I'm some sort of mixture of flattered and gobsmacked, because i really didn't think anyone would nominate me for a blogging award... anyway, according to Andrea, i need to pick 3 things i believe are "necessary to make writing good and powerful", and 5 people to pass the award on to...
For the 3 things that are necessary to make writing good and powerful, the first thing, IMO, is the ability to see links, parallels, metaphors or universal patterns that are shared by different things. This is something that, stereotypically, autistic people aren't supposed to have, and yet it's consistently the autistic bloggers and writers i know (and, on a wider level, disability bloggers/writers in general) that come up with the most powerful examples of it.
The second thing is something i'm finding it harder to define, but which i think basically boils down to being true to oneself; using one's own personal experience as a standpoint from which to find truth, and applying that truth in deeper and wider contexts - transcending, if you like, the barrier between private and public or personal and political. Representing oneself on one's own terms and without accepting the desires or attempts of others to "know better" about your reality, yet avoiding narcissism by refusing to limit the truths found therein to oneself, but extracting universal relevance from individual experience.
The third thing is something which i don't have anywhere near enough of, but really wish i had more of; the ability to put forward your own beliefs without fear of the controversy that might be engendered by them, or of their misinterpretation by others. There are a lot of things i have written on various message boards and communities that have been misrepresented or caused offence to people with differing viewpoints, and the resulting feelings of shame and feeling like people see me as some sort of bigot, hypocrite, or simply possessor of views that are just too far "beyond the pale" have caused me to give up trying to defend my views, and feel exiled from those communities. There are posts i have written for this blog, but then not posted because of fear that they would be so controversial and divisive that they would turn people i want as my allies against me. I have huge respect and admiration for people with the courage to put their real views out there, however "far out", without this kind of fear of "unacceptability" - who "come not as a lamb to the slaughter, but as a lion to conquer", to take a verse entirely out of context from my Christian days...
So, the 5 people who i am going to give this award to. I have, of course, picked people who didn't get the award from Andrea or from ABFH, who gave it to her, because the point of this is to pass it on...
First is Amanda Baggs of Ballastexistenz - the absolute no-debate choice, standing head and shoulders above anyone else i can think of. Her writing is, to me, some of the most moving, powerful, intelligent and insightful anywhere, let alone on the internet, and epitomises everything i mentioned above. Frankly, i'm amazed that she doesn't appear to have ever recieved this award before...
Lisa Harney of Questioning Transphobia is another fantastic blogger, who is a great writer and, again, someone who, for highlighting the issues that she does, i'm really glad exists.
Elizabeth McClung of Screw Bronze! is another blogger i hugely admire for writing about incredibly dark realities in such a way as to be life-affirming without ever inviting pity or being sentimental, but cracking jokes and kicking ass. Also, this post by her is probably the best defence of blogging i've ever read...
Trinity is another blogger who effortlessly links together issues as disparate as disability rights, BDSM and sex-positive feminism, and is a great writer as well. Her primary blog is The Strangest Alchemy, but as i can't comment on that one because i'm not on LiveJournal, i've commented on her most recent post at Let Them Eat Pro-SM Feminist Safe Spaces, which she is a team member of, in the hope that it reaches her...
Ettina of Abnormaldiversity is another autistic blogger whose thoughts on diversity are extremely similar to my own, and who was among the people whose blogs made me decide to start blogging.
There are loads of other blogs i read that i consider to be the equal in quality of writing and in necessity of content to these; these were just basically the first 5 i thought of. I'm not really sure why nearly all my favourite bloggers currently appear to be Canadian women...
Anyway, just because i like lions (and wild members of the cat family in general), and the lion happens to play a significant role in the iconography and spirituality of a lot of the musical culture i'm into, i thought i'd add a few of my favourite lion images:
("I'm Not Ashamed" by Culture, "Jungle Lion" by Lee Perry and "Conquering Lion" by Yabby You were among the soundtrack to composing this post... which reminds me, i need to revive my music blog... and to blog about why i identify with the figure of Shiva Nataraja...)
3 comments:
holy crap! thank you. :)
Ah, okay, I'm going to have to think about this. :)
All of your choices are awesome. The only one I don't know is Ettina, but I'll check her out.
Amanda Baggs is in/from the US, actually ;-) But, I agree, she would probably be my first pick too if I ever found myself honored with some award I had to pass along.
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