Neighborhood blogging a happy riot

Tuesday night, I was living the neighborhood blogger dream. I was covering a celebration that will be remembered in this city for a very long time -- and it was all happening in the heart of the neighborhood I write about every day. I broadcasted pictures. I captured video. And I was worried the entire night.

I wasn't freaked out by the raucous crowd or even worried that the Shell station's gas pumps still seemed to be operational. I was worried that my journalism was going to turn into evidence.

Obama famous

Obamanonymous

What would have happened had Obama Day not been so joyous? What if the crowd had done what crowds have been known to do and turned angry and destructive? For every person dancing in the streets, there was a phone cam screen glowing somewhere in the nearby crowd. And there I was taking pictures of everything and everybody.

What this neighborhood blogger wanted that night and every time I am out taking pictures of my neighbors is a way to record but let you all be. Give me technology in every visual recording device to automatically recognize and securely anonymize a face. Because not every crowd will be so happy and, still, I will be compelled to record. Call it neighborhood blogger mode.