Welcome to the Real Digital Underground

Fifteen years ago this week, the American army caught Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein hiding in an underground bunker -- also called a "spider hole." Nine months after the start of our ill-conceived invasion, the Butcher of Baghdad was still in hiding, moving around out of sight but not out of mind, staying underground as much as he could, and successfully evading capture -- until his luck ran out. Osama Bin Laden was a much more successful underground dweller, hiding out for almost a decade after 9/11 until he was found (not underground actually) and killed in Pakistan.

There's something scary but also exciting about the idea of an "underground" existence -- being  everywhere and nowhere, being alone but also free, being able to be who you want to be without anyone else rendering judgment. Being separated from a crazy, evil world, living on your own terms. Until, of course, your luck runs out. 

What does it mean to go "underground" or live in an "underworld"? How long can we do it -- before we get caught? 

My thoughts about what it means to be "underground" or in an "underworld" were further spurred when I read this article about a fellow NYC blogger who, for more than 25 years, has been producing a publication (first as a zine, then as a blog) about opera. He's a perfect example of someone who started out as an outsider, a troublemaker, an "underground" character, only to be embraced by the very people and world that, at first, would want nothing to do with him. The article says that his blog is still "underground" but, when you're featured in the Times and permitted access to a rarefied world, you are underground no longer. 

Except for once upon a time being linked to the New York Times now defunct City Room blog roll, Mr NYC has avoided any kind of mainstream, establishment attachment. Nary a magazine, a newspaper, an online publication, a TV or radio station, a podcast -- nothing! -- has corrupted this blog with any kind of attention. 

Detractors might say, it's because the blog sucks. Fans might say it's because Mr NYC is too good for, you know, Da' Man, The Squares, the bourgeoisie.

Either way, Mr NYC remains very much an "underground" phenomenon, adrift in the vast sea of the Internet, a digital secret -- like that great out-of-the-way neighborhood, or downstairs restaurant, or hole-in-the-wall bar (pick your analogy) that few people know about but, for those who do, they love it, cherish it, and hold it close. 

Mr NYC is probably the only thing in this city that isn't being colonized by money and attention -- and, for that, I expect you all to be very grateful. 

So, if you're a Mr NYC reader/detractor/fan/whatever, you have discovered the real digital underground, a real Internet spider-hole, an underworld all its own.

Congratulations! Enjoy your stay!