Passing The Love: Four Kick Ass Blogger Awards

On August 18th, I was thrilled to receive a Kick Ass Blogger award, compliments of Kelso of the The Brimstone-Daily Pitchfork.

As an awardee, I am to pass along five of these to other bloggers, who in turn may do the same. I have many favorites, and tend to mull over things if I'm worried someone's feelings will be hurt, so choosing was hard. Enough of the procrastination.

In general, I looked for some combination of originality, creativity, the ability to synthesize information, decent writing, depth, and/or making a post or story entertaining or thought-provoking. I need not agree with all their opinions, either, as I wouldn't expect readers and other bloggers to agree with all of mine.

I like it when someone writes something that does a little risk-taking, and teachers something new, or challenges me and anyone else to look at an issue from a different perspective. Make me smile or laugh once in awhile, and that's a plus.

This covers a lot of blogs! Seriously, we do a bangin' job here in cyberspace, and hit or miss, I appreciate all that we try to do collectively. Also, to my knowledge, I didn't chose one that had already won an award; I like to give someone else a chance.

Here they are, a nice cross-section of blogs, which you are bound to find at least one you'll enjoy, in alphabetical order. Click on the name of the blog and it will link you there:


Daddy B Strong

MacDaddy is a gatekeeper of black culture. He writes about musicians, poets, literature and photography of people, many whom I never heard of, or barely remember. One of my favorite posts by him is James Baldwin To White Racists - Know Your History: The Pain You've Brought To Others And Yourselves.

I think of his extraordinarily unique blog as an appetizer. It whets the palate and brings to life the creativity and accomplishments of those who came before our generation, and how fantastically and soulfully blacks entertained each other and when possible, the world.


Raving Black Lunatic

In his non-cyber life, Big Man is a New Orleans journalist with a love for politics. His writing flows and his ideas suck you in. I like his use of humor, too; for example, on this post two days after the Election, he titled it, Afterglow, and began it with, "Somebody pass me a cigarette. And I don't even smoke."

He has so many good posts. If you're still floating on an Obama high and want to relive that day, read, I Baracked That Bitch, where he shared his experience waiting in line to vote.


The Intersection of Madness & Reality

Laughter is one of the keys to my heart, and each day I need something funny. Rippa is one of those bloggers I turn to. Many of his posts are social or political commentaries loaded with urban humor, that is raw and at times raunchy.

Fine with me; I have many happy memories listening to the men and women folk in my fam poke fun at everyone and had a took no prisoners approach to laughter.


Stuff White People Do
(Not to be confused with Stuff White People Like)

Macon D. is a man who thoroughly explores the Achilles heel of white attitudes and their behavior patterns, both historically and in the present. What makes him unique is that he himself is white, yet he digs deep enough to be a college professor of African American studies.

He catalogues his experiences as a white man, analyzes the role of racism in politics and social trends, and writes or shares book reviews. He titles his posts in a unique way, so that at first glance it may appear odd, but if you add the words, Stuff white people do in front of it, bingo!

Macon also wrote one of the best articles I have ever read on the irony of affirmative action and despite the racist-based myth many whites hold, it benefits them more than minorities.


Awardees, email me and I'll give you the specifics of registering and posting your award on your site if you'd like.


Addendum - I planned to pass out one to Adam (below), but since he never got back to me after nearly two weeks, I can only assume he wasn't interested in his award. I've since discovered that not every blogger is, and I'm okay with that; I'll pass it along in the future to someone else who will like it. Here's a shout out to Adam:

Honorary Mention: Adam's Weblog

I stumbled across him while looking through the black weblog categories, where he had been nominated in the LBGT category. He didn't win this year, but I found Adam to be a highly entertaining young brotha. He shares his personal, well-written stories of gay, black culture in New York City, and be warned, some of them are not for the squeamishly homophobic.

His favorite recent post of mine was around Halloween, titled, Now That's Scary, which straights and gays alike will enjoy. He is currently writing a book.