Student Blogger Has Huge Audience, Celebrities Included. Some Controversy, Too.
Loren Serritella may be one of over 13,000 students enrolled in HVCC. However, off campus, Serritella is a blogger who has amassed a weekly audience of thousands, including prominent celebrities, and has generated some controversy along the way. Serritella’s blog, which is on lorenserritella.com, discusses a variety of themes, including love and loss, and truths about society around him. The blogger said that his blog is raw and has language that might offend some readers. “The goal of my blog is to upset and get people to think,” said Serritella. “If I sound like a bad person, I’m just trying to get your attention.”
In addition to blogging about these themes, Seritella will include content such as videos and pictures. Serritella began blogging about a year ago, at the suggestion of a therapist as a means of coping with a host of personal issues. Serritella’s blogging career would reach a turning point with a series of legal issues concerning his blog. A family member had wanted the blog shut down citing issues of harassment and had taken Serritella to court. For several months, Serritella said he was involved in a court battle in which he was threatened with arrest. “They wanted to shut down my blog and I wasn’t going to let them do that,” said Serritella. “It violated my First Amendment rights.”
The case was eventually settled and Serritella would continue to blog. However, Serritella said that this situation garnered a great deal of attention online, and that was when his blog was put on the map. “People were shocked about this situation and they just followed the blog,” said Serritella. “That’s when I started getting thousands of viewers.” Later, the blog would get the attention of comedian and daytime talk show host, Ellen DeGeneres. In the wake of Whitney Houston’s death, Serritella posted a blog criticizing the public’s reaction to Whitney Houston’s death. “People were remembering Houston’s drug issues and ignoring her pure talent,” said the blogger. “It wasn’t right and I had to speak out about it.”
Serritella said that the blog had gotten significant feedback from his regular readers. He then sent it to over 50 celebrities he was connected to via Twitter. “I was checking my e-mail one day and I had received an e-mail with something like “edegeneres followed by a long list of numbers,” the blogger said. “I initially thought it was one of those spam e-mails, but I opened it up and there it was, a letter from Ellen DeGeneres.” According to Serritella, DeGeneres and the producers wanted him to speak on the daytime talk show. However, due to a series of issues regarding the production and airing of the show, he wasn’t able make an appearance. “It was kind of disappointing to not go on the show, however, I had gotten a bit of publicity from it,” said Serritella. “Often, I’ll have people telling me how my blog is great, or someone’s yelling at me about something I wrote.”
Taking classes at HVCC on a full scholarship and applying his experience with blogging, Serritella is currently looking into pursuing a degree in English, citing two English professors as his inspiration. “Joe Cardillo and Angel Surdin changed my point of view that writing can be powerful,” said Serritella, “and because of that, I want to pursue a career in writing.” While continuing his studies, Seritella says that he will continue to blog, as long as he has an audience willing to read it. “I really enjoy making people happy and pissing people off.”