One Lovely Blog. Or not.

Plans collapse.  Last week, I planned to write a Pedestrian Plea about high art, and then the hurricane hit.  This week, I planned to participate in One Lovely Blog, and then my teenager provoked another crisis.  Or maybe I provoked it.  Don't even talk to me if you have not raised a smart willful teenager in recent times.  Yes, it is worse than it used to be.  Much, much worse.  Someday I'll remove the gag order I've placed on myself, but not today.  

Once upon a time in another life, I organized a presentation called "Collapsing Agendas in Times of Change."  Come to think of it, maybe it was my first clown act.  A group of Behavioral Scientists (psychologists and social workers) attempt to teach psychosocial skills to abused medical residents.  Impossible.  Impossible to raise a moral teen nowadays, but enough about that.  That is my current clown act.  In production.  Shut up.  

So, I was going to write about One Lovely Blog because I am truly pleased that my friend and excellent collaborator, Julie Goldberg Springer, nominated me for this award.  She is a thoughtful, relevant, and creative educator AND novelist whose opinion I value in a very serious way, so when she picked my blog as one of her favorites, it mattered and I wanted to reciprocate.

Except this thing has rules:

1) Thank and link back to the person who nominated you.   Easy.

2) Post the award picture in your post.  Easy, except look at this picture!   

3) Tell seven things about yourself.   Kind of fun.

4) Nominate 15 other bloggers, and notify them of their nomination.   

Fifteen?  

Now, we're talking chain letter, which I have a policy about, unlike ending sentences (and phrases) ungrammatically, which I do randomly.  Sorry, I'm really tired.  See note about teenager.  

Still, I thought I would do this, following Julie's lead and picking my own number.  I like the idea that we are not competing with anyone. The nomination is the end point, which I appreciate as a point of process.  We're just tooting our horns.  Ow, not so loud.  I was up all night.  

When I started to pick blogs, however, I realized that I either had to choose blogs that plenty of people already know about or stick to my friends.  But the big guys don't need my help and I see that already more than 38 million people have something to say about One Lovely Blog, or, rather 38 million Lovely Blogs, so, really, what is the point? 

Nevertheless, I will now digress and curate.

Marta Renzi, delightful renegade choreographer, dance filmmaker, dancer, mother, and uber organizer.  Check out what she is up to cuz she's always on the move.  

I encountered Jacks Ashley McNamara at a Disability Film Series where she showed her very beautiful and mind-changing film, Crooked Beauty.  Here is her community "navigating the space between madness and creativity" via the Icarus Project.  You'll find radical thinking and community support for finding your own way.    

Mind Matters, or Big Think, is psychologically informed social commentary by David Berreby.  Smart and reasonably referenced.  

A quiet and thoughtful voice speaking for the legions of introverts but also for extraverts like me who enjoy solitude.  Susan Cain is even TED approved, but I still like her. 

Here's one that I encountered on the tradition of One Lovely Blog.  I thought it was hilarious in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way but then I looked at the rest of his stuff and doubted my perception.  

Yup, that's as far as I got.  Two of the above are already cited on my website.  I felt the desperation to find more, scurried a little until the overwhelm washed over me, and then I switched tasks, as is my habit.  One of these days I'll really write that post, Not too tight, Not too loose, on managing a creative work flow.  But. not. today.  

Do you notice how that is now a hip way to speak to an audience?  But. not.  Emphasis given via a stopping point.