DeRushaDay

Warning: This is going to be one of those posts where I gush about awesome things that I love.

Oh, wait.  Most of my blog is me gushing about things I love.  (Thanks, Newsbobber for painting me all sunshine and rainbows!  Which is probably pretty fair.)

Well, now that that’s settled, let’s move on, shall we?

It should be noted (if we haven’t already had this conversation), that I absolutely adore the growing local and social media scene here in the Twin Cities.  I’ve acknowledged those thoughts before, but the events of the last couple of weeks have kind of culminated into such a situation that I just had to share.

Because I’m a sharer.  Sharing is caring.  Etc.

It’s STORYTIME, friends.

If you follow me on Twitter (go ahead, make the jump; we’ll wait), you may have noticed that all day this past Monday, just about every other tweet of mine was hashtagged #DeRushaDay. For a non-Twincian – and since I know a good chunk of my readers aren’t in Minnesota (hi friends!) - that might not mean a whole lot, so let me explain.

Twin Cities’ CBS affiliate, WCCO reporter Jason DeRusha hosts a segment on the station called “Good Question” during which he tackles – you guessed it! – good questions, such as:

• Who are the Freemasons?
• Why are gas prices so steady?
• How does Google get street photos?
• Biologically, how is a man a man? (you’re making the jump for this one, aren’t you?)

Jason’s also got a super solid social media presence here in the Twin Cities between his blog, Jason’s DeBlog and his following on Twitter. (I could go all fangirl on how I feel this is an incredibly awesome use of social media in terms of community, conversation, and connections, but I won’t. Or did I just do that?)

One day back in July, the Good Question was How Does a Day Get Dedicated?. The Internets went all a-Twitter deciding that Minneapolis (no, the world!) needed a Jason DeRusha Day.

The rest is social-media-rocks-and-going-viral-is-for-lovers PURE GOLD; CityPages even did a great little summary of how the whole thing went down.  Check it out.

There was even a poster:

(via)

Anyway, momentum picked up and then this happened (click through for the details of the decree).

That’s right, Mayor R.T. Rybak/The City of Minneapolis declared September 21, 2009 as the official Jason DeRusha Day noting his active involvement with the community, volunteer services, and all-around likability.

So what did Jason do to commemorate this? Threw a party (see: likability) at a OM Minneapolis, a new restaurant on First Ave. and sent the donations and chunk of the proceeds to charity.

For he’s a jolly good fellow, indeed.

Ok, let’s bring this all back.

What did this mean for me?

Well, for one thing it means I finally got to meet Jason live! and in person!, as well as some other local folks I’d been following around Twitter and their blogs for quite awhile. I got to rub elbows with editors, food bloggers, reporters, and other local/social media folks (which to me, is like throwing a kid loose in a candy store where everything is chocolate-covered pretzels and sour patch kids and everything is free).

Conner and I discussed this on our way there, but the conversation kept resurfacing with all the party-goers as the night went on and the martinis were sipped:

Minneapolis-St. Paul effing rocks.

The social media scene here is growing – quickly – and it’s incredibly fun and exciting to be a part of. I can think of a handful of journalists and publications that are using platforms like Twitter, blogs, and Facebook fan pages in ways that actually ENGAGE the community, rather than just push their content at us.

The point I’m trying to make:

There are conversations happening between writers and reporters and the folks they’re writing and reporting about.  Our local magazines and radio stations are pointing us to interesting articles, pictures, concerts, quotes, contests, etc., that aren’t all their own and instead position them as a part of the same community that WE are (I am) a part of and invested in.

It’s a two-way conversation that’s linking people together. In my case, people that might have never been on my radar or that I might not have had the chance to interact with.

I’m a bright-eyed 20-something, and I’m really starting to explore and connect with my city in a more meaningful way. Having the insight from other active community members, explorers, foodies, musicheads, and rockstars has had a major impact in the way I move about here.

So, #DeRushaDay was a holiday and a party. But a holiday and a party that happened because folks in the Twin Cities get behind that kind of stuff and really blow it out.

I’m so glad I was a part of it, LOVED the chance to meet all the great people I did, and I look forward to Jason DeRusha Day 2010.

(thanks to @doughamlin, fellow GuacOff teammate and pal, for the pic!)

Tagged as: CBS, DeRushaDay, Jason DeRusha, Twin Cities, WCCO