Voice Post

In this new blog I found entitled BikingInLA, a cyclist in LA chronicles his experiences on the road of LA as well as posting news stories that typically deal with the death of a cyclist on the road. In the two posts that I read, the author of this blog has created a voice where it feels as though he is speaking to you face-to-face in conversation, but also frequently asks rhetorical questions in order to get the reader thinking. His main intent, then, is to basically have a dialogue about what he experiences on the road as an avid cyclist with other cyclists in Los Angeles.

Because the dangers of biking in LA are quite present, the author of this blog definitely has a very defensive voice, as he feels that the local city government as well as all the millions of drivers on the roads of LA seem to be out to get us cyclists. However, as a fellow cyclist who rides on these wild roads every day, I can definitely relate to his perspective and defensive voice.

He does a good job though, in my eyes, in being reasonable as well with drivers in LA. In one of the posts I read about a recent experience he had of an angry driver, he does take the perspective of the situation from the other view: "Or from his perspective, how he barely had time to see what I was doing and tap his brakes before I was in front of him and gone again. And how he could have overreacted, potentially risking a collision with the car behind him."

However, in another post, his voice changes into an angry and frustrated cyclist upset at an article of another cyclist, who proposed that cyclists should be more courteous on the roads. In this post, the blogger frequently uses quotation marks in reference to the article he is responding to in order to show the absurdity of the language of the article. This sort of sarcasm, then, seems especially effective on the part of this blogger in order to show that what he is saying is correct, and other viewpoints are simply ludicrous.

When looking at his specific techniques, the blogger effectively uses block quotes when referencing other bloggers or articles. Also, at the end of every post, he continues each one with a series of several links that may deal with the subject of the post, along with many more links simply dealing with cycling news across the globe. What is very helpful about these links is that it gives the audience proof that the cycling world is alive and well. On a very serious note, his links to news articles of deadly bike accidents also shows that the dangers of biking are real, and that more support for bike laws is needed to protect cyclists.