This is long overdue.  I hope that the blog doesn’t get bogged down too much into national stories.  Despite recent progress in the past decade, DC is still one of the most violent cities in the country and most local residents don’t have a clear picture of true crime narratives happening here.  This blog would be well served to dig deep locally and carve out a niche in local crime stories, instead of getting too distracted by high-profile national stories that every other outlet in the country will be sending correspondents to cover (for example, stories like the DC sniper or the Holocaust Museum shooter).  While the Post is a national outlet and needs to cover national stories, it tends to devote inordinate resources to these blockbuster cases while the day-to-day crimes happening every day and impacting DC residents in a very direct way are generally ignored.

The Crime Scene arrives just in time.  Jim Brady’s local news project looms on the horizon in 2010, and the Post seems to be beefing up its local coverage in preparation for a showdown.  It will be fascinating to watch how these reporters use this new space to capture the rougher side of what goes on in the District, and if they are able to lay a solid claim to this beat before the competition shows up.

Ryan Boddy (at right) discusses the synthesis of brewing beer and creativity.

One piece of constructive criticism.  At times, the event was in danger of veering off into a podium for forwarding political agendas or indulging personal hobbies.  I think it’s great that certain artists are into surprising or unexpected media, or that we’re trying to amend the arcane wine and beer shipping laws in Maryland.  But when Baltimore is a city facing monumental social problems like crime, youth violence, and drug abuse, filling a room with the city’s young and creative types to talk about surviving a zombie attack can ring a bit hollow.

That said, I applaud what Mike Subelsky and his co-founder, Patti Chan are doing.  I hope that Ignite continues, and that future presenters bring a bit more gravitas to this worthy event.  Let’s harness the community brought together by this event to affect change where it’s really needed.  Ignite #5 is March 4, 2010.

Very cool step for the Baltimore blogging cognoscenti.  I hope to be there next year.