I See Bloggers

Like Laura said, this APSA conference was, among other things, a chance to put a lot of faces and voices with names. The panel on "The Power and Politics of Blogs" was about as well attended as any APSA panel could ever expect to be--there were probably close to 100 people in the room--and there were more than a few heavyweights present. (Andrew Sullivan wasn't there, unfortunately. I say unfortunate, because Wonkette was, and that could have been one hell of a bitch-slap fight.)

There were a few bloggers whom I had the chance to meet and speak with some. What do they look and sound like, you ask?

Laura McKenna? Think Kate Pierson of the B-52s, only with a more reasonable hairdo and better dressed, wearing a pair of those retro-cool glasses that Andrea Martin's Edith Prickley always wore. Crooked Timber's Harry Brighouse? A dapper, slender guy, forever carrying two heavy knapsacks and dressed in a well-worn suit that gave him just the right hint of Alfie-era Michael Caine casual. Harry's CT companion Henry Farrell? A giant! (Seriously, he practically had to crouch to avoid banging his head against the ceiling when he was presenting his paper.) A towering figure of erudition, with (I note enviously) perfect Richard Gere hair. The Volokh Conspiracy's Jacob T. Levy? A small man with the finest speaking voice I've ever had the pleasure to listen to at APSA, with diction as sharp as his suit and a tone equal to that of an Oxford don or an Old Testament prophet, as appropriate (not one of the fire-and-brimstone ones; one of the more reflective and poetic ones, like Ezra).

There were numerous others that I saw or heard or met briefly: Daniel Drezner, Chris Lawrence, Eszter Hargittai, Alfredo Perez (of Political Theory Daily Review), Steven Clemons, and many more. Every last one of them came off just as engaging, elegant, attractive, charismatic, intelligent and friendly as you might imagine.

(Me? I'm a misanthropic peg-legged hunchback with running sores.)