* Note: This post came from a version of this blog that got lost in a server failure. It's been restored from old RSS feeds, Google caches and other sources. As such, the comments, links and associated media have been lost.

The program for the very first DjangoCon is up and my name is on it. And it's not a typo. I'm speaking at the very first DjangoCon.

My three reactions, in rough order:

1. I am so excited I can't even tell you.

2. I am so honored it's ridiculous.

3. I am so scared out of my freaking gourd it's not even funny.

You see, I still and probably always will think of myself as a reporter playing web developer. There's programmer journalists and journalist programmers. I feel like a third group: Journalist making it up as he goes, learning by failing a lot, hoping no one notices. I only started doing Django development a little over a year ago. And now I'm going to be speaking on Django in the newsroom to a group of developers waaaaay smarter than I am?

Am I nuts?

Then I got to thinking about it a bit. I am living proof of why Django is so efffing brilliant.

The framework is a work of genius because crazy smart people can do crazy smart things with it. If you know what you are doing, you can bend light with it (I don't think "import blackhole" is documented yet though).

But what makes Django an even greater work of art is that knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, not-very-good journalism graduates from small midwestern states (ahem) can learn just enough to build something they can be proud of.

So I'm going to DjangoCon, and I'm going to be surrounded by people who have, just this week, forgotten more about programming than I have ever known. The Crazy Smart People Doing Crazy Smart Things faction will be well represented. I'm going to fly the flag for users like me, the ones who are impressed with Django because it lets people like me get into the web development game.