About My Links...

Yesterday, I had an inquiry from a reader in South Africa who wondered about my rather disparate group of links that I have blogrolled to in my sidebar. In reply to her e-mail, I wrote:

I have written a book that deals with women in American culture. Therefore, I am always interested in reading the thoughts and opinions of teens and women from varying regions and backgrounds so that I have a broad base of knowledge on which I can base my opinions.

* I scan teen blogs from time to time to catch trends and perspectives from those who are younger than me (my current fave: the very witty 14-year-old Pink Phenomenon).

* I scan women's blogs to get a feel for what they are thinking about, reading, doing, etc., so I can keep track with what's important to women in various regions of the country.

* I check in with moderate political websites because I, like half of all Americans, don't believe that either "side" has all of the answers. I think that we do ourselves an injustice if we consider ourselves to be well-informed, while choosing to get all of our news and perspective from a single, partisan point of view.

* I link to a few gossipy blogs because I know that much of the information one needs in order not to stick one's foot in one's mouth will never be found in the mainstream media.

In a nutshell, I look for balance, humor and optimism; nothing too dark, and nothing too crass--the best of mainstream America from disparate points of view.