hey, you can blog, too!

Everyone has something they'd like to say and at The Reporter, we'd like to help you share your thoughts.

Community journalism is an important aspect for The Reporter, and who knows the community better than you do?

We certainly are not the experts — sometimes people like to point that out to us, and that's fine.

We try to do our best to cover as many aspects of the community as we can, but it's impossible to be everywhere at every conceivable time.

And we certainly can't pretend to know everything about everyone's individual interests.

So we hope that those of you who have something you're passionate about — whether it be youth sports, music, an adult sports league, politics, you get the idea — will join us in the community conversation.

A community of local bloggers is our goal — giving you a voice to share your viewpoints and knowledge with our readers. You can include photos, videos and sound files; really, the options are wide open.

You do have to be willing to blog a few times a week, but don't be intimidated by that. Blog entries can be short, they can be links, they can be photos or videos.

Check out some of The Reporter blogs already being manned by our staffers and you'll get the idea. You can find them on our Web site, www.thereporteronline.com, under the blog area.

No, there won't be any pay for the blogging; this is your blog, we're just the host. But you'll become part of our online community and help add to the conversation.

If you think you're interested, we'd love to hear from you. A wide variety of interests, ages, backgrounds would all enhance this endeavor.

Our online editor, Chris Stanley, is standing by — well, he might be sitting — to receive your e-mails, answer your questions and help decide if all of this would be a good fit for you.

E-mail your name, town, e-mail address, daytime phone number, a bit about want you would like to blog about and some information about yourself to cstanley@thereporteronline.com.

Then we'll contact you to discuss the idea and, we hope, get you all set up for blogging.