The Rising Blogger » Mimi Lenox

Other Things Amanzi

Mimi Lenox — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:34:00 +0000

What would you do if had to save a cold-blooded killer’s life? What if it fell to you, on any given day, to remain impartial, silent, non-judgmental, professional … stoic? Could you separate your feelings and do your job?

Family was written in the notoriously crime-ridden province of South Africa’s Mpumalanga. Bongi, the writer of the amazing other things amanzi is a general surgeon who was faced with such a choice.

He writes: “They took the old lady into a back room. Two things happened then. The man, left alone, had a chance to unlock his safe and get his own gun out. The criminals, meanwhile, made the woman kneel down and, as a sort of initiation-type thing, one of them put a bullet through her. They then came out of the room, assumably [sic] to do the same to the old man. Imagine their surprise when they walked into a blazing gun.”

What happened next led Bongi down a post-surgical path he’d never walked. While the post is undeniably horrific and sad, it is also honestly written and powerful. It will leave you recalculating — carefully — the meaning of its title: Family.

Review by Mimi Lenox.Popular Posts:

Technorati Tags: All Things Amanzi, Post of the Day Award, The Rising Blogger

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Shearyadi’s World

JHSEsq — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:33:00 +0000

The Great White Whale. The Orangutan Crisis. Greenpeace. StopWhaling.org. Giant Chinese Sturgeon. Corruption.

The guy has passion.

Shearyadi’s World is full of magnificent animal pics and purpose-filled posts about saving not just his world — but our world. Wanna talk about environmental issues? Climate change? Political bantering about global warming and the Alaska Polar Bear? It’s all here.

Today’s Post of the Day, The Talks on Climate Change and Animals Extinction, begins: “This is totally insane and immature state of behaviour by some people when dealing with such important issues like global warming and animals extinction.” Read on to find out why Shearyadi believes that. By the time I finished reading the post, I was nodding my head in agreement and seeing things in a different light. Shearyadi cites statistics, and uses well-placed photos and stunning videos to make his points. It’s heady stuff written from a passionate point of view. What is the source of his anger in this post? What human greedy hobby pushed him over the proverbial iceberg’s edge? The Post of the Day is self-explanatory.

Review written by Mimi Lenox.
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Sojourner’s Place

JHSEsq — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:12:00 +0000

She describes herself as “One Christian, African-American, Wife, Mother, Daughter, Sister, Professional, Sorority Woman just Sojourning for the Truth and not afraid to tell it!” Her blog is thought-provoking, beautiful, and politically afire. A constant flow of faith and rock-solid belief in the potential of the human spirit underscores her writing. Her people, her God, her life — all she places on the page with dignity and a loud, gentle truth.

Today’s Post of the Day is Saggin’ Pants, which seems to be the topic of the hour in many places. The Washington Post Blog reported on it and towns from Louisiana to Florida to California are considering a ban on men wearing “droopin’ drawers,” a Southern euphemism, and showing their underwear in public. (Presumably, this applies to women and girls, too.)

I never “got it” so completely until I read Sojourner’s views on the matter. The following excerpt was taken from a 22-year-old college student’s email to Sojourner after having been approached for a date by a wearer of said saggy pants: “The first thing I told him to do was to pull up his pants! He asked why, then said he liked saggin’ his pants. I told him to come over to my computer and spell the word saggin’. Then I told him to write the word saggin’ backwards.”

In today’s emotionally charged political climate, where equality and the N-word are at the forefront, the simple truth of racism is the heart of the matter. I found this post to be historically spot-on and an informative and valuable read. Reaching beyond stereotypes and exposing her version of the truth –spiritually bold though it is — Sojourner strives to be a clear voice for African-American women in the blogosphere. Whether you agree with her politics is not the issue. You won’t find any skirtin’ round the issues at Sojourner’s Place.

For that reason, The Rising Blogger is proud to recognize Saggin’ Pants.

Review written by Mimi Lenox.Popular Posts:

Technorati Tags: Post of the Day Award, Sojourner’s Place, The Rising Blogger

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Rubber Slippers in Italy

JHSEsq — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:19:00 +0000

Nestled in the province of Lecco, Italy there lives a Hawaiian girl named Rowena and her dog. Oh. And there’s husband too. This magical place on the Internet is called Rubber Slippers in Italy Italy. Today they are taking a Walk In The Woods, one of many adventures large and small that has become part and parcel of this couple’s life. They are frolicking in the hills of France with their adorable dog Maddie. You might think this a typical vacation-type blog at first glance. Dig a little deeper and you find post after post of beautiful original photographs of their travels — commentary by Maddie — and a sense of adventure and love between a young husband and wife.

It’s charming.

One of my favorite shots is the one you see here of Maddie in Paris.

The caption reads, “What I wouldn’t give to bury a bone under the Eiffel Tower.“

Give yourself a virtual vacation on this mid-summer day and lounge around in Rowena’s wonderful blog. There are no lines, no hotel fees, no airline blunders and delicious places to visit seen through the eyes of young love.

Oh! Rowena’s blog has just been named a Blog Of Note by Blogger. Please send her a congratulatory salute and then put on your walking shoes. A Walk In The Woods is the The Rising Blogger’s Post Of the Day.

You don’t know French or Italian? No worries.

Maddie knows the language.

Review written by MIMI LENOX.

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From Gaza With Love

JHSEsq — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:44:00 +0000

“When one is in a hole, it is imperative to stop digging. If we are to win our freedom, surely it will not be done with one brother digging the grave of another.“
Dr. Mona El-Farra knows what she’s talking about.

Today’s winning post is dated June 14, 2008 and it is called Quest For Freedom. Don’t expect fluff and flowers. The author has been explaining to the blog world for quite some time. Listen to the voice of one woman all the way back from 2006 as recorded on her blog From Gaza, with Love. “Sitting in my office, at the red crescent society for Gaza Strip, being unable to focus on what a im doing, the sound of the artillery shelling is too loud, it is so loud and makes me think all the time, what is the casualty outcome??When and where??”… and then this…“I could not sleep, shooting continued all through the night, so continuous and close to my building that my daughter was frightened. We both chose to sleep on the floor of my bedroom. I hardly slept.”

Things have not changed. Dr. Mona El-Farra is a physician, human rights activist, and citizen of Palestine — who writes a blog. Not just any ole’ blog. She pens her thoughts from The Occupied Gaza Strip by the Mediterranean Sea. Conditions in her part of the world make my excuses for not posting today laughable at best. Her topics range from women and health issues to human rights to the everyday violence she sees all around. But there is no sensationalism here. Just the truth.

Today, the doctor wants to tell me about a choice she had to make and why she made it. She also needs to say something else. She needs to tell me — anybody — that she is not a number, that she is still alive and that her world and her people just want to live in peace. Sitting by a seaside window watching her beloved sea and the fishing boats, she just as quickly sees it all wash away by the gunboat’s warning fires — all reminders to Mona that her moments of peace by the water are fleeting. “Hearing about Gaza is much different than living in Gaza,” writes Dr. El-Farra.

So, she takes us on a tour of her world, a very personal tour, apologizing all the while for not posting and keeping us informed. With 10 litres of petrol and seemingly a million choices in her occupied land, she goes to.…no. I won’t tell you.

As riveting as this post is, I could not stop reading just one and spent some time getting to know her and the life she has bravely lived for years. She described her world in one post as living in a “big prison like Gaza.” Imagine viewing your life as a prisoner. And why does Mona write? Let her tell you. “I write to keep the link between myself and the outside world , the normal natural world ‚with a deep feeling that I am like all of us in Gaza , we don’t belong to this world any more.…..it was not nice of me, not to update my blog, and to keep you informed about my life in Gaza.” In a recent interview she expressed how her writing helps her feel that she is not alone. Most of us know that feeling. Few know it as well as Dr. El-Farra.

If anyone has an excuse for not posting today, it’s the Palestinian doctor. Her fascinating blog is a must read. We are honored to recognize her post Quest For Freedom as The Rising Blogger’s Post of The Day.

Review written by MIMI LENOX.

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Home in France

JHSEsq — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:18:00 +0000

“Sometimes, life only gives us one chance, and if you don’t grab it, there might not be more where that came from,” writes Barbara in a terrific post called Gone in the skip of a heartbeat. I’ve been following this wonderful blog Home In France for some time, where an intelligent and articulate writer gives us her view of the world from the shadows of the Eiffel Tower.

Our winning post today is an exciting collection of a few very short articles from Metro France called Le courrier du coeur des metronautes ( the love column of the Metro readers) — a publication that is found worldwide in train stations around the globe. They are emails or letters that people have written to someone they noticed that they don’t know how to contact, a sort of cat-and-mouse connection game, often fulled of publicly inappropriate thoughts and desires written by a love-struck passenger or restaurant diner. Intrigue strikes in the strangest places.

Imagine opening the morning paper and reading this: “Everyday at noon , I eat at the Cora cafeteria at Massy.Everyday at noon,you smile at me.Everyday at noon,I smile back at you.….”

This is just one example of the interesting snippets Barbara has highlighted in this fascinating and well-written post. You’ll love this read.

Wouldn’t you like to get a message like this from a stranger? “Your look is intense and it makes my desire grow. You secretly send me smiles, while your husband turns his back. …” Well, maybe you wouldn’t!

Thanks, Barbara from Home In France, for making the world seem just a bit smaller — and warmer — this chilly March morning in America. You have written The Rising Blogger’s Post of The Day.

Written by MIMI LENOX.

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And As the World Turns

JHSEsq — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:08:00 +0000

One phone call can change it all.

Our perspective, our sense of what is fair and just in this world, the nice warm snuggly feeling when all is going well in the safe bubble we call life. But this post is not about life.

It is about death.
And love.
And a span of time given unselfishly by someone who chose to leave with grace and strength. That is what I will remember about this post.

The simplicity of love.
Its power.
And its unwillingness to let anything change it.

Although the subject gives us reason to grieve — it is still full of joy –told succintly and honestly by a woman with a sweet memory to share and an axe to grind with a dreaded disease. Turnbaby, who authors the blog And As The World Turns usually writes witty, upbeat, and happy posts. Her popular blog is full of frivolity, friendship and fun that mirrors the zany (and thought provoking) dialogues heard on her weekly BlogTalk Radio Show. This post was different. It is called “The Last Goodbye” and is The Rising Blogger’s Post of the Day. It gave me pause.

One day the phone rang. She recalls.….

“I don’t remember how he started the conversation. I do remember that he told me I should close my door.” What followed in this piece is what I like to call “stealin’ a piece of time” (thank you, Bon Jovi). It’s those moments in life that stop you on a dime.

A revelation rocks your world.
A change is made.
An internal shift is recognized.
What matters most is staring you straight in the face.

The most powerful truths can sometimes be heard in the simplest of messages.
An hour, fifteen minutes, five minutes? How long does it really take to say what matters?

We should all be so brave as the man on the other end of the phone.

Review written by MIMI LENOX.

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Tarheel Ramblings

JHSEsq — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:58:00 +0000

The scope and sequence of this post is simple.

Lee changed his mind.Then he changed his blog. Then his blog changed him. Or was it the other way around?
In the course of four months, this relatively new blogger (although certainly not a new writer or photographer) melded into a community of blog pros offering his own Carolina brand of “real.” As real as any Tarheel sojourner can get, one “Lee” of Tarheel Ramblings knows a thing or two about reassessment. And not just recently.

In this short and meaningful post called Motivations Change written February 8, 2008, he honestly divulges the beginnings of his blog days and what they meant to him — and then slaps himself silly with a revelation. At first he had a lot to rail against and rant about; I imagine he still does. He wanted to spill them onto a blog page for posterity. What he didn’t count on was getting caught in a web of people who would become more to him than just anonymous commenters and debate fodder. Suddenly, it wasn’t all about him. It wasn’t about him at all.

Lee clearly echoes the sentiments of many bloggers who wish to say the same.
Lee brought a lot from Carolina with him to the blog table. Today he says about blogging.…
“What I didn’t know is that I would become part of a virtual community that is less self-absorbed than I tend to be. The blogosphere is filled with humor, compassion, support and a sense of community that is often lacking in the real world. .….…In other words, friendships are developed, relationships are built, and growth happens. All through participation in this thing called blogging. “

He clearly echoes the sentiments of many bloggers who wish to say the same. We wish to say “Welcome to the blogworld, Lee.” Most days, it’s a fine place to be. And you’re doing just great.

You’ve won The Rising Blogger’s Post of The Day for writing such an honest post full of self-realization and promise. We look forward to more of your writing — and awesome photography — in the future. Congratulations!

Review written by MIMI LENOX.

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Daisy the Curly Cat

JHSEsq — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:16:00 +0000

I should title this review “Don’t Tell Daisy” because well.….I have a few things I’d like to share with you that Daisy shouldn’t know. First of all, I’m not a cat person (don’t tell Daisy). Secondly, a non-human has never won this award as far as I can tell. There have been kings, cowbells, cowgirls and even a faux dragon once but never a feline. (shhh…dont’ tell Daisy). I have gained a new respect for cat people in general because of, you guessed it, Daisy The Curly Cat. I think she’s the wisest non-human I know. At left you see Daisy Doing Some Reflecting. See what I mean? Nothing escapes her attention. Not war and peace, lizards, not beauty pageants, not catnip, not Jumping Beans, and certainly not romance. You see, Daisy is in the throes of a passionate affair with her one-and-only Skeezix the Cat. I heard through the catvine that they even made a video. It was scatandolous.

Even if you’re not a cat blogger, gerbil blogger, dog blogger or dragon blogger it really doesn’t matter. Daisy makes everyday silly fun with her outrageous sense of fashion (she likes frilly pink things) and regal photographs. You might find her everyday antics crowned with 80–100 comments a day. Fans in the blogosphere — human and non — love her. Her best friend and Mommy spends an enormous amount of time entertaining us by making creative cartoons featuring her beloved pet Daisy, wearing the latest designer clothes from only the best in cat couture. There’s a comical story to go with each adventure on Daisy’s site.
Take a look at this photo of Daisy with the Lizard who is about to meet the lizard Maker. Now that’s high drama.

Welcome to her curly world.

But don’t let her frilliness fool you. She’s been after this Lizard for weeks — poor guy. He’s already been smashed with a hot massage stone and nearly boiled to death in the soup pot. Daisy just smiles and stirs.

Today’s winning essay is called “Sunday Comics With Daisy” — written and starred in by this intensely mischievous feline. Congratulations, you have written The Rising Blogger’s Post of The Day.

I think I’m now a cat person.

But don’t tell Daisy.

Review written by MIMI LENOX.Popular Posts:

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Cheese in My Shoe

JHSEsq — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 17:32:00 +0000

“Just hours earlier I was at home, icing my oldest child’s birthday cake, laughing with my aunt and my mom about how huge my belly was. How could this possibly be happening? And why? What did I do wrong? Why did God turn away at that moment and not protect me? I instantly wanted my child.”

Sometimes you read a post and immediately admire the courage it took to write it down in the first place. This was such a read. What Pinky and her family experienced is, unfortunately, not uncommon; what is remarkable is how her universal experience of grief is still fresh on the page. Babies.…memories.….was written in honor of a special little girl whose parents chose to name her Angel. It is also a step forward for her mother, who struggled with the decision to divulge so much of herself in a blog post. What she found included a community of readers who appreciated her honest bravery and chose to uphold, support, and empathize. The response she received to her emotionally raw expose demonstrates the best of the blogworld in action. I doubt she will think twice again before hesitating to spill her heart.

So, Pinky, The Rising Blogger applauds your decision to be transparent. The blog is called Cheese in My Shoe. You are in fine company with your blogging friends and you have written our Post of the Day.

Review written by MIMI LENOX.

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