Kevin Winge: Executive Director, Open Arms of Minnesota

Kevin Winge: Executive Director, Open Arms of Minnesota—"A native of Minnesota, Winge has lived in New York, Boston, and Cape Town, South Africa. He is the executive director of Open Arms of Minnesota, a non-profit organization that provides nutritious meals to people living with diseases. A recipient of Bush Foundation Leader Fellowship, Winge obtained a master’s degree in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. He continued his fellowship in South Africa establishing programs for people living with HIV/AIDS there. Winge travels to South Africa several times a year, working with people living with HIV/AIDS in the townships outside of Cape Town. He is the author of "Never Give Up: Vignettes from Sub-Saharan Africa in the Age of AIDS.""

How did you get involved in the community? Were you asked to join by editors at the Star Tribune, or was there some kind of application process?
I received a call from Rhonda Prast at the Star Tribune and was asked to join the group of bloggers.

Do you get paid to post? How often do you post?
No, there is no payment for the posts. We were asked to blog a minimum of once a week. I post a bit more often than that.

Are you given specific topics to blog about?
Not often. I think since the Star Tribune started Your Voices we've been asked - as a group - to blog on a specific topic four times.

What do you think are the benefits of posting?
The benefits for me are mostly personal. The blog holds me accountable for writing - since I have to post once a week. What most intrigued me about Your Voices, however, is the opportunity to share my thoughts and opinions on all kinds of issues. With my work as a director of a nonprofit organization, I tend to write on a smaller universe of topics directly related to my career. This allows me the space to think and write on different issues.

Do you blog outside of the Your Voices blog? If not, why did you want to join this blogging community?
I have a work blog where I tend to share postings directly or indirectly related to may work.

Do you think there are any professional conflicts to your posting? In other words, do you think the views expressed in your posts should be seen separately from the views of your employer? Why or why not? Do you think readers can differentiate between the two views?
Yes, I believe there are professional conflicts to my postings. It is a challenging line to walk between that as an individual and that of my role as a director of a nonprofit. And there are conflicts. In my role of nonprofit director, I strive to be bipartisan. Of course I have partisan opinions. Sometimes I share those opinions on Your Voices, but sometimes my postings are not as strong as they would be if I didn't take the nonprofit I work for into account. At the same time, I realize that my role of director of a nonprofit is - at least partially - what has given me a platform in this community in the first place. The general reader of Your Voices do not differentiate - in my opinion - between the two views. Based on what people have said to me, they see see my blogging for the Strib the same as my professional role.

Do your posts get edited by someone at the Star Tribune?
My posts have never been edited. I don't know if that is the same for all bloggers.

I saw that the comments are moderated. Do you think more people would post comments if they weren't approved before being published?
I don't believe so. Based on the comments that people do post - and some comments I have received through my work e-mail - I believe that readers will post comments whether they are moderated or not. Also, it is much easier to post comments anonymously than it is to be one of the community bloggers.

Do you see the community as an important addition to traditional journalism/newspapers?
No, I don't. I'm not even sure that the community blogger feature is a good thing. I am a fan of newspapers. I don't read online versions of newspapers. I have the Star Tribune and the New York Times delivered to my home. I fear that daily newspapers will become obsolete in my lifetime. I balance that, however, with a desire to keep up with technology and changes. It doesn't do any good to simply bemoan the decline in traditional journalism and newspaper and not attempt to keep abreast with changes that are coming - whether I want them or not.

What do you think makes you unique from the other bloggers?
I don't know that I am unique. I assume, though never had a conversation with the Strib about this, that one of the reasons I was asked to join Your Voices was to bring a gay perspective to some issues. (I'm most pleased with some of my postings that have a LGBT angle to them.) I also spend a bit of time every year on the African continent and the Strib told me that a local person's perception on international issues might be of interest to some readers.

(bio, photo courtesy Star Tribune)