I’m going to let you in on a little secret, which I have cleverly kept completely, utterly concealed from the world: I am very fond of Kat’s blog. Have been ever since I read her post on Hopi corn. And pleasantly enough, that blog crush has turned into a close friendship, which I suppose some of you might have guessed about the time I drove 800 miles to visit her. It’s rare that one finds a soul just quite so kindred. Over the last few months we’ve remarked perhaps a hundred times on how spooky our similarities in interests are. It’s a lovely thing.
But it creates a dilemma. The part of me that is Kat’s close friend slash improbable doppelgänger slash adoptive uncle is thrilled that she is about to spend five months offline in a Zen monastery in the woods. What an opportunity for reflection! And at a perfect time, too, directly after graduation from college. Her doppelgänger is envious. But the blog-crushing guy is nervous. We’ve talked idly about her writing a letter or two over the summer for me to post on her blog, but what do I do with the extra half hour a day that I usually spend seeing if she’s posted something new, then re-reading it three times?
What am I going to read instead?
I need your help. Tell me what blogs I should read while Kat’s at the Zenastery. They need not be gemlike literary nature musings written by women in the desert southwest, though I can certainly never get enough of those. Maybe you know of a well-written power tool weblog by some guy in New Jersey, or a horse blog from Uttar Pradesh. Maybe you’ve found a political blog that’s different in some notable way from the 100,000 other political blogs I read every day. Maybe you’ve been looking for an excuse to flog your own blog. Whatever.
Give me suggestions, people.
Update
Suggested so far:
One Robe, One Bowl
Pesky Apostrophe
Girls Are Pretty
CosmicVariance (already on the blogroll)!
Darn tootin’
Beloved monster and me
Diabetes notes
Pursuing praxis
botanizing
Spots_of_Time
State of Grace
Octopus’ Garden
Barista
Laputan Logic
Sternezine
Open Brackets
Trouble Waits
Preemptive Karma
Cocktail Party Physics
Inky Circus
One Word
Simply Wait
Punkassblog
Keep ‘em coming!
http://robeandbowl.blogspot.com/
Do you read Soen Joon Sunim? She blogs from a Zen Nunnery in Korea, where she’s recently received ordination—eloquent & smart as a whip. She walks the walk. And I have a sneaking suspicion she’ll be back in America someday rocking the political boat.
I like this young lady: Pesky Apostrophe http://www.peskyapostrophe.com/
She writes about knitting sometimes, and while I’m not interested in that, it’s neat to see the stuff she’s making from scratch.
But usually she writes about politics, life, funny stuff that happens at her job, all in an open, slightly cutting, tone. She describes her cubicle at work as a “veal pen,” for instance, and one of her coworkers who habitually wears overly revealing clothing is Wet Panties Girl. Her husband is Mr. Fish, and one of the departments at work is the I Can Kill Puppies Too division.
Oh, yargh, also while you have all this free-from-favorite-blog time, you might consider READING AT LEAST ONE OF THE SAMPLE CHAPTERS I’VE SENT YOU.
Nudge, nudge.
Or you could feed my trolls.
I go to http://girlsarepretty.com every day and am told what to do.
You do read Cosmic Variance do you not???? If not do so please and add your commentary to the conversations. One of their bloggers lives across the Bay (and south) of you, running the linear collider at Stanford.
Visit CosmicVariance!
Rob Rummel-Hudson’s journal-now-blog is among my favorites. A little over 2 years ago, he and his wife discovered that their daughter has Congenital Bilateral Perisylvian Syndrome, a brain malformation that will prevent her from ever being able to speak. He writes about parenting a child with a disorder that no one knows much about, online support phenomena, life in Texas, writing, photography, and a host of other things.
His journal, which covers the last several years up to about mid-March 2006 is at:
http://www.darn-tootin.com
And more recently, he’s been blogging at:
http://belovedmonsterandme.blogspot.com/
And, since he himself was recently diagnosed with diabetes:
http://www.diabetesnotes.com/
You could read mine, if you like. I just found yours, and I like it immensely. I promise nothing in the way of genres or concrete topics or systematic musings. The only words that might unite the meanderings of my blog are: mind, me, and philosophy-of-me. I’m on a quest - and quests are messy - but I don’t mind lookers-on.
http://praxical.blogsome.com.
The only words that might unite the meanderings of my blog are: mind, me, and philosophy-of-me.
So you’ve taken my blog mission and added “mind” to it, eh? Interesting.
Huh. I’d forgotten until I read CMD’s comment above that it was her who’d turned me on to RHH’s stuff. Thanks, CMD!
(apologies if this appears twice: for some reason when I submitted it, the comment vanished).
Anyway, two blogs I think deserve wider attention are Larry’s botanizing and Debbie’s Spots_of_Time. I find both to be erudite, thoughtful, and very well written.
State of Grace
Octopus’ Garden. I only found it today but I recommend it anyway.
And it’s only four months. You’ll be okay.
You couldn’t do better than Barista.
Laputan Logic is also a joy. (Check out this wonderful post starting with the famous refusal of british scientists to accept that the platypus was real, and segueing into little-known facts about mermaids)
Sternezine is a personal/political blog which makes me shake jellylike with laughter.
I don’t have any particular suggestion to add, but I do want to thank you for turning me on to Kat’s blog, because it’s great. I’m bummed that she’s taking a break, and I just found her! At least I can peruse the archives while she’s at the monastery.
Open Brackets
It’s a nice gesture, to invite people to share their work, and I am enjoying UP! I enjoy affirming work but will pimp my angry blog anyway, which I wrote during an angry at the world period. The Austin Chronicle reviewed it and came away with the impression “one dram could dissolve the gates of hell.” So it’s not for everyone, but
those who endure seem significantly impacted.
http://www.troublewaits.com
If i could find the blogroll i would not have suggested Cosmic Variance, since it was on there. Another of my favorites is Preemptive Karma, a more local Portland and Oregon blog but hosts at least one voice from Alabama. Find them at: http://preemptivekarma.com/
and if they are on your blogroll already too, well then i retire in appreciation of your good tastes.
Since Cosmic Variance is already on the blogroll, I’ll plump for Cocktail Party Physics and inkycircus:
http://twistedphysics.typepad.com/cocktail_party_physics/
http://www.inkycircus.com/jargon/
One Word and Simply Wait - two accomplished writers who have a light touch and take the blog form seriously.
http://punkassblog.com/
And how in blazes is a body supposed to read all this good writing?