Several weeks after Emma Barrett of Deception Blog kindly named me one of her five Thinking Bloggers, I'm finally ready with my own list.
Ironically, designer Ilker Yoldas, who started this "tag" award -- called a meme -- at The Thinking Blog, didn't like memes. "I have decided not to join any memes in the future," he said in the first "Thinking Blogger" post in February, "but how can I leave the world of blogging memes without starting one?" It's been a good one, rolling around the Internet for the last six months unearthing some very good writing in dozens of fields.
Making the list was difficult at first, like trying to name your five best friends; you hate to leave anybody out. But it isn't "five best," it's "five who," I finally realized, and it's just for fun. So here are five of the many bloggers who make me think, in a list slanted toward those I don't normally get to cite:
1. Tim's El Salvador Blog. My friend Tim was the first blogger I actually knew, and it took awhile to realize not all blogs are as good as his. Tim is an ordinary Midwestern guy who went to El Salvador with his church in 2001, and fell in love with the country and its imperiled culture. He started his blog in 2004 "as a way to make information about current news and events in El Salvador available to other English speakers." That means that in addition to his demanding and unrelated day job, he follows the press on El Salvador every day, in both Spanish and English, and passes it on with steady clarity.
Tim covers everything: politics, the environment, pop culture. Too often he has to report violence, like the murder of a journalist this week, and of a little boy Tim knew this summer. All of it is intelligent, unflinching, and quietly compelling.
2. woolgathering. If I could read only one blog post a day, it would be Elizabeth Perry's daily drawing. Each one is an ordinary moment, calmly recorded, and they add up to the rich life we all have, if we could only see it as she does. Last week she posted her 1000th drawing. She's been tagged before, and she doesn't have to pass this on if she doesn't want to, but I couldn't leave her off this list.
3. Corrections Sentencing. Michael Connelly has been a key player in the sentencing and corrections community in Oklahoma, Maryland, and here in Wisconsin. He started his blog last year, noting "the lack of constant, consistent forums for practitioners, policymakers, and the public to seriously review and discuss what's happening" in corrections and sentencing. The depth of what's discussed here, and the depth of frustration felt by many in this community, are striking.
4. Drug And Device Law Blog. Dechert LLP's James Beck and Jones Day's Mark Herrmann, somehow managing to write about pharmaceutical and medical device product liability defense in a way that keeps specialists interested and newcomers still reading. They're also pretty funny, especially on the rare occasions when they go off-topic.
5. Simple Justice and Defending People. I link to both Scott Greenfield and Mark Bennett all the time, but I haven't had a chance before to talk about the dialogue that goes on between them, and attracts insightful comments from all over. There's always some kind of backyard party going on in their blog neighborhood. You guys can decide how to divide up this award.
So, lucky winners, here are the rules as they have been passed down to me:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
2. Link to the Thinking Blog's original post so that people 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 (there is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).
