We’re finally there. You’re going to choose topics, and begin blogging. But first, I want you to do a few things.
1) Read the following short piece by Brian Jay Stanley. It’s called “Everything Is Interesting,” and it should ease some of the concerns about whether something makes a “good” topic for blogging. Short answer: there are no bad topics. The link is here.
2) Glance at some of these posts that we have deemed Good Bloggers. The links are after the “jump” (that is, the break between what is shown on the front page and what is hidden; click “continue reading” below to see what is beyond the jump).
3) Please complete your “About This Blog” page by next Thursday. We are happy to have conversations with you about your topics whenever you like.
And now, the jump…
Andrew Sullivan, blogging at the Daily Beast, writes about politics (he’s an old-school conservative), social issues (he’s gay), religion (he’s Catholic), and whatever else he wants to. Sullivan is a Harvard-educated commentator who is widely known as one of the most successful bloggers out there. He occasionally also writes for Newsweek.
For the sake of political balance–even though I think Sullivan is roughly in the center–two more political-minded bloggers I recommend are Rod Dreher, who just started blogging again for the American Conservative, and Jon Bernstein, a somewhat-liberal political science guy. Taylor Marsh also has a compelling blog about politics, though I’m not really sure where she stands politically.
Salt and Nectar is a parenting blog written by “Two Sarahs” (one uses her full name, the other is pseudonymous). The Sarahs write about a variety of issues related to mother/parenthood, and is part of the “Mommy Blog” genre. Even if you’re not interested in the topic, click on this one just because it’s really well written, and takes the approach to blogging I want you to take in this class.
Ezra Klein is a pretty sharp guy blogging about economics for the Washington Post.
Rob Sheffield blogs about music and pop culture for Rolling Stone. If you’re thinking about these topics on your own blogs, note how Sheffield extends the conversation beyond what he likes or doesn’t, or what is good or bad.
Ta-Nehisi Coates is just a brilliant guy writing for the Atlantic Monthly about whatever he wants. That often includes history now (he’s been on a Civil War kick for a year or so), but he generally also engages in conversations about race, rap and hip-hop, and comic books.
Run Like a Girl is (you guessed it) a blog about running.
For a food-related blog, Smitten Kitchen is a good place to start.
There are many good tech blogs, and Wired magazine has several; Threat Level deals specifically with privacy and security issues related to technology.
There are many more, but I’ve run out of time. Look over at the sidebar for some additional suggestions. The section Blogs Emeritus includes blogs from previous years that I’ve kept around.
