| Love connection |
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| Local Content |
| Written by Scott Schmidt |
| Wednesday, 27 January 2010 09:11 |
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Scott Schmidt for the Sun Times Some have even referred to it as “Deathbridge.” For whatever reason, smaller centres are often criticized simply for being smaller centres, and Lethbridge certainly hears its share of critics. But, while the grass is always greener on the other side for some, there are those who find cities such as Lethbridge have everything they need, and more. Jonathan Ruzek has spent almost all of his life here and has heard every negative opinion one might have. But regardless of any outside influences from others his age, Ruzek has always loved the city he’s grown up in. That love for the city is what motivated the 28-year-old to start up his own blog about Lethbridge, less than a one year ago. Lethbian Love, or www.lethbianlove.ca, is Ruzek’s forum for which he speaks his true hometown mind. “Originally I just wanted to create a social network for Lethbridge but I figured there’s Facebook so what’s the point,” says Ruzek, who works as a web designer in his regular life. “I wasn’t going to try to reinvent the wheel so I thought maybe a blog might work. “There’s a (negative) mentality in Lethbridge that young people have about the city that I could relate to and so what I started was a blog, trying to discover things that were interesting about Lethbridge. “I was trying to bring back the love for the city, so to speak. It’s just an endeavour of mine to find things that are really great about this city and I keep doing this because I think a lot of people often times find themselves bored of this place.” A lover of the arts, Ruzek began the site by simply talking about upcoming events sparking his own interest but soon began to build some popularity. With the help of online social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, Ruzek has slowly started an underground following who regularly keep tabs on his website. The website posts regular information about past or upcoming happenings in the city. Ruzek obviously picks what intrigues him specifically but has been able to reach a wide audience based on his own broad interests. As a year in the business goes by, Ruzek says his list of contacts has grown significantly. One of Ruzek’s favourite parts of the job has been following the six degrees of separation in the city, which he says allows you to find more people able to aid his cause. The blog has discussed Lethbridge from nearly every angle since it first began. From disclosing local tidbits, such as Lethbridge being an original brew town for Pilsner or discussing 25-year-old cult-audio-recordings such as “Brocket 99,” Lethbian Love never seems to focus from any one specific angle. “It’s interesting the kinds of things people are looking for and if you can actually find subjects that are relevant and people connect with, then you’re going to be OK.” He says the real secret to producing an interesting blog is to keep it true to the writer. For a while Ruzek says he tried to write about what he thought others wanted but found when he focused on what interested him, the response was greater. Ruzek’s blog has even made his opinion seem more valuable to some. When the city was in the midst of planning their strategy of development for the next period of years, Ruzek was actually contacted for his thoughts. “They just decided to talk to me personally about my opinions of Lethbridge.” Ruzek says he isn’t too sure where he’d like to see the website go and admits he doesn’t have the time for the effort necessary to really grow its popularity but he says if more success comes, he won’t run away either. “Eventually I’d like to even see others join in as guest bloggers,” says Ruzek. “I’m not seeking to make something big out of this but if it happens it happens. And if it looks like it’s going that way, I’m going to roll with it.” |
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