Just Do It, drink with bloggers, that is

Attended the APWBWGTTD at Highlander last night, which was fun. The meetup combined bloggers and flickr folks, both of whom tended to cluster together with overlap defined mainly by people who belong to both groups. Although the groupings were clearly not random, I think the relative lack of mingling (although mingaling was there and has posted the roll call) had more to do with the size of the collective than fear and distrust among the tribes. With as many people as there were, it was inevitable that subgroups would form.

Not that there wasn't fear and distrust between the bloggers and photogs. I'm not much of a shutterbug, or much of a blogger, for that matter, but I knew that in the event of a misplaced footfall on the wrong pair of shoes or a misspoken reference to aperture size, everything could turn ugly in a matter of seconds. I suggest that at the next meeting, everybody should wear blue or red bandanas in their back pockets so we'll know who to stick when things pop off. Those who swing both ways can beat themselves up.

Foolishly thinking I was in safe company, I recounted a story about a colleague who realized the gulf between himself and his students when he asked a class if anyone knew the significance of the phrase "Is it the shoes?" and only one person raised their hand. I figured I'd get some sympathy, but instead I got a look of puzzlement from across the table on the face of a blogger who didn't remember the Michael Jordan-Spike Lee Nike campaign for Air Jordans. I was afraid to ask if the phrase "Bo knows..." meant anything to him.