pokey’s blog blog

We’re taking a wee break from the Pokey-and-the-Guidesses riff. Pokey’s been laid low with a walloping flu-like thing and spent a better part of the week dazedly clicking around the blogiverse.

She got a trifle over- stimulated and had to drink a lot of tea and talk herself off a stratospheric ledge of doubt—wondering why she wasn’t all atweet and atumblr and was she getting enough hits (can you think of a more terrible word for people reading your work?)

but return to earth she did. Because, unlike the lightning speed with which massive quantities of information travel to our devices, Pokey is all about…pokiness. Getting- to- know-you-ness. And, as you can see: hyphenation-ness. Drawing things out. Pokey likes to take it slow, and she really hasn’t time or inclination to barrage you with her mundane dailyness and if you’re reading this blog, I suspect that’s the way you like it, too.

That said—she did wander into blogs (daily and more-than-daily) that were definitely worth the looking. It’s amazing how varied blogs can be, and I love that I am invited to eavesdrop on such a variety of obsessions. (No, not the kinky ones!) I found the blogs I enjoy most are weirdly intimate, in a way that seems diametrically opposed to the extremely public nature of the medium, but that’s exactly the kind of complexity Pokey eats up.

So, in addition to the links I already have on the sidebar, here are a few places you might want to visit when next you have some time on your hands. if you’re a Mother AND… that may be awhile, but just in case YOU get sick, too.

Obviously, this is by no means an exhaustive list—just a little taste of what’s on the menu out there.

This first one is my friend Kate’s blog, Tales from the Clink. Kate, as she describes it, is: an ELL Teacher, reading specialist, social justice advocate, aging athlete, tree hugger, bulletproof wife and mom. Kate is a total animal (and I mean that in the best way). She used to work with young offenders, but now teaches at a regular old underfunded public middle school. Guess which is harder?

Another blog I love is Navelgazer. Full disclosure: the Gazer sent Pokey the sweetest fan mail she’s ever received, which of course sent me to look at her site, and then I felt extra happy because a mutual admiration society was formed right then and there. Navel Gazer is a visual-textual extravaganza, a treasure box full of shiny, yummy, quirky treats.  The White Sox, writing, photos of the neighborhood laundromat—it’s all fair game.  Go, look, enjoy!

Her Bad Mother initially got me because of the name, of course, and then because of the Bad Mother Manifesto:  The only persons who can measure our mother-worthiness are our children, and even they are unreliable. Yes.

Unlike Pokey, Bad is a player in the mommy blogging universe, and has won all kinds of awards and such. Well, sometimes, reader, the people who win really are talented (see Jaimy Gordon’s amazing Lord of Misrule, that won the National Book Award) , and Bad is one of those: solid writing that’s funny but not afraid to go to the dark side, Pokey’s favorite combo. Yes, there are ads, but read around them—it’s worth it.

What I like about Book of Kells is that even though Kelli is a poet and it’s a writer’s blog, it doesn’t have that insiderish, clubby feel that makes Pokey’s skin crawl. Instead there’s openness, and a sense of commitment to writing and writers that truly feels inclusive, especially where women writers are concerned. Pokey is all over that. Check out Kell’s Woman’s Guide to Success in Writing post. Good stuff there.

The very last blog I want to tell you about is…drum roll…my daughter’s blog. Yes, she’s 12, and Pokey wasn’t so sure at first if this was a good idea. Just between you, me and The Google, I kind of dragged my feet when she asked me to help her set it up. You know, she’s 12 , and 12 is that time when you try a whole lot of stuff on— including that rainbow-y studded belt you absolutely had to have—and end up leaving most of it on the closet floor. That’s OK. It’s what we’re supposed to do when we’re evolving (yes, Pokey’s still doing it!) but I wasn’t so crazy about spending a lot of time on a passing phase, and I worried about privacy and exposure and all that, because yes, Pokey can be quite the hen.

I’m here to tell you that it’s just fine. Like most kids her age she’s incredibly agile with technology and not much intimidated by the idea of public failure (as long as it’s virtual) and she had her blog up and running way faster than Pokey did.  It’s called My Beautiful Window to the World and (in her own words) she writes about:

..music, photography, art, fashion, tea, traffic lights, dinosaurs, beauty, and everything in between . .

What can I say?

Her blog is smart and colorful and far-ranging, just like her own self. And if you visit it, you may also notice some similarity to Ye Old Pokey Mama. Meaning, she copied my design template! She likes the way my blog looks! Natch, this pleases me terribly, which is why I’m gloating here (with her permission) because, according to said daughter, I have zero style and am generally clueless.

Having written these words I understand she will probably make haste to change the look of her blog, but not before I savor this brief moment where I can imagine that perhaps, maybe, possibly, Pokey is not such a terribly, ridiculously bad mom after all.

Now go—see The World Wide Web. But don’t overdo. I don’t want to have to talk you down from a ledge.

Oh—and please! Leave a comment and tell Pokey about your favorite places to visit on the web.