Welcome to the New CenLamar

During the past nine months, CenLamar became a destination for those seeking information and commentary about life in Central Louisiana, and as the site grew and developed, I learned a few lessons about the blogosphere.

This new site is a response to those lessons, and I hope that, as this site expands, readers will be able to take advantage of our new features.

The original CenLamar, located at cenlamar.blogspot.com, will still be accessible and searchable. I’m not deleting the old blog. But I am starting fresh.

Commenting:

Although anonymous commenting may have generated some lively conversations and debates, ultimately, this site strives to become a serious resource, and however wise and knowledgeable many of those anonymous commenters were, they often confused the conversation (Wait, was that a response to Anon 2:30 or Anon 5:15? Or are those two bloggers one in the same?).

For those of you who want to keep up the conversation but don’t want to use your real name, have no fear. Just register your own user name! It’s simple and painless, and you’ll be able to pick up right where you left off.

New Features:

As you may have noticed, this site has a few new features. Please let me explain.

Until now, club owners and events promoters lacked a venue to publicize upcoming events in a coherent, easy-to-read fashion. Sure, they could take out an ad in the local newspaper, but often, it’s cost prohibitive. CenLamar now features a Nightlife and Music section (linked right up at the top), which will allow free publicity for upcoming concerts and events. (Look for this section to be upgraded, but for now, if you want to promote an event here in CenLa, just post a comment).

Additionally, CenLamar features a section for free classified ads, which will function similarly to the nightlife section (and which will also be upgraded in the near-future).

Open Forum:

You may also notice that CenLamar now has an open forum section, a virtual free-for-all in which bloggers can post whatever is on their mind. Check it out.

Team Blogging

There’s one other big difference. CenLamar will now be written by a team of writers, not just Lamar White, Jr. If you’re interested in writing for CenLamar, please submit a writing sample and a letter of intent to lamarw@gmail.com