I was nominated by Carol Larson over at Tall Girl Tales to receive this award, and it's fun to get the tap on the virtual shoulder. Mostly it's a hoot to have the excuse to peruse the other nominees and track back through other's blogs to find some real gems. Of course Carol is one of my regular reads -- she is honest, talented, wrestles with many of the same issues that I find wrapped around my brain. (Please Carol, use up the stuff, but don't give up making your beautiful art cloth.)
If I had all the time in the world, I might do nothing else except read great blog posts. Alas, the real world interrupts! But this award was a great excuse to take do some recreational virtual sight-seeing. Like to see these rainy day photos from Rayna Gillman, absorb these practices for being present from Jeanne Beck, and throw up my hands at the wild and wonderful rants from Lauri Smith, a former (and I hope future) participant at El Cielo (and you think you have an excuse for not blogging) and well, a lot of other eye, brain and soul candy.
I have been reading more and more that "the blog is dead" -- seems like the corporate/collaborative blog has taken over the field, with those like Huffington Post taking the top traffic and top readership awards. Not that I ever aspired to do more than keep tabs on my own work, remind myself of what's important, stay in touch with friends and family with a slightly more formal stance and a bit more care in the writing than the run-of-mailbox email. But I still think the blog has a place in our creative, social and collective culture online. (So does Seth Godin, by the way, and if anyone is a blogger to emulate, it's Seth). Tweeting on Twitter is fun, but you can't really say much in one sentence!
I find that it's difficult to write some weeks, but I try to manage a tiny post, or at least a picture. Sometimes I need to stretch out and make long theoretical posts and deep-swimming pool philosophical diatribes. Sometimes it's just fun to have a place to record successes, completions, challenges and goals, and share them with an audience of more than the kitchen table. I love writing a blog and don't plan to give it up, even if the trend is overrun, overwrought, commercialized and co-opted.
As a nominee:
1. The winner may put the logo on her blog. (done)
2. Put a link to the person you got the award from in your blog (done)
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to the blogs. (below)
5. Leave a message for your nominees.
Here are my nominees:
Lauri Smith at Artsmith, because she needs to keep writing, kidney stone or no kidney stone. And her last post is about the funniest thing I've ever read by someone who's just dodged the big one. And also because she is young, and mostly I read stuff by people mine own age.
Jane Dunnewold for her new image-a-day blog. Eye candy (and food for thought) indeed. And anyone who has ever taken a class from Jane knows why her brain and eye are worth following around.
The collective posts at RAGGED CLOTH CAFE. Thought provoking, always. Wisdom-provoking often. Probably won't pass along this award as that's not the kind of place it is, but I wanted to put the link here anyway!
Sabrina Zarca's political creativity and textural art. "Sometimes creativity comes in different forms. The art of organizing and standing in solidarity in the face of injustice is an art form worth perfecting! "
And finally, Serena Fenton's Layers of Meaning. Says it all.
Not all of these folks (most of them actually, except for Jane's daily practise) post daily or even weekly. But when they do, it's almost always worth reading. And, as you can see, I like the glimpses into worlds different from my own, the stretch and pull from outer limits that don't fall across my usual path. If I didn't read these blogs, I probably wouldn't have the richness of ponderings that I do!