Huzzah! The delightful and innovative Canadian children's publisher Annick Press now has a blog! Why not pop by and see what they've been up to?
I've never visited their office, and I'd really love to – especially because their Toronto address is on Patricia Avenue! That must be the secret to their success, don't ya think?
Thanks to Monique for the tip!
There's a new blog in town and you must go read it. It's called Crooked House and it's penned by the very talented and funny Stephany Aulenback. She has a unique perspective on life (her dry sense humour makes me laugh out loud), and I adore her taste in books and art. Of special note is her brilliant post Beckett For Babies; you must go over there and tell her to get this idea published toot sweet.
Just a quick note to say hooray! My pal Sandra Bell-Lundy, creator of the comic strip Between Friends has a brand-spanking-new website, and she's started a blog! Whoo-hoo! Why not drop by and say hello? She's bright and funny and just so darn talented!
Also, for those who have wondered when the hell my husband Guy was ever gonna update his blog, Nixon is in Hell, your waiting days are over. Guy apologizes for the delay, but he's a very serious blogger, and takes his time collecting quotes and information for his very thoughtful posts. So pop by and find out how he feels about the taxing situation in Canada (which could also very easily apply to our friends south of the border).
And to finish off my blatant nepotism, might I suggest you take a gander at my mom's most recent posts on her blog, My Jamaican Family? You'll find out all about the many quirky, charming and delightful uncles she grew up with on the Island in the Sun.
Ok, that's all. Go forth and link away. Really. Shoo.
Ok, folks – the moment you've all been waiting for has finally arrived! The hubby has started his blog. It's called, ahem...Nixon Is In Hell. If you've got a moment, do stop by and say hello. This is all very new to him, and I think it would be nice to welcome the fella to the blogosphere.
A few words about Guy's blog. Yes, the focus is politics and history. And no, I'm not going to place a label on his political views. When I asked him that question this morning, his reply was, "my politics are concerned with what's right and wrong, not with what's Left and Right."
So if you're interested in discussing any and all political matters of the present or past, why not join in the conversation? Guy welcomes all points of view, and he's a very gracious and well-mannered conversationalist. He may disagree with you, but he will never be rude and sink to the level of insults or flame wars. Of course, he expects the same from his readers! (And so do I. Hey, he's the love of my life – be nice!) If you've ever read any of the political blogs out there, you know what often happens when political viewpoints collide. That's certainly why I tend to stay away from the subject here. But politics and history is Guy's passion (next to me, dammit), and I think we should all follow our passions, don't you?
Recently I was honoured be chosen as a Rockin' Girl Blogger by Melanie of The Indextrious Reader fame. I don't do nearly enough rockin' these days (though I can do a pretty mean dance to George Harrison's Got My Mind Set On You – does that count?) but what the hell – I'll take any award I can get! Thanks, Melanie!
I really don't like playing favourites, so rather than pick five girl bloggers whom I think are rockin' I will simply throw the award out there to any girl blogger who makes the effort to create a smart, funny, imaginative and/or entertaining blog. Hell, we all rock!
However, I would like to give out a special Honourary Rockin' Girl Blogger Award to the blogger John Mutford of The Book Mine Set for writing a great post pitting Jane Austen against Lucy Maud Montgomery. I do hope Lucy Maud will triumph, because she was the first female writer to touch my young imaginative heart. Before Lucy Maud, I had no idea that a woman could be so successful as a writer ( for whatever reason, Beatrix Potter just didn't turn my crank as a kid – though I did love her illustrations). L.M. Montgomery inspired, delighted and moved me as a child – I wanted to write like her, and I wanted to be just like Anne Shirley.
So thanks John, for reminding me of the wonderful L.M. Montgomery – you Rockin' Girl Blogger, you!
Oy, I have a lot to talk about in my next few posts. What a weekend!! Meeting up with some of our fabulous book bloggers, partying with the children's lit folk and then experiencing Book Expo on Sunday. I cannot begin to describe how pooped and happy I am.
Ok. First, those book blog babes. It was all Sassymonkey's fault!
She wanted to meet up with as many of us book bloggers as possible before she moved back to Montreal. How could I say no? And thankfully, plenty of the other book babes didn't say no, either! So along with Sassymonkey and myself, there was Kate, Robin, Melanie and Deanna.
We met up at Solferino on Wellington Street East. I'd never been there before – it's a pretty small place, but they serve amazing gelato. And what an experience getting there! It just happened to be the weekend of Woofstock, that crazy dog festival, so I had to walk through crowds and crowds of dog-lovers and their pooches, in all shapes and sizes (even cute little pugs were there!) And there was also that celebration of the Canadian Walk of Fame going on, but personally, I think Woofstock was way more fun. But the best fun was definitely to be had with the book babes, who talked of books and authors and writing and Montreal and shoe lust. Here's a few shots from the afternoon:
Deanna on the left with Kate.
Sassymonkey et moi.
Melanie (she came all the way from Stratford!)
Kate and Robin.
Melanie and me.
A funny thing about our book blog meet-up. It just so happened to coincide with a Blog TO photo-blogger meet-up! What are the chances of that happening? Here's a shot of the book babes enjoying the photos (we were so engrossed in our conversations I don't think we noticed all the photos being hung up on the walls. They weren't there when we first arrived!)
Anyway, I had a fabulous time, and was thrilled to get to meet some new blogger faces, as well as see some familiar ones. Thanks so much, Sassymonkey, for making this happen! (And thanks, Deanna, for springing for the gelato! Yum!)
If you want to read a much more interesting and in-depth account of our day, do take a peak at Robin's wonderful post!
Stay tuned for my upcoming post about the Children's Gala night!
I'm still in a state of shock. After months, nay, years of nagging, my mother has started a blog. Now don't get your hopes up – it ain't gonna be one of those mommy blogs where she posts old embarrassing pics of her kids and regales horror stories of when her monsters nearly set the house on fire and drove her to drink after discovering how sharper than a serpant's tooth it is to have a thankless child and all that crap, ok?
My mom's a librarian and a genealogist, specializing in Jamaican genealogy. This blog of hers, as I understand, will be information (some of it hopefully juicy) about her Jamaican family history. Trust me, I've heard a lot of these stories, and they are good. I really hope she posts some of the more colourful family tales.
Her first post is a much more detailed account of the life of my great Uncle Victor, whom I discussed in an earlier post on my blog, on Remembrance Day.
So if you've got a minute, why not stop by, and give my mom a warm hello to the blogosphere!
Cheers, Mom!
If you're not in the know, Iliana of BookGirl'sNightstand fame has updated the look of her blog, as well as giving it a new address. The new look is just stunning! That image above is part of her glorious new headers that she's created for her lovely new blog. And she's added a Book Art section where she'll show all her creative book art, too. Can't wait!
So update your links, evereyone! And if you didn't know about BookGirl before, well, no excuses now!
It is always at this time of the rolling year that I suffer most. Those post-Christmas blues. Holiday purgatory. Christmas is over, and New Year's is yet to come. How to battle the blahs? Throw out some more linky-links, of course!
Here's a few gems to tide you over 'til New Year's Eve:
Kimbooktu
You'll never guess what her blog is about! Gadgets for book lovers!! She's found some amazing unique items, I must say. Gifts, jewelry, books, games and whatever book-related item comes her way. Of course this means I'll have to spend more money, dammit.
The Books of My Numberless Dreams
A lovely new book blog I recently discovered, written by a very bright, witty and talented young Jamaican gal who for the time being is "lost in Canada".
Newyorkette
Delightful blog by a really talented lady. Carolita Johnson is funny and smart and just happens to draw cartoons for The New Yorker. Oh yeah, and she's a freelance illustrator who just happens to have her masters in Literature and Linguistics, and is, well...a model in her spare time. Great. Now I'm really depressed.
Remember that illo I did recently for the National Post, the one about yet another bash on blogs? Well, I got so darn fed up with this hate-fest on blogs by the print world that I asked one of the the editors I work with at the National Post if I could write my take on blogs – something a bit more positive, a different perspective than what I have been reading over and over again in various newspapers.
Well, sadly I guess it didn't cut the mustard. And this after a second edit, too! Darn. I even drew a pic to go with my story. Sniff. In fact, I had actually written up a positive piece about blogging a few months ago, with a similar illo, and sent it off to the Facts&Arguments section on the Globe and Mail. No response. Hmmph. I guess a career in print journalism is not in my future!
But the beauty of blogs is that I can post any damn thing I want, including rejected writing! So for those interested, I will post the entire article written by Adam Radwanski, and then my piece, which hopefully counters his arguments to some degree (obviously not enough, 'cuz the editor nixed the damn thing). I was only allowed 700 words, and I guess I just had so much I wanted to say, and couldn't quite say it succintly enough. I welcome any and all critiques. If I want to do more writing, I have to face the critics!
Divided We Blog
by Adam Radwanski
Last week, a contributor to a popular Canadian weblog posted a blistering attack on Islam. Under the heading "Islam Must Be Stopped," someone called "Right Girl" weighed in on "the devil that they call Allah," labelled Islam "a death cult" and called for the entire religion to be banned in Canada.
If Right Girl had stood on a street corner calling for Islam to be banned, passers-by would either have shouted her down or dismissed her as a kook. Any newspaper that published her views would have been deluged with disgusted letters to the editor. But in this forum, the comments that followed her post lauded her for taking such a brave stand – and, in some cases, went even further in their attacks on Muslims.
The blog in question was The Shotgun, found on the Western Standard's Web site. But the issue wasn't the conservative magazine, which of course can't be held responsible for the messages that wing nuts post on its blog. The issue was the broader blog medium that's having a nasty effect on public discourse.
The blogosphere is good for music and trading notes on pop culture. It can be great for sports commentary. It's a way to pass time for those interested in reading the mundane details of strangers' personal lives.
But what it is absolutely lousy for is political debate – mostly because what it encourages is not debate at all, so much as support groups in which the converted preach to one another about the evils of some dark and mysterious enemy. Those frequenting blogs don't learn much and their views are rarely challenged. What they get out of the experience is having their own views reinforced over and over again, until even relative moderates are converted into hard-liners.
This doesn't normally involve the sort of bigotry exhibited by Right Girl. But the more common phenomenon – the polarization into left and right-wing camps, each taking endless cheap shots at each other – is nearly as offputting. And for evidence of its impact, we need only look at political discourse south of the border.
The Internet has not done it alone; talk radio and Fox News have played their role. But what the blogosphere has going for it, more even than those outlets, is the ability to bring together people of one specific viewpoint from all over a given country.
For simple reasons of geography, other outlets cannot do that. A newspaper can be liberal or conservative in its editorial stance, but there simply aren't enough ideologues in any given city for it to be sustainable as a one-sided pamphlet. And with the broad base of viewers needed to draw in advertisers, the same usually goes for TV networks.
A Web site, however, is a different matter entirely. With little or no overhead and no geographic restrictions, it can be successful just by cobbling together a few thousand fans somewhere within a country's borders.
Go to right-wing political blogs, forums and online magazines, from the big names – National Review Online, Instapundit, Little Green Footballs – to an army of smaller ones, and you'll read only of the joyous success of U.S. foreign policy and the evils of Democrats, the "mainstream media," Hollywood and all things "liberal." Go to their equivalents on the other side of the spectrum, notably the enormously popular Daily Kos, and you'll find left-wing types working themselves into a lather over the evils of the Bush administration, the right-wing media and all things conservative.
Both sides would have you believe they're engaged in a righteous war with one another for the sould of American. But because they never actually engage each other, it's not a war at all – it's just two sides endlessly rallying the troops.
This would be a relatively minor concern if such fulminating was limited to the Internet. But conditioned by their online reading, as well as listening to Fox and talk radio, consumers are demanding the same stuff elsewhere.
The rise of Ann Coulter on the right or an Al Franken on the left – commentators who spend most of their time attacking cartoon versions of liberals and conservatives, respectively – suggests where this culture is taking us.
And it's not just the big names: Go to the American politics section of your local bookstore, and you'll find that half the titles are simple-minded polemics against either the left or the right, many of them written by people who made their reputations online.
In Canada, we're moving slower. But there's little doubt we're headed in the same direction.
Here, the right is a little more organized than the left – the "Blogging Tories" group creating a community of hundreds of like-minded blogs with similar obsessions (the liberal media, pacifists, etc) to the ones found south of the border. But it's the Canadian left that has actually shown the biggest crossover into mainstream media, – a media columnist and blogger for the Toronto Star whose main job appears to be attacking conservative commentators on both sides of the border.
True, we don't yet have entire TV programs devoted to advancing an ideology. But with commentators increasingly emulating the zealous partisanship of the online crowd in the hope of eliciting similarily strong reactions, it might not be long. It's a trend that should remind us to hold ourselves to a higher standard, to seek out dissenting views and think critically about the perspectives being sold to us – because the last thing we need is a nation of Right Girls and their sychophants.
Why We Blog
by Patricia Storms
Who knew blogs had so much power?
Even though Adam Radwanski, in his article Divided We Blog (July 31) thinks very little of political blogs and their ability to foster balanced debate, he certainly gives a surprising amount of credence to blogs and their ability to sway public opinion, and even manipulate television and radio. According to Radwanksi, it’s the views found in political blogs which are creating those “cartoon versions of liberals and conservatives” in the media. Political bloggers are “conditioned by their online reading” and as a result “are demanding the same stuff elsewhere” consequently “commentators [are] increasingly emulating the zealous partisanship of the online crowd”.
One has to wonder when Mr. Radwanski first started watching television. Fox News and Bill O’Reilly have been crushing liberal opinion long before political blogs ever became a popular trend. I think the four-letter word beginning with ‘B’ which divided the left and right so dramatically is Bush, not blog.
Blogs do have power, but it’s real power lies in how the message is dispatched, not necessarily what its message contains. Blogs did not create the political polarization existing in North American today; however, they do serve as a barometer for what the average individual is thinking and feeling, in the here and now, be it good, bad or downright stupid. We may not like everything we read on political blogs, or blogs in general, but it’s still worthwhile to know what others are thinking. And all it takes is a click of a mouse to find out.
With a newspaper, however, we know what a few people are thinking, and somehow these few people are supposed to represent the general consensus of everyone across the country. Not helping the situation is the fact that over the years independent newspapers have continually decreased in numbers, and those left standing are being bought out by large multi-national conglomerates. As the number of independent papers decrease, editorial opinion becomes less diversified, so that very often a city will have one right-wing, and one left-wing publication. Sound familiar?
Added to this lack of unique opinion is a newspaper’s inability to elicit instant feedback from a multitude of readers. You can read an editorial, and after waiting 24 hours, you may be lucky enough to find one or two letters to the editor, based on that article. Letters that have been chosen by an editor based on his own biases, who also has to appease the corporate executives who own the publication and who sign his paycheque. It would be wonderful to believe, as Mr. Radwanski does, that “a newspaper can be liberal or conservative in its editorial stance, but there simply aren’t enough ideologues in any given city for it to be sustainable as a one-side pamphlet”, but in this ever-changing climate of corporate control over the media, that viewpoint seems terribly naive.
At the very beginning of Eugene Jarecki’s documentary Why We Fight, the viewer is introduced to old film footage of President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his Farewell Address to the Nation given January 17, 1961. In his address, Eisenhower cautions the people of the United States about the insidious power and influence of the military-industrial complex, referring to the collusion amongst the military, defense contractors, and Congress in order to promote the military industry.
Were Eisenhower around today, I wonder if perhaps he might have coined the phrase media-industrial complex, in response to the domination of the media by only a handful of multi-national conglomerates. Be it television, print, or radio, I think it’s safe to say that somebody else is determining the content of what we see, read, or hear. The rise of the political blog is a visceral reaction to this media behemoth that does not care about individual thought and opinion. If you have access to the Internet, you can start a blog, and immediately reach out to others. You don’t have to be powerful, or rich, or know the right people. You can’t be refused a blog based on your looks, weight, race or religion. As a blogger, you are free to express whatever is on your mind, unfettered by the pressures of large corporations or editors with biases. The blogger is beholden to no one. Blogs are the ultimate equalizer – the proletariat’s online playground. So in that respect, though bloggers may be divided in their political views, they are all united in the desire and need to speak freely, and be heard.
