aw, shucks

The author of Midwestern Exposure tapped me for the peer-driven Stylish Blogger Award yesterday. Aw shucks. I’d like to thank the academy, my agent, my hairdresser….no wait, wrong acceptance speech. Seriously, it is always humbling (and secretly thrilling) when someone tells you that they like what you are doing.

Appreciation is best shared out loud. It feels good to pat someone on the back and say “keep up the good work.”  Blogging is a communal effort (at it’s best) so I will pass along the Stylish Blogger Award to the bloggers I feel deserve it.  The fine print: the Stylish Blogger Award is modeled on a chain-letter, with the following (optional) obligations:

1. Thank the person who recognized you.

Thanks Midwestern Exposure! Your site is one of my newly-found favorites.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

• My Mom is my hero.
• I’m a Democrat with a strong Libertarian streak.
• I am a news junkie, and a bit of a political junkie.
• I believe the free and unfettered access to information will save the world by making us all realize we are more alike than different.
• One of my earliest memories is the public library in our home town in Wisconsin. In sixth grade I volunteered to work in our school library. I think it may have been destined to be a librarian.
• I have a lot of interests (cooking, quilting, beading, drawing, photography, reading, teaching, cultural preservation) that pull me in many directions. I think that makes me a more well-rounded person but fear it means I won’t be really good at any one thing.
• I don’t share things about myself easily, I prefer to do that through my images and professional life. But there you go, seven things about me.

3. Recognize 15 other bloggers (or however many you like, if you don’t read that many blogs) whom you admire by passing the award along to them.

Romantoes Rosemary and Tom are both academics with great senses of humor. They write about academia, renovating their house, cooking, and so much more. Rosemary is a folklorist, which is a profession that I get to participate in vicariously through her and my brother.

Leaf, Stitch, Word Jane teaches at MIT. Her blog is filled with her observations from the classroom as well as her other interests including gardening and writing. I’ve never met Jane in person, but I would really like to some day.

AltTedium Her masthead says “It’s the same old boring photo everyone takes but this one is mine.” She’s funny, quirky, honest, and another person I would really like to meet in person some day. [I’m not stalking…I know these bloggers via Rosemary at Romantoes, so when I say I want to meet them in person I’m not being creepy. Really.]

Work of the Hand Henry blogs about bookbinding and his experience learning the craft. He was my student, and he is really talented. I think he is going to be a great conservator someday if he keeps at it. I’m so proud of him.

Webdeb 90 Phyllis Greene is amazing. She is in her 90’s and blogging about life in Hospice. Intensely personal and very humbling. She hasn’t posted in a while and I fear this may mean that she is no longer with us. If true, Godspeed Phyllis, you have opened my eyes even more to end of life issues and how we need to have more compassion for our elders as a society.

Cheap, Healthy, Good Just that. This collection of authors write about intentionally living better and cooking healthy food on a budget. I read this blog every day.

Pioneer Woman Cooks Very, very popular. Besides her fantastic recipes I love Ree because she is dedicated to making life work where she is. She is another person with a variety of interests and responsibilities yet somehow she manages to make it all work.

Not So Humble Pie “I’m just your typical nerdy biological anthropologist turned stay at home mom and baker of sometimes strange goodies.” What more do you need to know? be sure to read the science cookie roundups.

Smitten Kitchen Another popular cooking blog. Fantastic images and the recipes never disappoint.

Cake Wrecks Because everyone needs to laugh and this blog gives me my daily dose. It also makes me wonder how on earth there can be so many bad spellers out there? We need to better fund our schools people.

Parks Library Preservation My peeps! Hilary, Melissa and Mindy (and all the crew at PLP) write one of the best library conservation blogs out there, in my opinion. They make conservation accessible to people who don’t really understand what it is that we library conservators do.

Library Preservation 2 Another person I’d like to meet in person some day. Kevin writes about conservation and has been an author for and supporter of my professional blogs. I’m so happy he is back in the blogosphere.

PCAN OK, this is an admittedly narcissistic addition but I’m really proud of what me and my co-author Holly are trying to do with this site (the award would go to Holly for getting this site running). Are we successful? yes and no, but we really think that PCAN fills a void out there in our profession and are trying to make it useful in that way.

Devil’s Tale Amy finds some amazing things in the Duke University Libraries Rare Books, Manuscripts and Special Collections Library. She also writes with a sly sense of humor and quick wit.

Digital Collections Blog Another work-related blog, this one highlights the fantastic work that is happening at Duke to digitally convert our collections so that they are more accessible via the web. Of all the contributers to this blog, Rich probably writes the best posts: funny, clever, a bit off-beat. All the authors are good, Rich is wicked good.