The 'soul' in this context is a general term you could use for the same 'soul' of any other city - that has it. This is not meant in a religious way because South Shore Media is completely non-denominational - as we all come from, and will eventually return to the same place. A world-class city like Chicago did not rise simply because it has a great view of Lake Michigan. It takes the collective effort of its people over generations to make it what it is. Its soul cannot be defined by a single neighborhood, it's financial district, or art history. It's anything and everything that gives it personality. As ignorance breeds more ignorance, it is not simply enough to exist, you must also recognize the existance. When the activities of a modern society go unnoticed, unreported, and undocumented, how do you know if it is improving or declining? How do you know how to make it better? To have 'soul' as a local community, it must first have a personality that effectively serves its inhabitants, and as the sense of introspection is developed, the soul grows to encompass greater ideals. Never take the soul for granted however, as it can be lost in a generation. Stagnation offers zero promise, so the only way for hope is to never stop striving for better - this takes each and every one of us. I hope this helps you to understand my concept.

For the savvy internet users of today, you may have picked up how our communicating through the internet is altering not only the English language, but quite possibly every other modern language out there. A society's usage of language is not defined by a dictionary, but the dictionary is a reflection of how we use language. It in a way makes sense to take a word or phrase and modify it for shorthand or contextual use. Whether you were born here, migrated, or are just visiting, as you travel the globe and see that which reminds you of this humble place you just might think to yourself "That is sooo Michigan City!".

I can't speak for other cities, but when it comes to Michigan City, that is a definate NO. There are some informational niche sites, but they have nowhere near the expansiveness of subject matter we will eventually offer. If you're that curious I will list those that I feel have the closest match.

Michigan City Live! - Back when So!MC was just an idea I came across a poster for this site at Stadium Inn as I did my Coffee Bytes deliveries. I immediately called the number on the site excited someone had a similar vision to my own. After offering recommendations for improving it and being told there wasn't any 'work' for me to do, I began formulating all that you see here.
WeAreMC - This site has been around for awhile, but even the operators admit better options are available like just creating an account on Facebook. They have a calender with nothing in it and a forum with almost no recent posts. Time for something new.
eMichiganCity - Perhaps the oldest Michigan City informational site I can think of, there is a lot of stuff here. An expansive calender of events, lots of pages, long history, and the designation of being the official website of the city - which has the potential to offer unparalleled access to city data. We need to work on making our city data even more accessible.
The News-Dispatch - Do they need an introduction? Ok, maybe their website does. I go there myself on a regular basis and it's ok for local articles, but usually not my desired subject matter. So!MC is striving to be so much more however, and I'm even interested to see how they react. Not only that, but there are broken links, empty classifieds, and they have outsourced many local duties of a newspaper to national services that all behave differently and have no real connection to Michigan City. Yes, So!MC outsources, but each case is based on quality of service and content. When there are no local alternatives or it isn't necessary to reinvent, we generally involve the same company - Google.
ALCo - (Access LaPorte County) This is a nice looking site that showcases area events and civic meetings in audio/visual form. That's pretty much it, since at present it doesn't look like they're envisioning to be anything more so it looks like their functionality will remain stagnant. Fine with me.
City By The Lake - This is nothing but a message board. Lots of interesting topics come up and you might find something new, or someone to chat with, but a message board is likely all it will ever be.

For publicly available information like crime reports or lottery numbers there should be little issue. Similarly, for the established news outlets whose headlines and brief descriptions are aggregated, no loss of visitors will be experienced. We do not host ANY news connected to the feeds on our servers. All the feeds come straight from Google, and clicking on a desired story will take you directly to the publisher's page. What they do with your attention after that is out of our control. South Shore Media will be alert to all new aggregation laws and will fully comply with any mandates. For Michigan City specifically, we hope to one day produce enough original local content to not be so reliant on feeds.

There were many things that happened on a personal level leading up to it. During the latter chain of events, there was this:

 

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Accompanied by this:

 

eMichiganCity.com - A New Era

 

Then this: