Who was that masked man?

I wouldn't go so far as to call Durham bloggers a "tightly knit community." There's a number of people who i know in Durham who blog, there are circles of other bloggers around many of those folks, who i know by clicking through once in a while. Most of those folks blog about their lives, and since their lives are, to an extant, lived in Durham, they blog about this town occasionally. There's a smaller group of people who blog about Durham qua Durham: Gary, Kevin, Michael, Joe's food blog, (what the hell, Reyn could be in that category as well.)

I find myself on the border of that group, often well inside it, but i like to write about things that catch my eye, whether or not they're exclusively Durham.

Earlier this spring, a new star shone in the Durham blogosphere. In fact, you might say it blazed across the heavens for a few brief months. When Bullsh@t came to town, there was lots of buzz about the new guy. He had world class snark. He had intimate knowledge of Durham. He wasn't afraid to use either of them.

He created an instant topic of conversation - so, who do you think Blazer Manpurse really is?

Several people i know suspected me. And even though we shared some of the same sensibilities, that's just not the case. A couple of other names have been tossed out in my general direction, and i think one of them may be promising. (I'm not going to mention it, however.)

But now, he's gone. Two people i know have floated the theory that Bullsh@t was a viral marketing campaign for Durham Rising, probably run out of Greenfire Development. I'm not buying that one. It doesn't make sense to me.

No, i suspect that even if we are able to put a name and a face and a raison d'etre to the blogger, we'll actually not be gaining anything worth having.

Best to savor the mystery, and say thanks for the memories.

Blazer Manpurse is dead. Long live Blazer Manpurse.