My writing tends to have a read-between-the-lines style. Many get it, and I was reminded recently that some don’t. So today I will be as clear as a San Diego/Santa Ana day. This is about journalism and its many flavors, be it citizen blogger or professionally trained student of the medium. It is about authority and responsibility, and about how the two don’t always coexist. It is about the learning curveballs that technology and our new ways of socializing have thrown us, and about how we are reacting to them.

All of us are living in a time of turbulence and uncertainty. What started as a housing crisis has evolved (or perhaps revealed itself) as something much deeper and far-reaching. There is little joy in Mudville. From my industry to yours, from high-income, white-collar executive to small-business owner, to employee to unemployed, we are all wound a little tight right now. None of us are immune to higher prices at the pump or at the "10 items or less" checkout line. None of us are untouched by the economic realities of what the experts call a once-in-a-decade event. We are all living in an emotional pressure cooker, and it tends to wear on us.

"When you aren’t feeling normal, do something normal." These are words I tend to live by and, today, they seem to carry greater weight.

So it was that this past week an article of mine was published that was, in retrospect, ill-timed. On the other hand, one could argue that it perfectly timed. It was admittedly "fluffy" given the dark cloud we have been living under lately, yet I tend to see a trip to normalcy as just what the doctor prescribed. Yes, we are in the throes of a pivotal presidential election; we are being bombarded by news of the impending collapse of our banking system; and we are being reminded daily of the delicate balance in which our financial and personal security hangs. Meanwhile, I committed the grievous crime of carelessly talking about something else entirely. I wrote about using this slower market as an opportunity to retool and revamp my business systems. Oh, and I wrote about dust bunnies.

"Blasphemy! What about WaMu?" Consequently, I was accused by at least one reader of being a monumental "waste of cyberspace." It was that one statement that got me thinking about where we are and what we have become with our new rules of social engagement. It also got me thinking about my right (and yours) to share ideas in this modern-day forum and the attendant responsibilities of our broader stage.

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So, I can’t tell you exactly what it will mean to long-term consumer spending when two-year Treasury notes drop by a basis point. What I can tell you is that I really like DocuSign and the AmongUs widget, and I can tell you that I haven’t realized any return on my Zillow EZ Ads investments (as much as I love the concept). I can tell you that 12 people who came through our open house last Sunday aren’t buying because of market jitters or financing difficulties and that my clients are having a harder time getting financing this week. I can tell you that home prices are down, that my business and living costs are up, and that emotions are running high. I am not a Harvard Business School professor, I am not a National Association of Realtors economist, and I am not a former equities trader. But I generally know wood rot when I see it, I can write contract terms to best protect my clients’ interests, and I can spot an over- or underpriced listing in my market a mile away. And I know the issues with which agents struggle every day, because they are my struggles, as mundane as they may seem to some.

I spent my first 10 prime earning years as an engineer and the last 11 as a real estate agent. Ironically, it is my daughter who is studying journalism with the sole intent of unseating Anderson Cooper. It is through her that I was introduced to Walter Williams’ Journalist Creed. Since we all find ourselves to be honorary journalists today, I will share my two favorite lines:

  • "I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true."
  • "I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman."

Our new social medium has empowered us all, and therein lies the responsibility. We have a responsibility when we post, and I would hope that we recognize that same responsibility when we comment. There are plenty of other books to read if you don’t like this story. At least this one is nonfiction.

Kris Berg is a real estate broker associate for Prudential California Realty in San Diego. She also writes a consumer-focused real estate blog, The San Diego Home Blog.

***

What’s your opinion? Leave your comments below or send a letter to the editor. To contact the writer, click the byline at the top of the story.

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