What's in Your Blog Reader?

Julie| September 20, 2008 3:27 pm

Aside from real life friends whose blogs I stalk, there are some bloggers I’ve never met but will probably follow as long as they keep writing, like Ernie, even if he’s not as inclined to put himself out there as he used to be, because I’ve read him since the beginning, and his blog feels like an old friend.

There are others that I’ve added gradually over the years, like Dooce, whose daughter was born within a week of Ana and whose second child would have been the same age as Angie if she hadn’t miscarried, or Mimi Smartypants, whose wickedly funny stories about her adopted Chinese daughter make me snort all unladylike. But overall my blog reading list has remained very stable. Until recently.

For one, I stumbled upon a whole slew of mommy academics to whom I could relate not just personally but also professionally, such as Professing Mama. It’s fun to read stories that segue seamlessly from an anecdote about the kids to another about a departmental brouhaha. I’ve also started reading a whole lot of daddy bloggers, such as MetroDad, in which I get perspectives other than Kevin’s on how the male half in a traditional parental unit sees the role he plays in his children’s lives.

And finally, I’ve been adding blogs that discuss race and ethnicity overtly. I admire them for tackling topics for which our society doesn’t seem equipped with the vocabulary to discuss, which is why I think these conversations so often degenerate into senseless finger pointing. It all started when I began reading Ernie’s 8 Asians group blog and has grown from there to include Racialicious, Mixed Race America, Mixed Race Families, and Anti-Racist Parent.

The rest of my blog reads can mostly be categorized under work and news. How about you? What themes do you find in the blogs you read?

2 Responses to “What's in Your Blog Reader?”

gg wrote a comment on September 23, 2008

hmm…. i think like you, i read mostly blogs from my friends (either RL or internet friends who have become really good friends over time). i probably gravitate more towards blogs whose writers are similar to myself. when i was single, i’d read a bunch of single people’s blogs, then after i had claire, i became very interested in “mommy blogs”- like amalah (love her!), naked ovary (she adopted a little girl from china and then ended up getting pregnant), etc. though i don’t try to specifically seek out blogs about race and race issues, i do admit, the majority of my reads are from people of asian decent. i’m going to check out some of your links though. they sound good! :)

Rita wrote a comment on October 17, 2008

I am intrigued by some of these links! Will definitely check them out. :D

My erratic, bingey blog reading consists of real-life friends first, then children’s book news, and then photography. I also collect links to all kinds of entertaining and fascinating other blogs, by super cool people. (I read a ton of entries in that one Female Science Professor blog you once posted about on Facebook, for example!) But I rarely get to visit any of those non-RL, non-Ch Bks, non-photog blogs a second time. Adding them to my Google Reader is just like adding yet another movie title to my 300+ Netflix list, when the reality is I don’t even watch one movie per three months. (Ditto adding anything to my 300+ “saved for later” items in my Amazon cart). The wishlist exists merely to make me feel better, like somehow I can eventually consume it all.