Ready for my close up, I arrived at the CUNY Television studio at 7:15 and sat in the Green Room with Steven Berlin Johnson and John Geraci until they went in to do their interview.

Eating fruit salad and sipping Diet Pepsi, I watched as Steven and John talked about place blogging and what Outside.in is all about.

Steven is so ready for prime time.

They showed their buzz maps, which traces the location of hot stories and the ratio of bloggers to traditional media coverage. When Brian asked why Brooklyn is so bloggy Steven said: gentrification.

What’s the bloggiest nabe? he asked. Clinton Hill, of course.

Then it was my turn. "The dentist will see you now," the producer said. It all went by in a blur. I know Brian asked who reads my blog. He asked about Hugh’s pictures and said something like,

"Crawford, eh? Do I detect nepotism?"

I talked about the kind of stories I like to do. He asked about the blogfest. And that was about it. Oh yeah, Brian read Leon’s poem

DEM PREZ TICK

Winning combo,

Cream of the crop;

Newbie below,

Woman on top.

I told him about Leon. "I call him the oh-so-prolific-one He sends me poems every day. I’ve never met him…"

Luckily Leon was watching the show:

You actually pronounced my name correctly.  My mom never mastered it, to my father’s chagrin.  You can be sure she’ll bake you a fruit cake for Hanukkah.

You started off shakily–who wouldn’t?–but just two minutes into it, you sounded like  a seasoned pro, on a par with Brian Lehrer.

I’m sure your blogfest along with OTBKB will benefit from your upbeat performance.

In case your Inquiring Photographer forgot, I taped the broadcast and it’s instantly available to you; I live on Eighth Ave/Fiske Place, probably minutes away from you.

Mom says you look like Anna Magnani, only more passionate.