On My Betters

I was thinking today about this blog.  I was thinking about the fact that I don't post as often as I used to, and I was thinking about the fact that I want to post more of my own personal observations and creative work (I write poetry).

As I followed this train of thought I reflected more on why I don't post as often as I once did.  Certainly living more, having more things during my week that take up my time, contributes to this fact.  But if I think about the inordinate amount of time that I waste, and I realize this isn't a real excuse.  Sure, I would often rather be reading, or watching a movie, or chatting with friends than posting, but these things were all true before when I posted more. 

Then I started to take stock of some reasons that I don't post as much.  I think that one of the big reasons has to do with the fact that there are 4 or 5 blogs that are saying a lot of what I would be saying.  I'm not really inclined to post the 100th blog post about the same old subject that other blogs are already talking about.  At the same time, since I read other blogs, I forget to point you to the other blogs with all the cool hook ups.

So instead, I want to point you to 5 blogs that I think you should read regularly.  I think these blogs are important because they look at the world, the faith, and life from a perspective that's interesting, insightful, and most importantly not cliched or ideological.  So here they are, in no particular order:

Whispers in the Loggia
Rocco Palmo's Vatican gossip blog.  He's got all the low down.  He's completely full of himself.  And he often gets catty.  He's the living nightmare of the "Daughters of Trent."  A complete character with great insight, it's a daily read.

La Nouvelle Theologie
Major Jones, et al, do a formidable job bringing the Ressourcement to the foreground of the blogosphere.  Although they post way too many book suggestions, they also post great articles, debates, and general valuable discussion of timely topics.

Open Book
Amy Welborn.  She is the Queen of the Blogosphere.  How she finds the time to run Open Book amazes me.  She's a mom, a freelance writer, and still posts about 10 posts a day.  Her comment boards are crazy active and full of characters (good and bad) who just love to tell the world what they think.  Even if most of the comments are full of crap, Amy is not.  If you're not reading this blog already, you're missing out.

Dreadnought
John Heard.  He's queer, he's here, and he's Catholic.  John's blog is one the most articulate and interesting blogs out there.  He has an incredible catholic sensibility.  He's certainly not a raging homo-activist, and he's not a pious pill either.  In fact, you hear echos of von Balthasar and Giussani in the way he writes about things.  I have long thought that what the Church needed, was waiting for,  in the face of the cultural indulgence of all things homo was a man who admitted, simply "I'm gay and Christ is the ultimate meaning of all things in my life." Well, wait no more, there's John Heard.

Get Religion
For those of us who still read the news paper, Get Religion is the best analysis of religion news coverage on the internet.  The authors are all journalists and the blog is great at looking for the "ghosts" in the coverage of religious themes in the mainstream media.

Although there are many other blogs that are great, and many that I also read along with these 5, I think these 5 represent the best of the blogosphere.  If you enjoy my blog, I think you'll enjoy them too.

Comments

[numquamsatis]

Hello Stephen,
Thanks first for introducing some very interesting blogs to your readers. I knew a couple of them and read occasionally and I'm delighted to learn more.

There are many reasons why one begins to write a blog and why one stops to contribute. Truth is these reasons are personal and usually no one else's business but the author's own. We don't pay you a fee for reading your blog and there is no contract or moral obligation to write a certain amount of words at a fixed frequence. I've read a number of blogs which closed in the last six months. I'd love to read more from their authors, but I have to say that I don't run their life and they are free to do whatever they wish.

There are "big" names in blogsphere, just as big names in printed press, in media, in publication. There are Top 10, there are "Must Read," there are "blockbusters." In other words, there is a "mainstream" culture in this sub-culture of blogwritting.

Popular blogs have of course their merits and their share of authority. My taste, however, is to go to see familiar faces in my neighbourhood and to talk to them, if they so desire.

One temptation that a blogger easily falls into, and especially a Catholic blogger, is that he/she wants to be a "crusader" on the internet. It is not wrong per se, but God does not always call everyone to speak, even though one might have something to say.

Silence is never a quality appreciated in the internet. You have to speak out in order to survive. A blog or a website without frequent contribution or update would probably first lose its readers then would be shut down by the system. I speak so I am....

Now I have reached the last line of my comment here and I will switch off my computer, go out and say my rosary in silence for you and other blogs that I know.
God bless.

[Stephen]

Thanks Num! I once had this idea that there should be a blog of "silence." Where nothing is ever said. Then I stopped and recognized how ridiculous I was becoming and turned off the computer. Blogging can certainly be a disease, but I still think it has it's origins in a desire to say "I" . . . even if this might be more useful if I live closer to my friends in life and spend less time on the internet.

[Claude Muncey]

My nickname for Amy is "She whose blog must be read -- daily".

The comboxes I dip into with some care.

[Major Jones]

Thanks brother. You're my hero.