Who'da thunk?

Well, Maya's Granny, I'm glad that you asked!

Ms. Janice has awarded me with the Thinking Blogger award, a prize which you have - rightly - received yourself (otherwise you'd be getting one today). In her post, she said some awfully nice things about me - Janice, remember what I said about how easily I blush? Totally happening right now! But, I really appreciate the award, the hugs, and the fact that my blog makes you think!

Here are the rules of the Thinking Blogger Award:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
2. Link to this post so everyone can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.



The blogosphere is certainly filled with places that have reminded me that I used to have actual working brain cells, and that they used to be interested in more than my current white blood count or how low a person's blood pressure can actually get before they land on the floor. Not that these things still aren't important, just that there happens to be more to life than my small little world. And I'm glad to be connected to the rest of the world again.

I don't think I can explain to people who aren't housebound, or practically so, just how quickly your world narrows. Just how seeing the same things, doing the same things, talking to the same three people, looking for something to eat in the same two cabinets, day after day after day can make the world a hopelessly small and joyless place. Blogging, and being a blog reader, has reopened a lot of the world to me. I wouldn't be thinking about feminism in
comic books or what font Aveeno uses on their products in the course of my regular, ordinary day. And that's too bad, because there are other important or enjoyable things to think about. It's nice to be reminded of that.

Here are 5 blogs that do my reminding:

The group of bloggers over at The Hathor Legacy, who've helped me to see that feminist theories should apply everywhere - even in fictional places. They talk a lot about representations of women in media - Some recent examples include Law & Order SVU & their hilarious take on the newest Slim Fast Commercials: "I think my brain just threw up. I didn't know that was possible."

I've got to give one to Tracey, over at Picture This, because she's really helped me to think about myself as a photographer, as a writer, as an artist. Her posts about different techniques have given me so many great ideas & new perspectives. Between My Best Shot Mondays and Theme Thursdays, I find that I'm lugging my camera around during my day-to-day more, looking for photo opportunities all the time.


If you haven't been reading Soul Gardening, then you've really been missing out. A new mother who's trying to figure things out, Soul Gardening is living up to the goal she had from her very first post: "I hope that I'll be able to write well, with honesty and humanity. I hope that if anyone reads my words, they'll be able to see something of themselves. And if these words end up being just for me, that's okay, that's why I'm doing it anyway." As I, or any of her readers, can tell you, she is certainly not writing just for herself.


Although she's on vacation just now, Chaos Theory(named 2004's "Best Blog Title Based on Ian Malcolm's Dialogue in Jurassic Park") is a blog I look forward to reading every day. The variety of the posts & range of subjects covered is amazing, and definitely gets me thinking about a LOT of things.

Lastly, I'm going to award The Happiness Project blog. Which filters through all the research about how to be happy and gives us just the most important parts. Tips and quotes and the 12 commandments of happy all help me to reflect on what being happy means to me, and how to get there.

So there are my five picks for Thinking Blogs... thank you again, the always thinking Janice (and extra thanks for putting up that nice picture to go with your post!)