Blog Talk

Friday, September 5, 2008

At the Republican National Convention, you can't swing a messenger bag without hitting a blogger; the place is lousy with them. Here's one worth clicking on.

Your blog: Pro-Life Pulse, born May 2005, at JillStanek.com.

Your real job: a former registered nurse, now a full-time blogger.

Your blogger name, and why:"Everyone knows me by Jill Stanek."

Other deets:52, married with three kids and four grandsons, lives in Mokena, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.

First things first -- you quit your job as a nurse to blog?

Not exactly. I was a registered nurse for eight years and I got fired from my job because I was very vocal in my opposition to abortion. In short, I had to switch gears. I was asked to speak a lot, expressing what had happened at work and my pro-life views. A couple of years later I started a column on a news site. Then I started blogging.

So what's up with your blog name?

It's a play on words. I'm a nurse, and I try to keep my finger on the pulse of the pro-life movement. I'm not a member of any pro-life group, by the way. I consider myself a citizen journalist and I try to blog honestly not only on what the other side is doing but our side is doing -- and not doing.

And you were in Denver, at the Democratic National Convention?

[Laughs.] Yes! [Laughs.] I was, like, one of two conservative bloggers out of 500 bloggers at the Big Tent, where all the bloggers were. Two out of 500!

A conservative, pro-life blogger at the DNC . . .

I know! I was not sure how I would be treated, but people were very nice. The guy in charge of the Big Tent sought me out every day wondering if I was okay. I got into minor disagreements with some people, but it never turned into blows.

It's as if you're either for abortion rights or against it. Isn't there, like, a big gray area?

No, there isn't. That's what the other side is having a hard time coming to grips with. They want to come to a meeting of the minds. But we respect life from conception on. There is no way to compromise on this. We're in it to win.

What do you make of Bristol Palin's pregnancy?

Well, it happens.

But what about the fact that, as governor, Sarah Palin cut funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers?

I don't think that's true. I just started to read this morning that that's a false assertion, so I'm not even going to speculate on an answer . . .

But it's been proved true . . .

Look, Sarah Palin and her husband are trying to raise a Christian family, trying to extend their values to their kids. Her daughter made a mistake. I got pregnant when I was 19. I got married when I was 4 1/2 months pregnant. And here's another thing: You have to really respect McCain. I wasn't really excited about him until he made this choice. He took a gamble -- and not just with picking a conservative from Alaska. The gamble was knowing, ahead of time, that Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter was pregnant.

How about Palin's speech last night?

Magnificent. It was just magnificent.

-- Jose Antonio Vargas