Blogs won't let me wait

Everywhere I look, I see thoughtful, challenging, amusing and well-written posts. What's up with that, huh?

The Colorblind Society's "Stealthy Review"
Meskel Square's "Miss Ethiopia, Supergeek"
Rainmayun's "The Shotgun Theory"
The Life & Times of a Hustlin' Scribe's "Rosewood"
Kyra's Weblog's "My Own Brand of Independence"
tuckergrrrl's "The Film Festival Shuffle"
black looks' "Blogging takes off in Africa"
The Third Decade's "Step-By-Step Gentrification"
Naked Cartwheels' "We're Riding on the Groove Line"

Do your best, leave the rest

One thing I'm finding about reading black bloggers' sites is how often surprising and interesting things happen to them.

They publish short stories in Playgirl.
They attend Blogher (yes, Laina D., Marian, Ambra, Nichelle, Lynne and Tiffany, I'll see you there!)
They give readings from their literary efforts.
They turn 30 years old.
They pass the word about missing women of color.
They pass the word about church efforts to end violence against gays.
They pass the word about famine in Niger.
They turn Toronto into a Carribean paradise for a weekend.

Wednesday's Top 40

Black Looks' "Water Water"
Githush's "Thurgood Marshall and the Kenyan Constitution"
African Bullets and Honey's "Yes, There Are Slaves in Niger"
mostly AFRICA's "US Pentagon wants more authority to arm & equip African armies" and "Nigeria: report on torture"
The Zimbabwean Pundit's "One trip, one new title and two huge concessions: Mugabe's Chinese venture pays off"

Pandagon's "That Wedding Ring Thing"
Tayari Jones' "Confessions of a Video Vixen"
Anderson@Large's "I Can't Stand the Heat"
Seasoned in the Life's "Black Fraternity Survey"

Palm Trees in the Ghetto's "The Real Blue States"
Nappy Diatribe's "Sunday I went to an old-school hip-hop show"
Stereo Describes My Scenario's "Ath-a-letic"
Sterfish's Place's "Indulge your narcissistic side"
Ghetto Uprising's "Why I download music"
Bullet Proof Soul's "The Greatest Novel Ever Written"

Tuesday's not just another day, is it?

I've been running around all day, so I missed my usual sitdown with Bloglines. I've got some planning to do in the runup to Blogher. If you're going, you should drop me a line at george at allaboutgeorge dot-com or, of course, AIM me at "allaboutgeorge." (If I'm not online, it'll go to my cizzell phizzone. Ah, technology!) There'll be all kinds of black bloggers there. Lynne is going. Ambra is going. Tiffany is going. And I'm going, because men are also invited.

For now, here are some questions and some answers.

What do you do when it's 80 degrees in New York and too hot to sleep? You do what the News Blog does. You blog about it.

What do you do when you have a great idea about recasting "Good Times"? You do what Ink Blotter does. You blog about it. (And then you read the 29 comments that are already there, and then you have your say. But, heck, you don't need me to tell you that, do you?)

What do you do when you have a slammin' recipe for some Jamaican jerk chicken? You don't do what I do, which is write it down on a piece of paper, wad it up in a ball, aim for the trashcan, miss because you have no jumpshot to speak of and because the only thing you know how to do on a basketball court is wear the hell out of a suit like your name was Pat Riley, grab your car keys and go to the Emeryville Public Market for some tight J. j.c. You do what the Down Home Soul Food Cooking Blog does. You blog about it.

Everywhere you want to be

I'm really glad that Minister Faust of the Bro-Log is all right and didn't get caught up in the madness. I'd only added him to my main blogroll in the last couple of weeks, and was already marveling at his travels. Check out "My wife and I are fine; far too many others, sadly, are not" and "Red Sea to Cairo--Moses' route remixed" for his latest updates.

Other posts well worth your time: "Bullet From a Gun" by Korentang's Toli (part of his London's Got Soul trilogy), And We Shall March's hungry-making "It Might Be 98-degrees Outside, But This Chicken Isn't Going To Roast Itself," and Tayari Jones' post spotlighting John Fountain's disenchantment with the black church.

Test entry for Technorati blog-ownage

Technorati Profile

"Tell me that you are living with HIV. Tell me that you care."

Frank Leon Roberts' Brooklyn Boy Blues post "I think you're HIV-positive" has probably sparked some of the widest discussion I've seen in several weeks among sectors of the blackosphere. That discussion -- touching on health, public safety, nihilism and self-worth -- deserves a wider audience among traditional media outlets; here's hoping others link, comment and testify. Roberts' tone, though not intended as accusatory, is intended to cut through perceived silence on the state of our brothers and sisters. It's an "if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention" classic.