Cold Spaghetti

The Just Posts for a Just World are a joint effort between Alejna and me — together, and with your nominations, we try to find posts on personal blogs about relevant social issues.  Regular people thinking about important stuff.  Ways we can inspire each other to think, do, and be all that we want to see in the world.

Here are the Just Posts of June 2010.

• Zoom of knitnut with What really happened in Toronto?
• subWOW of Absence of Alternatives with Do Over: A perfect comeback is a terrible thing to waste
• Sherry of Chaos Theory with Being a refugee for a morning
• Rebecca of Flying Tomato Farm with Single Female Farmer
• Paul of Give a Damn about Poverty? with The World Cup’s in Africa The richest fans are there. So are the poorest…
• Morganna of Lizbeth’s Garden with Ode for the Dead
• Maitri of Maitri’s Vatulblog with Women In Science … Again
• Maggie of okay. fine. dammit. with Pain is pain
• Linda of The Task at Hand Musée des Petroleums Arts
• Lily of Witch Mom with As a Mother, I Parent the Whole World Now…
• kittenpie of Life of ‘Pie with Meaning is Lost
• Emily of Wheels on the Bus with Wrapping and Spirit of it
• becky of I’m just sayin with Father’s Day Do-over
• Bayou Woman of Life in the Louisiana Wetlands with Unofficial Local Oil Leak Update
• antropologa of antropóloga with Evil socialist medicine
• alejna of collecting tokens with petroleum junkie and trying to cut down

The posts of this months roundtable were nominated by:

Elizabeth (Morganna)

Lily (Witch Mom)

Holly

alejna

Thank you for your continued support of the Just Posts!

The Worst Environmental Disaster in U.S. history.

Last month, I said we’d dedicate part of our Just Posts to what regular folks were saying about the spill.  In general, we tried to find different reflections and different stories — not news updates or posts with heavily quoted material — just talk.  As one living in New Orleans, I am curious about how the rest of the world is thinking about this disaster.  I’m guessing there will be a lot more posts about this in June and onward, but these are limited to May.  It’s what folks were saying in the “early” days of the disaster… you know, only 25 or so days into it.   The list is not an endorsement of how to think about this, it’s a list put out there in hope that these posts give others a little variety in how we can think about what is happening and what is to come — and maybe expand our thoughts and conversations about in the coming weeks.

Just Posts for a Just World: BP Oil Spill, May 2010

• Summer of Tears, by Mike Roberts at Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper
• Heartbreaking, by Absence of Alternatives
• Bombshell Expose: the real reason the oil still flows into the Gulf of Mexico, by JoAnnMor at Blogster.
• Give Us Back the Gulf and our Lives, by Bayou Child
• Thoughts on the BP Protest, by Guest Postess Sandy Rosenthal at NOLAFemmes
• Oil Spill Protest, by maringouin at NOLAFemmes
• Thoughts from the Gulf, by Amanda Mueller at NOLAFemmes
• Ode to Oysters, by Swampwoman
• Oil Free Zone!, Cajun Ingenuity, Tenacity over Tears, and A “slick” that ain’t so slick, by Bayou Woman
• Helping to Rename BP, by Painted Maypole
• Sunday Relaxing and This Link To…, by Liprap’s Lament
• The Big Deal and BP, Rethought, by Cold Spaghetti
• Hell in Handbasket, by Voix at Voix De Michele
• Before the Oil Comes, by Velveteen Mind

Here is another take on the spill… and it’s a good one.   Just in case you haven’t seen it.

Of course, a lot of other wonderful writing happened in May… here are the rest of the Just Posts for a Just World, May 2010:

• When Arizona was Multicultural, by Left Coast Cowboys
• Mi Amiga, Getting Up Off Floor, and In Park, by Jen at One Plus Two
• Dear Diane Day 15, at Homelessness Is Over
• Triumph Over Adversity Fairy Tale, by Julie at The Artful Flower
• America the Beautiful, by Wreke at Wreke Havoc
• Hey, DADT: start packing your bags, by girlgriot
• Scout and Sense and Sexuality, by Emily at Wheels on the Bus

The Just Posts are a joint effort between Alejna and me… please stop by to see what she’s saying this month!  Submissions of blog posts on social justice issues are encouraged from all; see more information about the JPs here.

Thank you thank you thank you and thank you for your support of the Just Posts.

The March Just Posts:

• Aimee of Greeblemonkey with Healthcare Reform and Political Discord
• almost idealist of Time to Change the World with Poverty and Plenty
• Antropóloga with Hooray! We can come back to America!
• Barbara at An American in Lima with “All Hail the Glacier Gods”
• bon at crib chronicles with little plastic castle, or what the f*ck ever happened to Liz Phair?
• Em of Social Justice Soapbox with The Sunshine Centre (Kids that changed my life)
• Emily of The Wheels on the Bus with The Boy in Fourth Period
• heather of finding atman with finding out about food
• Heide Estes of Imagine1Community with Health Insurance Should Not Be Business (Again)
• Ilina at dirt & noise with Project Enlightenment Saved My Family
• kittenpie of Life of ‘Pie with Good Question, Kid. and Jacob Have I Loved – Until Now
• Lady M at Empress M with cute drinks
• Lisa at Left Coast Cowboys with dispatches from the war on terrorism
• Mad, guest posting at Frog and Toad are Still Friends with Food as Solace; Food as Hope
• Magpie of Magpie Musing with Thinking about Health Insurance, as one does when one is SICK
• Mary of The Eleventh with Another Head Start?
• Mocha Momma with I’m Black Irish and I’m Proud
• Sahar of Sahar’s Blog with ‘Boots that are easy on your conscience’
• Stacie of If you want kin, you must plant kin… with My Body Politic
• Tami of What Tami Said with Social capital and denying the pain of black women
• wreke of wrekehavoc with i feel good
• zoom of knitknut with All the way to the top

The posts of this month’s roundtable were nominated by:

Magpie Mary Stacie/girlgriot Alejna Holly

Lassiez les bons temps rouler, y’all!  Alejna and I are READY!

Our imperfect process took 3 months, involving the time, efforts, and thoughts of many.  More than the reading, the logistics, and the posts… we’re thankful for your comments and enthusiasm.  Thankyouthankyouandthankyou.

[cue drumroll]

Here are your voting results!

SOCIAL JUSTICE as political/legal :

• Posts Related to GENDER EQUITY forgiveness by Christine at by flutter
• Posts related to RACE (a tie) Attention White Folks by Stacie at If you want kin, you must plant kin… Ma: Little Bigot On the Prairie by Mary at The Eleventh
• Posts related to SEXUALITY Maine. by Erika at Be gay about it.

SOCIAL JUSTICE as health/wellness:

• Posts related to FOOD AND NUTRITION When is zero not really zero? When it describes your food. by Kimberly at The Gav Menagerie
• Posts related to DISEASE AND ILLNESS In Health there is Freedom, Health is the First of all Liberties by thordora at Spin Me I Pulsate
• Posts related to CHILD WELFARE The Speech, Remix Edition by Kyla at The Journey

SOCIAL JUSTICE as socio-economic inequalities :

• Posts related to VULNERABLE POPULATIONS guilty pleasure monday: millworker (james taylor) by wreke at wrekehavoc
• Posts related to EDUCATION On Social Justice and Education by Brigitte Knudson at A Liberal Education
• Posts related to SOCIAL/SOCIETAL VALUES American Me by jen at one plus two

SOCIAL JUSTICE as advocacy/service :

• Posts related to SERVICE AND ACTION No More Hall Passes by Emily at Wheels on the Bus
• Posts related to INFORMATION AND ADVOCACY Charity vs. Democracy by Magpie at Magpie Musing

SOCIAL JUSTICE…

• serious topics approached with HUMOR My, what a gayngled web we weave. by Erika at Be gay about it.

We have a prize for each of the post authors above in the form of pottery by a New Orleans artist (from Holly) and a bit of fair trade Theo chocolate (from Alejna). To collect your prizes, lease send us your snail mail addressess (Holly: coldspaghetti at gmail dot com and Alejna: alejna99 at gmail dot com).

And, for the post that received the largest number of votes in any category: When is zero not really zero? When it describes your food. by Kimberly at The Gav Menagerie

Congratulations, Kimberly!  (No trans-fats in your extra-special prize, promise.)

All this selection got to our heads and we decided to add in individual “Editor’s Choice” awards for posts we felt really capture the spirit of the Just Posts.  (They also got loads of votes, though not quite the most votes in their categories.)  Editor’s Choice folks also get goodies.

Editors’ Picks:

I chose Frozen by Meagan at A Certain Lack of Focus.  What impressed me about this post were the many layers within it.  In addition to the compelling writing on a tragic current event, Meagan creates a piece of art symbolizing the event she is discussing.  The full piece is shown in the start of the post, but as she tells some of the details — how one member of a loving couple and their children is isolated from her family, who are refused to be with her while she dies because they are both women — pieces of the artwork are pulled into focus.  It works on many intricate levels: the full piece showing the confusion of hospital and all the many people involved, and then, as the story becomes more intimate, the faces of the children locked away, invisible.  To me, Meagan manages to both tell a story and SHOW a story — sending a message much more compelling than either one alone.  For those reasons, Frozen is my Editor’s Choice.

Alejna also has an Editor’s Choice.  Hop on over to see what it is and why she chose it.

If you have a post in the lists above, we invite you to display a button:

On the left is a png (transparent background) and on the right is a jpg (white background). 

THANK YOU AGAIN to everyone who participated in the 2009 Just Posts for a Just World!

Anyone can be a part of the Just Posts – just send in your nominations – go here for more information!

It’s here!

Alejna and I are proud to share with you, the FINAL SELECTIONS for the JUST POSTS : BEST OF 2009!

Writing that was so very exciting that I had to supress the urge to animate the text with flashing rainbows and dancing bears… let’s break out the iced coffee and Jameson, y’all!  WHOO-HOO!

Please vote! And spread the word to others to vote, contribute, nominate, write, and read!  And most importantly — Thank you thank you thank you for your interest, support, and involvement in the Just Posts!

VOTING AND PRIZES!

Right here, in THIS POST, you can vote for your favorite finalist by category.  You can also write in a favorite overall post.  Fancy!

• Vote within as many categories as you like, but please vote only once in each category.
• There’s no need to vote in all categories at once–come back as often as you like before voting ends.
• We’ll have the polls up and open for one week.

At the end of Monday night, March 22nd, we will close the poll and start to tally the results. The top votes in each category will receive a hand-made tile from a New Orleans artisan with a few trinkets thrown in for good measure. Using your votes and any additional written input, we will recognize a post (or two, we’re not ruling out ties) as the Best of the Best Just Posts. We’ll do something extra special for this.

Just scroll on down and start voting if you’re ready!

For those that are interested, here is a run down of our imperfect process:

Using your comments and ratings we narrowed down the long list of finalists. From there, we created categories that reflected all of those 130+ posts. Then we went back to the comments and ratings and narrowed down the categories (our goal was 3 in each category; note some have 4). We made great efforts to represent a variety of voices, writers and experiences.  In no way is this list or these categories representative of the broad theme of “Social Justice.” It represents what we’ve been able to gather, write and have nominated.

Based on those finalists, we narrowed down to 4 broad categories, with topics under each:

• POLITICAL/LEGAL: Gender Equity, Sexuality, Race
• HEALTH/WELLNESS: Food and Nutrition, Disease and Illness, Child Welfare
• SOCIO-ECONOMIC INEQUALITIES: Vulnerable populations, Education, Social/Societal Values
• ADVOCACY/SERVICE: Service and Action, Information and Advocacy

(Plus a HUMOR category as the lagniappe!)

Now all that is left is the VOTING!  Did I mention that we hope you’ll vote?  And spread the word?

Thank you again for your support of the Just Posts!

JUST POSTS FOR A JUST WORLD : BEST POSTS OF 2009

I don’t know what it was like for y’all, but February?  Did it really happen?  I’m having a hard time remembering.

We had the playoffs and then everything sort of goes blurry. I remember that I voted. And there was that event that drew in more viewers than any other event in U.S. television history.

I do have memories of Lombardi Gras née Mardi Gras.  I remember parades and parties and costumes and friends and all that comes with the season, but it doesn’t seem possible that so many things happened in short, stunted little February with it’s 28 days.  I guess February showed us who was boss?

In the meantime, we did read and collect Just Post goodness.  The Best of 2009 is SO CLOSE, we promise.  Just a few more wrinkles in the polling methods to iron out. (Note: Vote in post below!  It’s clear now that it works, but the ice cream flavors are cracking me up, so please chime in if you hadn’t and I’ll present the results.)

I’m hoping for more wonderful in March and have all fingers crossed that you’ll pass on the marvels you read.  Light-up toys and shiny beads could hang in the balance?

—-

• Heather of finding atman with We can do better
• Emily at Wheels on the Bus with You Gotta Fight for the Right to Plie
• Tiffany Sellers of PR Musings of a Clemson Student with The Line Between Charity and Justice
• Eric at It’s the Question that Drives Us with Helping Haiti or Hurting Haiti
• girlgriot at If You Want Kin, You Must Plant Kin with Common Ground
• Country Girl at Country Girl/City Girl with That Slacker Blogger Thing
• Absence of Alternatives and Velva of Tomatoes on the Vine with The Price of Tomatoes
• Morganna of Lizbeth’s Garden with bombs
• Communication for Change with Todays’ Bad Word: Working Poor
• Oh the Joys with Enormity of Need
• Cecilieaux at Antipode with Piling on Muslims
• Barbara of An American in Lima with How to Prepare for an Earthquake in a Third World Country
• Flying Tomato Farm with Sounds Corny to Me and Stockholm Syndrome for Farmers
• Claudia at The Bottom of Heaven with Testing the Ice
• Ilina at Dirt and Noise with Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Initiative

• Alejna
• Denguy
• Holly

Be sure to send some love to Alejna, too!

Did you notice Alejna‘s post about how we’re announcing that the finalists for the Best Just Posts of 2009 will be up and ready for your voting by the end of January?  I know, exciting!  Let me tell you on no uncertain terms: Alejna?  She gets stuff DONE.

Oh, wait, except that *I* am involved.  Seeing as how I’ve been writing that dissertation for… can we just say a long time and leave it at that?… getting stuff done is not really my best strength.  I think having lots of unfinished projects makes me feel secure or something.

Back to the JPs.  Okay, so it’s a few days past the end of January.  But we’re on it.  We got a little behind because we had to read 300 posts.  But then we wanted more than our collective four cents weighing in.  And because we’re academics who have done way too many conference paper reviews, we decided it was important that all 300 were read by at least 2 different people that weren’t us.  Which meant… 600 separate reviews.

600.  Whoa.

There were a lot of emails.  There were a lot of numbers.  And now, there are a lot of thank-yous.

Thank you thank you and thank you, friends and Just Post supporters, who read and evaluated batches of posts.  You rock stars made our days.  Each evaluation was like a big internet hug, followed by a Saints first down.

For their time and care, we send out sincere thanks and grateful hugs to the following beautiful people: Amanda, Anne-Marie, antropologa, Barbara, blc, bon, bshep, Catherine, Charlotte, Chrissie, Christine, Christine, De, dee, defiantmuse, denguy, Donna, Elizabeth B, Eli, Emily, Erica, Erika , Heather, Janet, Jean, jen, Julie, KC, Kitty, laloca, Leslie, Lin, Mad, Magpie, Mary G., Meagan, Mme. Meow, Painted, Robin, Sarah, Shokufeh, Stacie, submom, Susanne, Tabba, and wreke.

And extra big fat sloppy kisses go to De, denguy, Donna, Erika , Heather, Kitty, Leslie, Mad, Mary G., Sarah and Tabba for going above and beyond the call of duty, and coming back to help with more.  Or, in the case of Heather, came back and back and back again.  Heather, would a kidney do?

And to all of you above: each time you said, ‘wow, I’m so glad to have found this new blog,’ or ‘thanks for giving me the opportunity to read these,’ or ‘I learn so much from the Just Posts,’ it was like the internet opened up, handed us hand-made chocolates served on paper doilies, then cleaned our houses and did the laundry.  I mean it.

Y’all got a round of free drinks waitin’ for you in NOLA, baby.

We also appreciate those of you who, while you were not able to actively participate in the project through reading and reviewing posts, expressed your interest and support in the endeavor.  (Also, I feel like I need to thank John, who let me keep Alejna up chatting online and by phone waaaay past her bedtime.)

In the meantime, would you like to see our list of semi-finalists?  These posts are those which at least one of two reviewers asserted should make our finalist list.  We’re categorizing these and the top scores in each category will be our final-finalist list.

Then, we really hope that you and your friends and your family and your co-workers and neighbors and school teachers and dentists and all those other people you interact with each day will ALL VOTE.  Because we’ve got PRIZES.  OH YES, wonderful and beautiful and fantastic hand-made prizes.  Stay tuned.  Because we have a new deadline!  March 1st.  That’s, like, next Friday, right??

Semi-finalists!  Below!

• 250 Children Dead of Cold in Andes: Death Toll Keeps Climbing by Barbara Drake at An American in Lima
• A Day with Fibromyalgia by Amy at Je Ne Regrette Rien
• A House Made of Asbestos by Mary at Them’s My Sentiments
• A mini home makeover by Quadelle at Quadelle
• A Voice from the Back of the Queue by Mary G. at Them’s My Sentiments
• Academic Freedom: Anti-gay Opinions vs. Anti-gay Untruths by Zack Ford at Zack Ford Blogs
• American Me by jen at one plus two
• And if I’m gay, what’s your point? by Stacie at If you want kin, you must plant kin…
• And so we wait. by Erika at Be gay about it.
• Antifeminist Spam by Meloukhia at This Ain’t Livin’
• Archbishop of Cusco to Evict More Local Restaurants by Barbara Drake at An American in Lima
• Are you “Man Enough” for the Middle Border? by Rebecca at Flying Tomato Farms
• Attention White Folks by Stacie at If you want kin, you must plant kin…
• B is for Backpack by Laura at Our Feet are the Same
• Bea and Eve by Emily at Wheels on the Bus
• Bird by Bird by jen at one plus two (at Blogher)
• Blog for choice: Priorities for the new administration by Melissa at MOMocrats
• bob marley has definitely left the building by jen at one plus two
• Can we talk? by Country Girl at Country Girl/City Girl
• Celebrating 5+ Years of Marriage in Massachusetts by alejna at collecting tokens
• Charity vs. Democracy by Magpie at Magpie Musing
• Chipped by Holly at Cold Spaghetti
• Civil rights, but just for me by Tami at What Tami Said
• Connecting the dots. by Stacie at If you want kin, you must plant kin…
• Cows for Christmas by XUP at Ex-Urban Pedestrian
• Creative Freedoms and the Not Now Book by Claudia at The Bottom of Heaven
• Culture Clash by jen at one plus two
• East Coast Cats and Christopher Street Boys by Jay at Ill Doctrine
• Education dollars at work by Emily at Wheels on the Bus
• Everybody hurts., by Erika at Be gay about it.
• Everyday Piscasso by jen at one plus two
• Faces of Poverty by Ashley at The Dhaka Diaries
• Faculty Responsible for Campus Climate, Too! (NYU School of Law) by Zack Ford at Zack Ford Blogs
• finding a way to volunteer with my hands full by alejna at collecting tokens
• forgiveness by Christine at by flutter
• Free speech, free range by almostidealist at One Year to Change the World
• Frozen by Meagan at A Certain Lack of Focus
• Get It? Got It? Good. by Holly at Cold Spaghetti
• Glamorous by Emily at Wheels on the Bus
• Good on ya, Greenpeace! by Rebecca at Flying Tomato Farms
• Government extends State of Emergency; more children to die by Barbara at An American in Lima
• Guilty Pleasure Monday: Goodnight Saigon Billy Joel by wreke at wrekehavoc
• guilty pleasure monday: millworker (james taylor) by wreke at wrekehavoc
• How dare you take your vagina out in public! by Angela at The Many Hats
• How’s that Gentrification Going? by Phoebe at Rectory Entrance
• Humanity I Love You by Catherine at Her Bad Mother
• In Health there is Freedom, Health is the First of all Liberities by thordora at Spin Me I Pulsate
• Inverted Reality by Fatboyfat at Make Lard History
• Iowa: a proposal. by Erika at Be gay about it.
• Just Posts for a Just World by Holly at Cold Spaghetti
• Laying Down Arms by Thailand Chani at Finding My Way Home
• Ma: Little Bigot On the Prairie by Mary at The Eleventh
• Maine. by Erika at Be gay about it.
• Marriott is a Disgrace by Ilina at Dirt and Noise
• Merry Christmas to all by Erika at Be gay about it.
• Missing the Point by Stacie at If you want kin, you must plant kin…
• More by Bon at cribchronicles
• My best friend’s wedding… by BipolarLawyerCook at BipolarLawyerCook
• My child, every child by Kyla at The Journey
• My Once A Year Jewish Rant. by Neil at Citizen of the Month
• My Uterus Sent Me Flowers by Erika at Be gay about it.
• My, what a gayngled web we weave. by Erika at Be gay about it.
• Necessary Rant by Thailand Chani at Finding My Way Home
• No More Hall Passes by Emily at Wheels on the Bus
• Oh I See, Profiling is Colorblind by Stacie at If you want kin, you must plant kin…
• Oh Oh, She’s Back on Her Soapbox Again by Chris at Formerly Fun
• Oh, HELL no by City Girl at Country Girl/City Girl
• On Social Justice and Education by Brigitte Knudson at A Liberal Education
• by Jennifer at Conversion Diary
• by Jennifer at Conversion Diary
• One couple’s journey to adopting HIV-positive children part 1, part 2, and part 3 by Jennifer at Conversion Diary
• Opening doors, come what may. by Erika at Be gay about it.
• Oprah and the secret lives of moms by antiracist parent at antiracist parent
• peace train by wreke at wrekehavoc
• Pensioneering by Thordora at Spin Me I Pulsate
• Please tell me by Stacie at If you want kin, you must plant kin…
• Pondering Fate by Holly at Cold Spaghetti
• President Obama Fierce Advocate of Rousing Speeches and the Status Quo by Erika at Be gay about it.
• Quote of the Day by Adrianne at The Bodhi Tree
• Race Matters; or, the Judge, the Professor, and the Doctor by Emily at Wheels on the Bus
• Rejecting Yertle by Emily at Wheels on the Bus
• Remember by Painted Maypole at Painted Maypole
• Remember that wishbone I was choking on? by Stacie at If you want kin, you must plant kin…
• Sacred Life Sunday: No Slime Zone! by Thailand Chani at Finding My Way Home
• Safety and Self Worth: $175 by Stacie at If you want kin, you must plant kin…
• Samaritans in a Subaru by Stacie at If you want kin, you must plant kin…
• school daze by jen at one plus two
• Shine your light, share your story …AND WIN A CONTEST!! by Erika at Be gay about it.
• some random thoughts on giving by Em at Social Justice Soapbox
• Some Thoughts on the Princess and the Frog by Claudia at The Bottom of Heaven
• Stay or go by Jarret at Creature of the shade
• Stigma//Taboo by Magpie at Magpie Musing
• stuck in the freudian anal phase by bon at cribchronicles
• Stuff black folks don’t do: Creating our own oppression by Tami at What Tami Said
• Susan Boyle by Thailand Chani at Finding My Way Home
• Tales of Health Insurance by Neil at Citizen of the Month
• Tall and Tan, Young and Lovely by Stacie at If you want kin, you must plant kin…
• Ten by Painted Maypole at Painted Maypole
• The Afghanis by Antropologa at Antropologa
• The cost of a winter tomato by Rebecca at Flying Tomato Farms
• The Freegans by XUP at Ex-Urban Pedestrian
• the great american melting pot (?) by Hispanic Fanatic at Hispanic Fanatic
• The Holy Land by Emily at Wheels on the Bus
• The Invisible Boy by Catherine at Her Bad Mother
• The radical act of being ourselves by Mouse at The Mouse’s Nest
• The Speech, Remix Edition by Kyla at The Journey
• the un-holiest marriage by Rebecca at Flying Tomato Farms
• The Unbearable Tenderness of Boys by Hedgie at Princess Hedgehog Chronicles guestposting at Talkin’ the Teenie
• This (Black) American Life by Claudia at The Bottom of Heaven
• This is what a leader looks like by Emily at Wheels on the Bus
• Today is World Water Day by prof susurro at like a whisper
• Uncensored II by Megan at Missing in Iraq
• untitled post by Christine at by flutter
• Venting by Em at Social Justice Soapbox
• War Ends, Schools Begin by Shahrazaad at Shahrazaad
• War on Women by Chani at Finding my way back home
• Whadaya Know Georgia. by Tash at Awful but Functioning
• What kids need by Emily (from Wheels on the Bus) at LA Mom’s Blog
• What’s Good for the Goose by Stacie at If you want kin, you must plant kin…
• When allies fail – Part One and Part Two by Tami at What Tami Said
• When is zero not really zero? When it describes your food. by Kimberly at The Gav Menagerie
• Why does New Orleans have different moral rules of conduct? by Holly at Cold Spaghetti
• Why the Prop 8 Decision Inhibits Equality by Zack Ford at Zack Ford Blogs
• You don’t want to meet the new boy in town by Holly at Cold Spaghetti
• You Think E Coli Spinach is Scary? by Rebecca at Flying Tomato Farms
• You want to know how much a colonoscopy costs? by Magpie at Magpie Musing

Here’s my small effort to spread happiness into your world.

And here’s our monthly round-up for January!

The January Just Posts

• Amber of Making the Moments Count with Teen Pregnancy, Is Education Helping?
• Andrea of Andrea’s Buzzing About with I can haz civil liberties?
• Casey of Moosh in Indy with on giving depression a voice
• communicationsforchange of bad words blog with Today’s Bad Word: Gay Marriage
• dodgerdeliberation of A Dodger’s Deliberation with Sweat Pants and White Privilege
• Emily of Wheels on the Bus with Take my hand come along
• girlgriot of If you want kin, you must plant kin… with You can’t hear me …
• Holly of Cold Spaghetti with A Forgotten Hero for Modern Times
• Jane of Finding My America with Louisiana: A Story I Can’t Tell, An Unsolvable Mystery, and the Joy of Acceptance
• jen of one plus two with civic dreaming and toupatou
• Julie of Using My Words with When does the end justify the means?
• kgirl of The Kids Are Alright with Miami
• litlove of Tales from the Reading Room with Books, Ebooks and the Environment
• Mary G. of Them’s My Sentiments with Headlines. And a Mission
• Mary Lee of Merrilymarylee’s Weblog with reading by moonlight
• meloukhia of this ain’t livin’ with The Next Phase
• Meredith of PR Unfriendly with Tribute to MLK
• pgoodness of Life as I Live It with The (Monetary) Costs of Melanoma
• slouchy of Slouching Past 40 with On Haiti, The Baggage We Carry and Their Bodies, Themselves
• submom of The Absence of Alternatives with We are all in this
• Susan of Toddler Planet with In the name of awareness
• thordora of Spin Me I Pulsate with The scars of others should teach us caution.
• Tiffany Sellers of PR Musings of a Clemson Student with Sometimes the voiceless have brilliant things to say

This month’s posts were nominated by:

Send some love to Alejna, who is leading the Just Post charge here while I drown in Lombardi Gras goodness.

HAPPY MARDI GRAS, Y’ALL!!!!

—-

A note about giving to Haiti…

Many have asked my thoughts on donating to Haiti in the aftermath of yesterday’s terrible earthquake.  My preference is to give to smaller organizations.  In particular, I like to have contacts at the organization whom I trust.  In the Haiti example, we donated to Hôpital Albert Schweitzer.  Deschapelles is located north of Port-au-Prince and is currently treating patients from the suburbs of the capital.  As now homeless residents of Port-au-Prince travel for medical care and shelter, I imagine that this community will grow in size and in medical need, beyond the injured they are currently treating.  I do have a professional relationship with the managing director, and have heard compelling stories of the programs and projects they undertake at this center.  The medical staff at the Hôpital is Haitian.  When you give, you give directly to this center, to this community, to these people, within this country.  For those reasons, I feel, based on my experience, that my donation will go the furthest.  It is my recommendation for giving.

—

December 2009 Just Posts:

• Claudia at The Bottom of Heaven with:Some Thoughts on the Princess and the Frog
• Country Girl of Country Girl/City Girl with Can we talk?
• Emily of Wheels on the Bus with A letter to the peeps in Copenhagen
• Erika of Be gay about it. with Everybody hurts., Merry Christmas to all. and Shine your light, share your story …AND WIN A CONTEST!!
• Ginny at Praying to Darwin with: A Tree Grows in the Psych Ward
• girlgriot at If you want kin… with: I’m asking again: How long? again-how-long/
• h.e.g. of Faith and Aids with Speaking out against Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009
• Kitty at The Show Must Go On with: See Ya in Your Nightmares
• Magpie of Magpie Musing with Charity vs. Democracy
• Meloukhia at This Ain’t Livin’ with: Glee: Sectionals and Antifeminist Spam
• submom of The Absence of Alternatives with” All things on cable TV considered, I wish my hotel had porn…
• Thailand Chani of Finding My Way Home with Sacred Life Sunday: No Slime Zone!
• wrekehavoc with world aids day 2009

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