Politics

Andrea’s Who Gets Your Vote? series at Li’l Kid Things asks readers to share some thoughts about politics. It’s been very interesting.

“Superman Comes to the Supermarket” is a super-long read by Norman Mailer about the Democratic National Convention in 1960.

Regardless of your political affiliation, Julian Castro’s DNC keynote address is a beautifully written speech.

And also

Rivers. It’s about parenting, philosophers and high school. It’s not G-rated.

A few regular reads

Meyser at A Cat on the Window Sill said she’d like to take a peek at the blogs I read, so I’m going to start adding a few of them to my weekly link roundup. (Which was going to be every Friday, and then I think it was Saturday once, and today it’s Thursday. We like to keep you guessing here at Butterscotch Sundae.) (No we don’t, really. It’s probably going to be a Thursday thing.) (Probably.)

Kottke.org is not a small, obscure site. It’s been around for nearly 15 years, and it’s popular for good reason. Jason Kottke scours the internet for interesting content, and then he shares the links with a little bit of commentary. He and the occasional guest editor never fail to find great stuff, and I like the site’s simple, clean design, too.

I’ve been reading All & Sundry for a long time. Linda has two adorable little boys, and her family enjoys things like hiking and camping and being generally rugged and outdoorsy. Linda is not afraid to write raw and honest posts about parenting (see: “Mishandled“) and other facets of her life, which makes this one of those blogs that makes me feel like a weirdo stalker if I think too deeply about it.

Heather, on the other hand, doesn’t often get personal at Home Ec 101. The site is “designed to teach real skills as they apply to real lives,” such as how to cook cabbage and how to mop a floor. And if you were to do something like melt a plastic bag on your flat-top stove? Heather would be the person I would turn to for an answer. This is not to say I did that, but … OK fine, I did that. And she knew just what to do.

There’s been a far amount of brouhaha over the last few days about A Mommy Blogger List that was published somewhere on the internet. That happens pretty regularly, because the people in charge of the internet have dictated that readers really, really like lists. That’s why bloggers use them so often. Anyway, this particular list riled up a lot of bloggers because the gist of it was that you can get bloggers to promote your product for you for much less money that it would take to, say, buy a classified ad or a spot during the Superbowl.

Which may be true, if not right, but I didn’t really want to talk about that other list. What I really wanted to do was make my own list, so that I too could create a controversy and draw in lots and lots of clicks and make a billion dollars in ad revenue.

Oh wait. That’s wrong, too. I just wanted to tell you about some blogs I read. And so without further ado, may I present to you:

5 Bloggers Who Blog & Enjoy the Benefits of Breathing Oxygen*

Fadra Nally

I met Fadra in the tasting room at the Biltmore House winery during my first Type-A Conference. She was friendly, smart and outgoing, and she drank all of my wine. (That may or may not have actually happened. But I’m pretty sure it might have.) She writes about her life at the rather appropriately named All Things Fadra. She is just as friendly, smart and outgoing on her website as she is in person.

Fadra does an excellent job weaving her personal narrative and her compensated blog work into a cohesive unit, which isn’t something that just anyone can do. Check out “A basket is not just a basket” and you’ll see what I mean.

Fadra also started Social Dialect, where she writes much more seriously and clearly than I do about “The Problem with Blogger Lists.”

Angela Pudding

I have long suspected that Angela’s last name isn’t really Pudding. I am no stranger to subterfuge, though, so who am I to judge? Fluid Pudding was one of the first blogs I read regularly, and it’s still one of my favorites. She makes me laugh — see: “She’s Come Undone” — and reading her stuff makes me feel like I’m spending time with an old friend. Her blogroll led me to so much excellent writing when I was young and bored and working as a bored young copy editor.

I think of Fluid Pudding as my gateway blog.

Also Angela sent me a box full of stuff from Trader Joe’s earlier this summer, which in no way means she bribed me to get on this exclusive and prestigious list.

(She totally did. Except I only thought about writing this about 20 minutes ago and she sent the box months ago, so she totally could not have unless she’s The Doctor, which she very well could be. She is, after all, capable of knitting a very long scarf.)

Amanda at High Impact Mom

Amanda is yet another person I met through the Type-A Parent Conference. She’s the volunteer coordinator for the conference, and from what I can tell she never stops working. Whether it’s through goofy exchanges on Twitter or her own DIY home repair plans, Amanda inspires me to get up and get stuff done.

Erin at Mother Bird

I went to high school with Erin, and lo these many years later she has a blog and she homeschools. Kindred spirits. Except that she also sews and has a giant garden and could give Ma Ingalls a run for her money. She posts things like “Mother’s Hands” and “On Vacation” and “Ag Boys,” and she writes them all with a stunning and simple lyricism that I envy. I mean, look at this:

Because my mother was always so close to me as I grew up, I never knew how to appreciate her presence. We don’t appreciate the ground. But just try to suddenly be without it.

I will not be even slightly surprised when a publisher finally discovers Erin and begs her to write a book. She’s marvelous.

Jen Anderson

This is where I go lately to gain some perspective. Jen is in her early 30s. She has two small daughters, a loving husband and breast cancer. She is so unfailingly positive, it’s almost impossible to read her words without feeling more hopeful about your own life. She writes things I need to hear, absorb and live out. In “How Do I Do It?” she writes:

What choice do I have? I have landed in a craptastic situation. I can look at the crap, or I can look up. When I look up I see more love than I’ve ever seen before (and I have seen a lot of love in my life). When I look at the crap, well, I can’t look at the crap, I can’t focus on it, I can’t allow it to have power over my thoughts. My eyes are fixed on the prize, and, oh Jesus, the prize is so great. The prize is my girls, my fabulous life, my future. Today, today, is a prize

I can’t even read that without welling up.

There are roughly 206,778 more blogs in my Google Reader, but the people in charge of the internet say that your lists shouldn’t be overly long nor should they feature an even number of items. I would be happy to go through every last blog I read, though, if you’re interested. Are you?

*How presumptuous of me to assume these bloggers enjoy oxygen! I just said that to create controversy and garner more clicks.

As much as I love date night, pretty much everything in I Don’t Believe in Date Night at The Conversation describes how Rockford and I try to do things. Except that he really does hate to go to bed angry, so we try not to do that.

I’ve loved this man since we were kids. Ours is a relationship that our friends hold up as an example of happiness, equality, love, friendship… and most of the time, I understand why. And I can tell you, it’s not because of date nights. It’s because of regular nights. … It can be Monday, it can be meatloaf, we can be talking about the mortgage. But it’s always meaningful. And more importantly, it’s routine. We do it all the time.
via Laura at Hollywood Housewife

Jenn Mattern, just writing the lights out in How to Go to the Bank.

But Bank Guy is already making a beeline for his overstuffed chair. You are messy, too messy and middle-aged to remember. You have become that woman, somehow, in the span of a few short years. Your daughters are more vibrant and beautiful by the day, while you are grow heavier with doubt and fear and anxiety and all of the things you dare not say.