Shakesville

infobox weblog
name = Shakesville


political_affiliation = progressive
website = [http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com shakespearessister.blogspot.com]

Shakesville is an American political blog, publishing news and opinion from a progressive point of view. The site focuses on culture, politics, LGBT issues, and feminism. [ [http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2004/10/inside-jokes-faqs-wev.html#click3 Inside Jokes, FAQs, & Wev « Shakesville ] ] It was started in October of 2004 by Melissa McEwan, who initially wrote under the pseudonym "Shakespeare's Sister," and gave the blog that eponymous name. Over time, more bloggers were added as contributors, and in 2007, the site was rebranded with its present name, in order to reflect the contributions from a diverse group of individuals. [ [http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2004/10/inside-jokes-faqs-wev.html#click2 Inside Jokes, FAQs, & Wev « Shakesville ] ]

Content

Shakesville has a number of different writers, posting on a wide variety of topics. In addition to posts on politics and culture, posts can cover anything from old YouTube clips [ [http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2004/10/inside-jokes-faqs-wev.html#click4 Inside Jokes, FAQs, & Wev « Shakesville ] ] to recipes. [ [http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2004/10/inside-jokes-faqs-wev.html#click5 Inside Jokes, FAQs, & Wev « Shakesville ] ] . As a result of its heterodox content, the site was named the 37th-most informative blog on the internet in a study by Carnegie-Mellon University. [ [http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~jure/blogs/blogs-uc-pa.html CASCADES project: Cost-effective Outbreak Detection in Networks ] ] .

Contributors

Besides McEwan and her husband, Iain McEwan (who blogs under the pseudonym "Mr. Shakes"), there are 23 [http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2004/10/contributors.html additional contributors] to Shakesville. Many also maintain their own personal blogs.

* Arkades
* Kenny Blogginz
* Deeky
* Benjamin H. Grumbles (a parodic, pseudo-Victorian character named after, but otherwise unrelated to, an [http://www.epa.gov/water/aabio.html EPA bureaucrat] )
* Guest Blogger (readers and other bloggers sometimes write guest posts on various topics)
* Kate Harding
* The Heretik
* Misty
* Mustang Bobby
* Nightshift
* Paul the Spud
* Petulant
* Portly Dyke
* Quixote
* Chet Scoville
* Shark Fu
* Space Cowboy
* Jon Swift
* Tart
* Todd
* William K. Wolfrum
* Zuzu

Controversy

In 2007, the presidential campaign of John Edwards hired McEwan to serve as its netroots coordinator. [ [http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2007/01/shakes-on-campaign.html "Shakes on a Campaign" ] ] At the same time, the campaign hired blogger Amanda Marcotte, the main writer at the weblog Pandagon, to head the campaign's weblog.

The hirings were quickly attacked by Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, who accused both McEwan and Marcotte of being anti-Catholic, citing writings by Marcotte that criticized the Catholic church. Though McEwan's writings were not criticized as much as Marcotte's, both eventually left the Edwards campaign. [ [http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/02/16/marcotte/index1.html Why I had to quit the John Edwards campaign | Salon News ] ]

References

External links

* [http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com Shakesville]
* [http://deeky.blogspot.com/ El Deeky de los Muertos] - Weblog of Shakesville contributor Deeky
* [http://kateharding.net Shapely Prose] - Weblog of Shakesville contributor Kate Harding
* [http://barkbarkwoofwoof.blogspot.com Bark Bark Woof Woof] - Weblog of Shakesville contributor Mustang Bobby
* [http://petulantweb.com/blog/ Petulant Rumblings] - Weblog of Shakesville contributor Petulant
* [http://portlytruestories.blogspot.com/ Teh Portly Dyke] - Weblog of Shakesville contributor Portly Dyke
* [http://www.molvray.com/acid-test/ Acid Test] - Weblog of Shakesville contributor Quixote
* [http://thevanitypress.blogspot.com The Vanity Press] - Weblog of Shakesville contributor Chet Scoville
* [http://angryblackbitch.blogspot.com/ AngryBlackBitch] - Weblog of Shakesville contributor Shark Fu
* [http://jonswift.blogspot.com/ Jon Swift] - Weblog of Shakesville contributor Jon Swift
* [http://somewaterythoughts.blogspot.com/ Tart Juice] - Weblog of Shakesville contributor Tart
* [http://williamkwolfram.com William K. Wolfram] - Weblog of Shakesville contributor William K. Wolfrum
* [http://kindlypogmothoin.com/ Kindly Póg Mo Thóin] - Weblog of Shakesville contributor Zuzu