Annotated Blog Roll

Annotated Blogroll

Here is my complete blog roll, all of them of interest to me. Updated February 2008. My thumbnail introductions will, I hope, pique your curiosity; don’t take any views expressed too much to heart…

• Lorelle on WordPress — a really useful blog about blogging: “Helping you learn more about blogging and WordPress every day with help, tips, advice, and techniques for blogging and using WordPress, and WordPress.com. The blogging help you need. Now.”
• …in the outer… — a Christian blog with originality and cross-cultural dimensions: “…the phrase describes my experience of being far removed from the footy action, standing, as it were “in the outer” each season as I watch from afar my favorite team battle it out over there in faraway continent. In a very real sense, though, the phrase also describes the deeper aspects of my life: culturally, socially and even spiritually.” Asian Australian in America. The blog name derives from AFL football. [Inactive since March 2007.]
• //re:generative divergence — “my own wrestling and journeying with life, God, ministry and the church.” Another Christian blog.
• 3 Quarks Daily — this is one classy site, a definite 10/10. Not Christian.
• Adrift — “I left Australia in Nov 1999 to start my big adventure, beginning with a move to the UK. At 27yo I was getting quite vexed by the fact that I’d never been out of Australia. So I decided to go. 6 months later I had the ticket and had sold almost everything I owned. I landed at Heathrow on 1 Dec 1999, and haven’t regretted much at all. Mum’s getting frustrated - told her I’d be away for about 5 years and it’s heading on to 8 now. But I’m not done yet.”
• Ahmad Shuja: MyScribbles: Write-ups of an Afghan — quiet lately. He is now in the USA. Ahmad is around 20 years old, aspires to a career in journalism, lives in Pakistan and is an Afghan Hazari. The blog is quite wonderful.
• Aluminium — a young recently married English teacher in regional NSW, and an old Diary-X mate. A very personal and honest blog about daily life mainly.
• Aman Yala — “a gay Greek-American musician in search of a hamam” says it all really. Very intelligent blog and visually striking. No longer active:
  

  In reality, I don’t really know who’s still reading. Therefore, I’m writing this final post for myself, for some closure; however, if I can give closure to any remaining loyal readers, so much the better. Perhaps I’ve always been writing primarily for myself. This blog has been a valuable tool for me, not just to vent and voice an opinion, but as an exercise in writing and self-expression. I began it on a lark after returning home from a failed adoption attempt in Ukraine in the fall of 2005, and it turned into a fun and stimulating outlet for me. — Thursday, September 27

• AnonymousLefty (the real one) — mainly on Australian politics.
• AntBlog701 — Antony is an IT person extraordinaire, with a strange obsession with Channel 7 and a less strange obsession with Macs.
• Baghdad Burning — Riverbend fled Baghdad for Syria in September 2007; she tends to tell us the truth about Baghdad, where most of the blog was written. This blog is justly famous.
• Benjamin Solah — far more left than I am, or than most people really, Benjamin also gives us a view from the south-western Sydney suburbs we should heed at times. He is also an aspiring writer.
• Beyond Homophobia: Gregory Herek — in action again, but last post December 2007. Full of useful articles on sexual orientation, prejudice, science, and policy
• Blogcritics.org — often interesting.
• Blogger on the Cast Iron Balcony — “a fortysomething mother of two, which might lie idle for a while sometimes. The blog, that is.” Oz Blog.
• Book of Sand — Gender: Female Occupation: PhD Candidate
• BryanBoy: le superstar fabuleux — outrageous Asian queen, but you can’t help being drawn in.
• C’est Moi Political Blog — very thoughtful perspectives on US life and politics. Now on a shiny new site.
• Club Troppo — various in its range, but mostly on Australian politics.
• Courting Destiny — “I’m Pia Savage. I’m a city girl, and unapologetically blog to the edge.”
• Creative Spark — “I live and work in Singapore, though I’m originally from Australia. I’ve been here for 6 years, so in some ways I’m culturally acclimatised, though many would argue that you never really fully absorb a culture and I feel that’s true. Many aspects of me are very Singaporean, some definitely aren’t. I’ve never been an “expatriate” in Singapore. I came here and I’ve lived here on local terms.”
• Daddy, Papa and Me — “a two dad family with adopted child(ren), transracial, Christian and so much more” deep in the heart of mid-western USA. Supports Barack Obama for 2008.
• Danny Yee — not exactly a blog though it does include one. “…Eurasian by descent (my father is second generation Cantonese Chinese, my mother was born in Germany), but was socialised as ‘Australian’ (whatever that means) and might even qualify as ‘Jewish’ (my mother’s mother’s mother was a Polish Jew).”
• Denys: Homo Homo Sapien — “I am a guy (early forties) whose awareness of reality stops me from being the idealist I would like to be. Although I do believe in social equity and economic justice and I care deeply about the environment and what we humans are doing to it..”
• Desert Star — Bob Innes: includes some first-rate autobiographical posts, politics, and Aboriginal life and culture. Quiet in 2008 so far.
• Deus Lo Vult — written by a Sydney Uni student and Rabbit acquaintance from south-western Sydney. The blog persona may sometimes seem a touch supercilious, some might think — tone is a very tricky and subjective thing, but the blog is lively, various, and often very funny. Seriously good on movies and cricket. Lately he has been very impressive on US politics.
• esoterically.net/weblog — “My name is Len. My last name is on a need-to-know, so if you need to know contact me. I live in Dallas, Texas with my partner of 30 years. I am a liberal Democrat. I started this weblog in April, 2002 mainly just to see if I could. It took a political turn because of the crappy job George W. Bush and the Republicans were doing of running our country. I knew George would do a crappy job — he did a crappy job as our governor, too.” All for Obama.
• Easy-Writer: Kanani — Kanani Fong, a writer in California, published here in Oz by Lonely Planet. “Greetings, Kanani. You are one damned fine writer. Keep it up and stretch out to other areas. There’s got to be a book in you.” - Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Al Martinez.
• Eteraz — very non-fanatical Muslim commentary. “I call my God ‘Allah’ and believe in the equality of all people.” A great blog.
• Five Public Opinions — obsesses about “fundies” a bit much, in my view, and far more pomo than I am, but is staunchly antihomophobic and often very perceptive. Covers quite a variety of topics, cricket not least. NOW ON WORDPRESS!
• Foetid Air and Gritty on WordPress — a trainee Science teacher in Sydney and a denizen of the Oxford Street scene; his reflections on that are disarmingly self-mocking at times. Quiet so far in 2008.
• GetUp! Blogs — activism of a kind I generally support.
• Gus at Volacious.net “By day I work as a Broadcast Engineer in the television industry, and am also finishing off an Engineering degree in Telecommunications [Sydney], with a degree in Commerce thrown in for good measure. On the side … I’m a keen glider pilot…” Cute too.
• Heathlander: Jamie Stern-Weiner “The Heathlander Online delivers important news to your faces.” Intelligent analysis from a left perspective by a very intelligent guy of Jewish background in the UK. Not a fan of the Israeli government. More of a fan of Hamas than I would ever be.
• Hoarded Ordinaries: Dr. Lorianne DiSabato. It can take a while for this blog to download but it is worth it. “Borrowing a phrase from writer Annie Dillard, Lorianne often describes herself as being “spiritually promiscuous.” Raised Catholic, Lorianne was “born again” as an undergraduate student in Toledo, Ohio; soon afterward, she taught herself how to meditate at an evangelical Bible camp. After graduating and spending a year as a Catholic campus minister, Lorianne moved to Boston, where she received her M.A. in English literature from Boston College and took Zen Buddhist precepts through the international Kwan Um School of Zen.” Each beautful entry makes you see that much more clearly. Moved to WordPress May 2007!
• iMuslim — a Muslim woman in the UK, a graduate Science student and a very gracious person too. Worried about women in head scarves? Then read iMuslim. — 28 May 2006: iMuslim is going into hiatus to pursue her studies, among other things. I hope she does return… 2008: she has.
• Indigo Jo — also Muslim and also in the UK. “In which an unemployed graduate has an excuse to use his politics degree. Religious, tech and media issues (and anything I fancy).”
• Infinite Wisdom — Political Views and Interesting Tidbits from the USA. Independent mind.
• Iraq Blog Count — a very interesting ongoing list with notes.
• James O’Brien — another Surry Hills blog.
• Jeanette Winterson’s columns — famous Lesbian writer from the UK.
• Jim Belshaw’s Personal Reflections — Jim’s experience in business and the public service and his careful habits of mind make this intelligently conservative Australian blog a must read.
• Jim Wallis and friends — evangelicals but not rabid fundies or Bushites. Yes, it is possible, even desirable.
• John Baker — good UK crime fiction writer whose blog covers a range of things, but is mostly literary. There is an excellent ongoing theme on writing there.
• LEFT is RIGHT (blogging against The Bush-war) — a voice from the American majority.
• Life is a street car named Desire — expatriate Indian who covers a whole range, often with humour.
• Legal Eagle’s Legal Soapbox — what with Marcel’s Stumbling on Melons and Irfan Yusuf, I seem to be developing a thing about lawyers! Now at the shared blog Skeptic Lawyer.
• Living Poetry (excellent) — “a graduate student in Writing and Literature with a passion for postmodern poetry.” USA. [No longer active.]
• Madhab al-Irfy (Irfan Yusuf) — Sydney-based lawyer, occasional lecturer in politics at Macquarie University, freelance columnist. In this blog he focuses on Muslim matters.
• Man of Lettuce: Sydney Cabbie Blog — I may not always agree with Adrian, but I always learn from him. A right wing blog with heart, very Sydney and very Australian.
• Matilda: Australian Literary Blog — Perry Middlemiss has been maintaining an ever-expanding Australian literature website since 1996. This keeps you up to date on OzLit.
• Mike in Tasmania — a fellow refugee from Diary-X, Mike runs a quietly personal blog that is well worth visiting.
• Natalie Davis: All Facts and Opinions — “to help make a better, cleaner, fairer, safer planet where all are equal under law.”
• norrie’s blog: I who may well be… — “Queer Anarchist Hippy Hindu Bhuddhist Tantrika Taoist Christian Yogini” and genuine transexual. norrie (no capitals) is currently campaigning against all those who offer M/F as the only choices — like MySpace and YouTube. A friend to many in the Immigration Detention Centre at Villawood too.
• Opinions Of A 21st Century Kashmiri Nomad — the Nomad really is a Kashmiri: “If you think that Islam is evil then that is your problem…” Well worth reading as a counter to media representations of Islam. Sometimes combative, but opposes all terrorism.
• Pacific Highlander — Duncan Macleod is a Uniting Church minister in Queensland with a host of varied interests.
• Patriotic Intellect — attempts to demonstrate that patriotic Americans don’t have to lobotomise themselves. Nothing since August 2007.
• Queer Penguin — left-leaning Sydney 20-something gay blogger and regular columnist in the Sydney gay press.
• Radical Druid: Poet — “John Litzenberg (AKA Greybeard Dances) [right]. I am a poet and musician who moonlights as Director of Technology for a Seattle-based information technology and project management consulting firm by day.” New site “dyslexic begonias”.
• Renegade Eye in Minneapolis. “This blog is secular and socialist; influenced politically by Leon Trotsky, musically by Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Johnny Cash, and the tango music of Astor Piazzolla and Carlos Gardel, artistically by Pablo Picasso and Carlos Paez Vilaro.” Substantial left wing blog.
• Rex Miller Millenium Matrix blog — Location: Southlake : Texas : United States. A futurist who has written a very good book on the church in a pomo world. Quiet since September 2007.
• Seeking Utopia with which I have had my differences, but it was always well written and often brave, has undergone Reincarnation.
• Senator Andrew Bartlett Web Diary — “to make the political process more open and accessible to people.” Senator [no longer -- at least not after June 2008] Bartlett still writes very well from the inside about Australian politics. He is a member of a threatened species — honest politicians the Australian Democrats. Unfortunately, Andrew Bartlett was not returned in the November 2007 election. The blog goes on.
• Shalom — occasional blog by a woman of around my age in Sydney.
• Simon Bedak — “Simon Bedak is now a 40 year old cattle-man from the Riverina region of Australia, who grew up in Sydney. Simon attended NIDA, SBHS, Waverley Coll., Holy Cross Junior School and Temple Emmanuel Kindergarten. With a couple of mates, Simon adapted the hilarious John Birmingham book “He Died with a Felafel in His Hand” to become the longest running play in Australian theatre history.”
• Stumbling on melons — The varied blog of one “Marcel Proust”. Music, law and more.
• Temperama — Novelist and journalist Dave Hill (UK) — “I am a novelist and a journalist who contributes primarily to the Guardian newspaper and to its opinion blog Comment Is Free. I have lived in Hackney in east London since 1981, am married (to Sheila Fitzsimons, the Guardian’s Head of Editorial Development) and have six children, ranging in age from 22 to four.” Great stuff. Now continuing at Big Britain.
• The Eclectic Garden — “A leisurely meander through life’s big and little questions.” A beautiful blog from Western Australia.
• The First Word Blog — “These writings are about my life in Japan but also a bit more about the kind of impact that being immersed in another culture, after spending nearly fourty years in the United Kingdom. It is partly expressed in Fiction and partly expressed in Non-Fiction. The writings are inspired by my love of Japanese contemporary writing and Japanese culture including the unique and in many cases superior contribution Okinawa makes to them.” A welcome new addition here.
• The Poet — a former teaching colleague who is now living in Victoria. He was once voted “Erotic Poet Laureate of Hay-on-Wye” at the famous UK Writers’ Festival.
• The Rambling Taoists — “The Rambling Taoists are brothers Trey Smith of Aberdeen, WA and Sean Smith of Kansas City, MO.”
  

  Blog statistics are an interesting thing. It provides the opportunity to see who and from where blog visitors originate. It seems that over the past 36 hours, The Rambling Taoists has become a frequent destination for folks connected with the US military in Auburn, Washington. Hmm. Could this be a mere coincidence?

  For all of you military types stopping by here for your first visit, I say “Welcome”! Hopefully, The Rambling Taoists will provide food for thought and allow you to see the world from a different perspective. — 3 May 2007.

• The Road to Surfdom — “a venue for discussion, argument, the exchange of information and the glorification of Chickenhawks.” I don’t really get that last bit, but I do know this is a really good Australian political blog.
• The Tasmanian Times — “a cheeky, irreverent challenge to the mass media’s obsession with popularity, superficiality and celebrity.”
• The Thinker’s Podium (aka Bruce) — “Surely you are a teacher. I recognize the ‘attitude.’ I’m sure you get away with being the pedantic bully in the classroom. You love to rough up the egos of children? Probably compensates for a myriad of personal insecurities.” - Malott (2007)” So wrote one of Bruce’s fans. Bruce in fact is a very careful thinker and encourages the same in others. He can therefore seem tedious. For example, I described Bill Heffernan’s silly remark about Julia Gillard’s lack of acquaintance with nappies as the utterance of an idiot, but Bruce says: “Bill wasn’t making a valid political statement; he was going into the old-school bag of tricks of invalid ad-hominem and abuse.” With a link at “invalid ad-hominem.” He’s not wrong, of course, and I endorse his views on “political correctness” on that post. He is often very good at close examination of bad arguments.
• Watchdog of the Wankers — “Hear me indulge in self-righteous, not necessarily well-informed rants.” From South Australia, and a bit sporadic in posting. Moved in January 2008.
• Wayne Liew Dot Com: 17-year old boy from Malaysia — formerly Simple Life of Yee Piao.
• Wilson’s Blogmanac — Pip Wilson, writer, Bellingen NSW.
• Winsome Gunning Art Walk — “The paintings I produce are about working from the creative spirit within.” A nice place to go.
• Wombat’s Waffles — “Random and inconsistent snippets from an unstructured mind.” Davo is around my age and lives in the country. He’s been generous with his comments here lately.
• Yawning Bread — (Au Waipang) in Singapore has one of the oldest blogs around: over ten years now. While Singapore and GLBT issues predominate, the net cast by his regular “essays” goes much wider. “Yawning Bread” really is an erudite blog but beautifully conversational, inspired me to do this one (and its predecessors), and continues to reward regular visits.
• Yarraville Paul — a Melbourne gay blog which just might have n*de m*n on it… “Single, gay man living in Melbourne, Australia. Mental age somewhere between 22 and 40, and varies from day to day. Educated and independent, professional and relaxed.”