Travel days

Today starts a round of travel for me. I'm heading off to Syracuse this morning where I'll visit the S.I. Newhouse School of Communication at Syracuse University. I'm looking forward to meeting with a group of students in a news start-up class. I'll also get to see some of the forward-thinking projects news business students are working on. It's been about six years since I visited the school, so I'm looking forward to dropping in again.

Tomorrow, I'm flying to Chicago. Each of the past three Octobers I've gone to Chicago for what was known as the Block-by-Block conference. It was sponsored by academic foundations interested in promoting local online news. That funding was of a limited duration, but what BxB spawned was the formation of an association known as Local Independent Online News Publishers (LION for short). I'm a board member. We have more than 100 members. We've managed to pull off organizing our own first-ever LION conference. So I'll be at that.

I don't return until Saturday night. I'll miss the Wine Walk. The Batavian is participating in the Wine Walk. Lisa Ace and Dee Neilans, as last year (and as Dee has done for us the past three years), are going to be pouring wine at our location in the foyer of the Masonic Temple building. I just won't be there.

Coverage, of course, during the next few days, will be limited, but not missing. Billie will still be here posting items as they come along. I'll also be able to do what I can do from a distance and within my time constraints.