Jesse's Blog: Site Update& Downton Abbey Fun in New York City!

Site Update from Chief Editor Jesse Parent

Holiday greetings you and yours!

I've been receiving many questions about jpinfluence.com and other elements of what we're doing here, and I'm appreciative of the interests. For now, I'll share that we're still working on the new website, but I'm very pleased with the progress and think it will be a great medium for what we're trying to do here - and more fully embody the vision of what I set out to do years ago: have a place on the internet to discuss the important issues of our time.

I'm appreciative to all those I've been working with to make this happen, and look forward to new contributors helping out with content and ideas. Hopefully within the next week and a half, the new website and content streams will be up and running. More details about internship and columnist positions will be made public after the launch of the new website - I'm very much excited at how everything will look there!

Finally, on a fun note, I'll be in New York City today for an early screening of PBS's excellent show, Downton Abbey! I believe I will be fortunate enough to have a discussion with some of the cast, too, which will be wonderful. For those who don't know, I've been a huge fan of PBS ever since I saw television. Reading Rainbow is one of my all-time favorites, along with Wishbone, Carmen Sandiego, Sesame Street, Mr Rogers - and then all of their news shows, and Frontline!, and NOVA.... so many Masterpiece Theater classics, and now captivating, historically intriguing dramas like Downton Abbey. So much great content, and so important to me - especially growing up, as I didn't have cable (or internet, 'way back then'), and wasn't close to a lot of libraries/etc much of the time, so PBS was my source for intellectual stimulation.

Check out more from PBS online or on Facebook, such as this great photo pst from their FB page! (Click on the link or the photo for more details). There will also be a live stream at 8PM EST on YouTube.