (perhaps epicenter is not a good word to use) of so much that is progressive in politics, technology, well everything. Just a great vibe there. A shame it costs 7 gozillion dollars to live there. Good luck to you! Oh and I’m out there once or twice a year for Appley things, maybe we can go have a beer at the Thirsty Bear sometime :)
[…] Congrats to Brittney on her new gig. […]
[…] Brittney finds herself in a similar lead-blogger role, this time in San Francisco. From her blog Sparkwood & 21: I’ll be working from within the newsroom Monday through Friday combing through all the blogs […]
Do you have any idea how jealous I am? Damn you and your in-demand abilities! And if you hear of any openings out there in my field, you will let me know, right? On second thought, no. Why move there and continue to do what I do? If you hear of anything not in my field (that pays umpteen bajillion dollars), let me know. I’m going back the last week of October. Can I crash at your place?
Way to go. My best.
So jealous–and happy/excited for you!! Good luck and please keep us updated!
[…] Brittney finds herself in a similar lead-blogger role, this time in San Francisco. From her blog Sparkwood & 21: I’ll be working from within the newsroom Monday through Friday combing through all the blogs […]
CONGRATS CONGRATS CONGRATS!!!!! I know that Nashville is losing one of their best citizens, but at least San Fran-”sicko” will be one person closer to NORMAL!!
Even We-Who-Are-Not-Nashville-Citizens are going to miss you. Take care, God bless, and be careful over yonder!
Miss ya already.
Big congrats!
Wow! This is a superfantastic opportunity for you. Great city, great food, great minds…and you can be in wine country in about an hour!
I wish you all the best.
So proud of you girl! Have fun in the big city!! You will definitely be missed ’round here.
erat wrote:
Actually, per my recollection, “San Fran” isn’t too bad. It’s at least one hell of a lot less offensive to locals than “Frisco.” *shudder*
And Brittney, congratulations. You deserve a big opportunity like this. I know you’re going to make a big splash there.
(And for what it’s worth, I happen to know you’re not the only black sheep at Magazines.com. Baa.)
Wow!! Congratulations!
I am so proud of you! Which is corny, I know, but true! Hurray. Congratulations.
There are some AWESOME belly dancers in the Bay Area:
Suhaila Salimpour
Jill Parker
Rachel Brice
just to name 3 off the top of my head. There are many more but I’ve studied with those ladies.
I am SO HAPPY for you!!! Yay!!! *hugs* and do try to take one dance class out there.
Wow dude Congrats! Have a blast. Nashville will miss ya. You better come home for BarCamp II.
Keep in touch (we know you will!).
Good luck,
Dave
Rock on with your bad self! Congrats and good luck! :-)
Congrats.. SF is a fun place to be.. You’ll be missed!
Squeeee! Hurray for you. Much fun.
Wahoo! What great news.
NOW, GET YOURSELF DOWN TO THE POLLS!!! :) You owe it to those of us you’re leaving behind. :)
Brittney,
This is stupendous. Good for you!!
Congratulations! Would you ever have believed how your live could change in 3 years?
Best of Luck!
I’m so happy and excited for you! But I do reserve the right to grouse and pout about you leaving us : )
Brittney, congrats on the big move! Here’s to more stations waking up and smelling what you’re cooking ;)
[…] NIT’s own Brittney Gilbert has a new job on the internets. “Many of you may be familiar with the concept.” The kind folks at KPIX (whose website was voted best in the state by the Associated Press) recruited me to run a blog aggregator much like the one I used to run at WKRN here in Nashville. I took them up on their offer to fly out for two days to interview, and after some negotiating I agreed to take them up on a full-time position. I’ll be working from within the newsroom Monday through Friday combing through all the blogs updated daily in the Bay Area, highlighting posts I find funny or provocative or insightful or informative. There will also be an automatic aggregator. Many of you may be familiar with the concept. Spread It Around: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
Wow! I’m really thrilled for you..When I lived in NYC, it was fun being the more conservative person in a world full of lefties (at Lipscomb I was DEFINITELY THE leftie).
You so deserve this and I know you will rock San Fran. I love that town!
And here’s where to go to *finally* try out ballroom lessons:
http://www.metronomedancecenter.com/index.php
Say hello to Michael Savage for me, won’t you?
Congratulations!
As far as being, “as far left as you’ll find on the internet”, William’s proved that wrong. And in SF you’ll probably be called a winger.
Congratulations!
Funny how things work out sometimes. And sometimes for the better, even.
[…] And props to Brittney!!! […]
You go girl!
All I can say is, “Welcome, neighbor,” and congratulations on your new gig. Gimme a holler if you have any questions.
Congratulations.
Will you keep us in the loop?
More details will be cool.
I see Bay Area Is Talking is an aggregator run by your new competitor (but the last post is 7/31/07) and the link to their blogroll is broken.
hehehe.
Have fun!
Hey, moving to my neck of the woods!
We’ll be glad to have you. Congratulations.
Wow! Congrats on the new job, you’ll do great!! Good luck with the move and keep posting pics of the pups! Too bad we never got our dogs together for a play date!
And I turn 30 in October, too! =) Oct 1.
Kick ass.
Outstanding! Congratulations.
“I would have gotten away with it, if it wasn’t for those pesky kids!”
Looks like the show is really over.
Good luck with everything.
Kevin
Hotney is leaving?
Congratulations Brittney! You deserve it! Too bad Nashville was too blind to see what a real treasure they had.
Congrats and best of luck to you Brittney. Sure will miss you though.
Congratulations on the new job Brittney! Sounds fabulous.
Welcome to SF. A Nashville friend of mind said I should check out your blog! Hope the move/transition goes well!
Bruce
Ooh, I’m going to have to update the blogroll. Are you going to do a Vegetarian San Francisco blog? If so, I think you’ll have a lot more material to work with! And, of course, it’ll make me green with envy. Ha ha, green.
[…] like one of our other favorite writers, Claire has moved on to a big city–the big city. She’s only been in New York […]
Congratulations!! I used to refer people at my work to Bay Area is Talking as an example of a moderated community aggregator site- I didn’t think it was a patch on NIT, but didn’t want them to find out about my blog Now, of course, the Bay Area is moving on up.
Good luck. Enjoy the big city. Do everything you can to take advantage of it.
BTW - it’s not that fun going from being a librul in Tennessee to being one of the most conservative people you know. But it sure does put things into perspective.
First of all congrats! That is an awesome move. SF is absolutely amazing (regardless of your political views). One word of caution though… as a 3rd generation San Franciscan I can tell you not to get caught up with the “weather is phenomenal all year long”… it isn’t. The good days are great but there are days in the middle of summer when you’ll be wondering why you are wearing a jacket and waiting the sun isn’t coming out ;-)
With that said I wouldn’t live anywhere else.
since i doubt you can vote in sf while you’re still residing in tn, i’d say you should vote in tn. maintain the continuity of your electoral representation. also a vote in tn (or wherever) can affect politics in other areas.
we’ve got plenty of full-wakout repugs in the sf area. if you’re anywhere ‘left of attila’, our repugs will happily send you hate e/mail.
@erat, ’sf’ is fine.
@paulo “weather is phenomenal all year long… it isn’t.” yeah. those days over 95F are terrible. but usually it’s nice cool weather. freezes are rare.
Best of luck to you.
Just a hint: locals don’t call it “the BART.” Just BART.
Duly noted!
[…] Brittney is moving to San Francisco and taking the reins of REAL big city blogging out yonder (congratulations and I’m so thrilled for you and you will be fabulously successful, I know!). […]
[…] (a.k.a. She Who Is Soon To Be Leaving Us For The City By The Bay) took this picture of the awesome handiwork of one of our colleagues who didn’t happen to […]
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