Blogs That Make Me Think

A couple of weeks back, while I was on vacation, my writer-friend Dorcas, whose blog is here, tagged me as one of the blogs that make her think. Besides feeling very honored, since Dorcas is one of those people who can write about Ordinary Days in a way that makes each moment extraordinarily beautiful, now I actually have to think about which blogs make me think (though I have been assured that my toaster will not explode if I do not tag anyone else, which is good since I've been taking my sweet time thinking about this!)

Pondering this, I've realized I don't really go out of my way to read blogs that make me think. I don't read a lot of political blogs, activist blogs, historical or geographical blogs. Mostly I like reading people's personal journeys with the topics that inspire them the most. So on that front, I've been most inspired to thought by blogs from two triathletes:

J. at Ironman Life, who can write about Ben Gay and being stuck on hold with Verizon's customer service and make it all so hysterically interesting you just have to keep reading.

and TriJack, who often intersperses his journey of training for the Ironman with writings about his life as an ER doc and single father to four young kids. I will sometimes find myself days later pondering something he said.

On the Unschooling front, Sandra Dodd has made me think for years and years, and re-examine assumptions and question old realities. She's not afraid of putting her strong opinions out there, and while I don't always agree, they always make me think.

There's also Doc's Sunrise Rants. Not confining herself to just matters of homeschooling, Doc touches on diversity, events in her life, her farm, and all kinds of matters of interest. She also puts together a blog carnival called The Country Fair that's always inspiring.

And a blog that has nothing to do with unschooling, triathlons, or any of that, but always makes me think is Allison's An Unsealed Room: A Window on Life in Israel. I "met" Allison on a due-date email list. The only thing all of the women on the list had in common is that we were all due with a child in September of 1996. It's one of the things I am most grateful to the internet for: the ability to see and hear about lives that are very different from our own. Allison is a great writer who always has something interesting to say, from a perspective I might not have considered.

All in all, the internet brings such a great variety of people, ideas, and viewpoints to our doorstep. It's an everyday miracle that we typically take for granted. Just thinking about this post has made me realize how much I would miss these faraway voices if I didn't get to hear them again. So here's a moment of gratefulness for the internet, and for the people who choose to put their thoughts out here for the rest of us to ponder.