Blog Day 2007 - Five Blogs That Captivate My Mind and Touch My Heart

Today is blog Day 2007! Each blog owner that participates lists their 5 favorite blogs, ones that they visit often, as much as every day. This gives me the opportunity to point out Bloggers who deserve some recognition.

Blogging can be a lonely task. As a writer, it feels good to get my thoughts out but also, as a writer, I long to be read. There are trackers and counters that let me know if anyone is listening but often, especially in the beginning, I felt like I was working within a vacuum with no one to bounce ideas off but myself.

Since becoming more involved in the blogging community, I don't feel that way anymore. Most days I get a few comments. I love that! And the feedback from the members of Blog Catalog has been so exciting. I'm glad that what I post about resonates with people. Maybe it will move someone to action or maybe it will just make them think. Either way, reader participation has made my experience with blogging much more meaningful. I thank each of you, especially Peter at Scruffyhippo's Blog, for adding me to his list for Blog Day.

Blog day 2007, gives me a chance to direct you to a few blogs that have captivated me, more for the unique voice of their owners than the slick look of the page. They are beautiful to me because of the people who run them. They put their psyches and hearts on the line with each post. I can only say thanks for opening my eyes and allowing me a glimpse into the windows of your souls.

Here is my list. Please visit these blogs. If you enjoy them, let the owners know that they are not writing inside a vacuum and their thoughts and ideas are heard.

The Wishful Writer - I can't say enough about Heather. I plug her blog every chance I get. The only way to describe my fascination with her writing is to say that she gently pulls me into her living room, sits me down in a comfortable chair, and laughs and cries with me like an old friend. She's my own personal Hollis Gillespie and that is a BIG compliment.

Eavesdrop Writer - She works in law enforcement. She writes. She listens in on other people's conversations. How cool is that! This is another blog that I send love to whenever I can. In transcript-like form, Vienne shares the overheard details. What I love most is she is an observer and let's me draw my own conclusions about the people she's encountered. No judgment, just great fodder for my building the characters in my next short story or novel.

Caught In The Stream - Pointedly political but also extremely intimate. I love this blog because Francis is clearly a highly intelligent man. When I spend time with his blog, I imagine Francis saying, "Why sure, Lisa, you can pick my brain for a little while. What do you want to know?"

He also has a unique habit of searching out obscure songs whose lyrics fit the theme of his post. Which I think is brilliant!

OMYWORD! Did I Say That? - Lisa Wines is what I want to be. Enough said, except I should probably explain. She lives life on her own terms. she opinionated, funny, deeply thoughtful, strong and fearless. Every post makes me laugh but what holds me is not the laughter, it's the fact that for the rest of the day I think about what she said and wonder why I never thought of it that way before.

Lisa McMann - My friend, Lisa, is the author of two young adult novels, Wake and Fade. Wake is set to hit the shelves next spring. Her website updates her progress. She is an inspiration to me. Just as Lisa Wines is what I want to be in personal life, Lisa McMann is my beacon in the dark fuzzy world of publishing. She's ahead of me in the process and gracious enough to look back and shine a flashlight in my direction. Come hither, dear writer, this is the way...lol (that's me laughing in chat lingo, in case you didn't know).

Those are my five but I could go on and on. I've discovered so many wonderful blogs while surfing through Blog Catalog and other resources. I'd love to give them all some love. There is time, I'll have to be patient.

Homelessness - Thinking About It Differently

Years ago, I attempted to write my first novel about a bored, naïve woman who befriends a group of homeless men. In the process, she finds friendship with an old man I called Geezer and falls in love with another who is “not your typical homeless person.”

The result, like most first novels, was not my best work. I finally understand how my concept of the homeless was even more naïve than the protagonist I created. It’s just not that simple and the stereotypes, like all stereotypes, don’t hold up under scrutiny.


I found a truer depiction of homelessness in the memoir The Glass Castle. Jeannette Walls unabashedly lays before the reader a map of her family, one that many times chose poverty over comfort. Her parents, unconventional, artist types, lived on the edge of society and modeled their quirky values for their children.

But were they? Is it really quirky to find good in the most absurd situations? When her mother tried to pull a piano into the house using a truck and she floored the gas, sending the piano flying into the back yard, her reaction was crazy with adaptability. Instead of cursing and crying Jeannette’s mother said – isn’t it wonderful that the neighbors will be able to enjoy the music when I play.

After squatting in an abandoned building for many years, Jeannette’s parents organized a squatters association and bought the building for a very small price. They were proud people, unwilling and unable to be pigeonholed by society.

I wasn’t sure about this portrayal, until yesterday, when I researched Kevin Barbieux, aka The Homeless Guy. He’s become an internet celebrity with his blog about homelessness. Kevin lives on, in, and around the streets of Nashville, Tennessee. He blogs from a donated laptop with the help of free Wi-fi at coffee shops.

Kevin’s insights have again honed my ideas about people that live on the streets. He most closely resembles the “not so typical homeless man” in my novel. He keeps clean the best he can. Intelligent and thoughtful, he contributes to society by doing projects at the local community church. He writes with a lucidity I still aspire to. He’s not a druggie or an alcoholic.

Why is he homeless? He doesn’t really understand it either. Kevin feels he has social anxiety. He is a square peg in the round hole of a capitalist machine. He doesn’t fit well into the mold. So, for the past 20 odd years he’s done the best he knows how.

If I ever decide to resurrect my manuscript, I’ll do three things first – pull out my copy of The Glass Castle. I’ll open Kevin’s blog and read all the entries I can find. Then I’ll curl up in my warm house with a bowl of popcorn and watch The Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith (the story of a homeless father working his hardest to get off the street).

I’ll pull myself out of my privileged life and see the homeless clearly, with all their diversity, individual needs, struggles, and complexity. And only when I’ve achieved that clarity, will I attempt again to write about them.

Compassion - What is it Exactly?

Compassion is described as an emotion that is a sense of shared suffering, most often combined with a desire to alleviate or reduce the suffering of another. Compassion essentially arises through empathy, and is often characterized through actions, wherein a person acting with compassion will seek to aid those they feel compassionate for.

I come from a family of highly empathetic people. My mother is a sympathizer. She takes on your worry and makes it her own. She’s been known to bake pies and deliver arm loads of fresh vegetables just to cheer a soul up. My father is a fixer. You call him, he’ll fix it. My birth mother marched, protested and got arrested in the turbulent ‘70’s. My husband stops for distressed motorists and helps to push broken vehicles out of busy intersections. I seem to feel everyone’s pain and have an intense desire to “take care of” and “make it better” for those who cross my path, even a pigeon with a broken wing. And our children have their grandmother’s penchant for bringing home stray animals.

Adolph Hitler once said that compassion is for the weak. He was wrong. I am not weak nor are the others in my family who taught compassion to me. On the contrary, they have a quiet, peaceful strength that I’m sure Hitler never imagined existed.

In his teaching on compassion, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, “If you have a sincere and open heart, you naturally feel self- worth and confidence, and there is no need to be fearful of others.”

I believe Hitler was a very fearful man. The Dalai Lama is not. The contrast is stark and clear.

The Dalai Lama also said, "I believe that at every level of society - familial, tribal, national and international - the key to a happier and more successful world is the growth of compassion. We do not need to become religious, nor do we need to believe in an ideology. All that is necessary is for each of us to develop our good human qualities. I try to treat whoever I meet as an old friend. This gives me a genuine feeling of happiness. It is the practice of compassion. "

In the Dalai Lama’s writings on compassion, I found simple explanation and advice about incorporating this concept in to all aspects of my life.

For parents, like me, struggling to teach this virtue to their children, I discovered this short article by Families with Purpose and the link to a book on the subject.

I have much to learn about turning my constant concern into consistent action. I think these resources are a good starting point.