I read hundreds of blogs a day: posts, comments, the whole schmear. I may include posts I find interesting in my daily Catching My Eye feature. When a post deserves more commentary or analysis than seems reasonable for CME, I’ll cite it in a post of my own. And I do have favorite blogs.
I’m pretty stingy with my blogroll, though. It’s not just for blogs I link to, or blogs I agree with, or blogs I read, or even blogs that I enjoy. It’s for blogs that have such consistently high quality that I feel that some special recognition is in order. It’s not much of an award but it’s the most I have to offer—my respect.
I’ve been reading Joseph Marshall’s comments in various blogs (particularly Winds of Change) for some time now. He’s appeared to be slightly to the left of me politically and he’s certainly more of an activist than I am. I discovered his blog, A Straight Shot of Politics, not long ago and since then it’s been a daily read for me. For some reason, although it definitely caught my eye, I didn’t cite his post, Polio, a reflection on our shared childhood experience of polio vaccine, common societal purpose, and the changes in our society over the years.
I did cite his post, The Power of Prayer, a discussion of the role of prayer in Buddhism.
When I read his next exquisite post, The Laborer is Worthy of His Hire, a reflection on craftmanship, furniture-making, and changes in the American character, I realized that a link wouldn’t do it. So, welcome to my blogroll, Joseph! I look forward to going through your archives and discovering how we agree, how we disagree, and learning something along the way.
…and I will follow your link!
So your respect and recommendation is worth +1 pair of eyes, at a minimum.