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Sunday, December 30, 2007

The Golden Compass and the Best Feminist Blogging of '07

One of my Christmas gifts to my husband, the Big Giraffe (BG), was the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. The BG finished The Golden Compass on Wednesday, The Subtle Knife on Thursday, and The Amber Spyglass on Friday, passing each over to me as he finished. It thus may not surprise you that I am thinking a lot about interconnections between various worlds.

It is far easier to click a hyperlink to another blog than to find a way from one universe to another, but sometimes the gulf in the blogosphere seems almost as vast. I know that with the large number of blogs, the small amount of time to read them, and the lack of an alethiometer to guide me, I have a tendency to keep clicking on the URLs of my favorite bloggers over and over rather than to cut my way to new writers. Since joining BlogHer Ads, however, not a day goes by without four links that open windows to other blogs that are often not on my blogroll. Some days do go by without me going through those windows, but when I take the time, I am often impressed by what I find.

Today's BlogHer ads brought me to a post called I Need Validation on a blog called So Sioux Me. I was initially struck by her tagline, "My intention is to inspire women and help them to empower their daughters. I welcome comments to generate a constructive conversation," which feels very consistent with what so many of my favorite bloggers seek to do on their blogs. I read a couple of posts and saw her writing openly and honestly about her brand of feminism, how she makes choices, and how she parents. I will be back!

However, the post where I initially landed was about a contest on another blog that I didn't know, Hoyden about Town, to find the top 40 feminist posts of 2007. I started scanning the comments and following a couple of links. I was struck by two things: the quality of the writing and my complete lack of familiarity with any of the blogs. It reinforced how there are entirely separate universes of women blogging on innumerable topics, including those related to feminism. Unlike the worlds in Pullman's trilogy, the blogosphere can only benefit from connections these blogging universes.

So I urge my regular readers to go through the window to Hoyden about Town and read and enjoy the posts that you find there. In particular, you can find the contest explanation and rules so that you can nominate up to six posts from other blogs and up to two of your own posts. This isn't an election, as the selections will be made by "the Hoydens" themselves from amongst the nominees, but it is a chance to enjoy bloggers whom you may have never read before and to attract bloggers who may have never seen your work or other work that you appreciate. Go quickly! The contest ends at the end of this year, and then it will be as ephemeral as dust in the wind.

So what links am I leaving open across the blogosphere? Here are my nominations for a few of my favorite feminist posts of the year:
  • Suzanne's post Suzanne Reisman, Swimsuit Model, Takes a Stand on CUSS taking a personal stand agains unrealistic beauty standards. (In accordance with the Hoyden linking policy, I will note that CUSS is not safe for workplace viewing (NSFW).)
  • Do Assumptions Change When you Know the Accused also by Suzanne but on BlogHer rather than CUSS, struggling with the balance between supporting women and preserving the presumption of innocence for those accused of crimes against women, particularly when you know the accused.
  • Soccer Mom in Denial's post Be an Ally and a Friend linking a personal story, a well-known tragedy, and our own responsibility to Transgendered Day of Remembrance.
  • Kristen's post Irrelevant on Motherhood Uncensored about getting lost in blogging, public relations, and the value of motherhood.
  • Pundit Mom's post A Political Equation calling on women to use blogging to drive political change.
  • Expecting Executive's post What Breastfeeding Ban? Defending Facebook defending Facebook's controversial actions as neither being unreasonable nor being anti-breastfeeding.


And for my two self-nominated posts...
  • The Latest Formula Ban is the post I wrote criticizing the New York City public hospital ban on free formula samples for new moms that got me invited to speak on the Mike and Juliet Show on Fox TV last August.
  • Breastfeeding after Someone Else's Breast Reduction Surgery is a post that I wrote about a pediatric nurse practitioner's personal devastation at the inability of some women who have undergone breast reduction surgery to breastfeed their babies.


A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: If you follow a link into another blogger's world, you may be amply rewarded by what you find there.

Labels: ,

posted by Alex Elliot @ 9:10 AM   9 comments
9 Comments:

  • At 12/30/2007 10:41 AM, Blogger Jen of A2eatwrite said…

    Thanks for opening my eyes to this, Alex. I think I'll have to join Blogher Ads, too - I never really knew what it was before.

     

  • At 12/30/2007 12:49 PM, Blogger Tracee said…

    Thanks so much for the compliments and the link! I very much appreciate it.

    I kept thinking CUSS, CUSS - what does that mean. I must be so far out of the loop.

    Then I saw it and now I can't stop laughing!

    Oh, would that I could - but mid-growth the itching gets to me and I regress.

     

  • At 12/30/2007 9:32 PM, Blogger soccer mom in denial said…

    I started reading this thinking how envious I was at Big Giraffe's reading capacity then moved on to awe at your writing and thinking (my brain is this big - note finger and thumb is touching when compared to your brain).

    Then you go and write something nice about me and my writing. And you call me a feminist!! Now you just made my year.

     

  • At 12/31/2007 1:21 AM, Blogger painted maypole said…

    i think it's interesting how in your post about following links... your post is currently at the top of bloghers links. ;)

     

  • At 12/31/2007 9:09 AM, Blogger BOSSY said…

    An alethiometer. Bossy forgot to ask for this for Christmas - she knew there was something. (Thanks for your comprehensive list of cool posts.)

     

  • At 12/31/2007 11:56 PM, Blogger Suzanne said…

    I'm with SMID. Thanks for the nominations, and even more, thanks for being such a good friend this year and every year. I'm so lucky to have you (and your family) in my life, even if it is long distance.

     

  • At 1/01/2008 5:53 PM, Blogger Lisa said…

    Alex, thanks for this post. It was our own interest in finding and reading other great women bloggers that got me, Elisa and Jory excited about BlogHer in the first place. And it's posts like these that help us get excited about digging in and doing even more in 2008.

    Great best-of links, thanks for the tips. And I have one for you: We downloaded the Dark Materials trio on iTunes and the whole family recently listened to it as we drove to and from our holiday vacation. It's a great listen.

     

  • At 1/01/2008 10:45 PM, Blogger PunditMom said…

    Thank you SO MUCH for the nomination AND for all your great posts through the year. I know I don't comment as often as I should, but I'm here and reading!

     

  • At 1/08/2008 10:00 AM, Anonymous Erin - ExpectingExecutive said…

    Ack! It seems I am always late to the party. Thank you for this recognition. The Facebook vs. boobs thing was certainly a conversation starter in 2007 eh?

    I am glad you added your post about NYC hospitals and formula. That post has stayed with me and it still ticks me off to think about the whole situation! Sheesh.

     
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Name:Alex Elliot
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About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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