The Blog Slog (Stuff I've Been Reading)...

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There are an incredible (and overwhelming) amount of blogs out there on the Internet. Their quality varies from absolutely brilliant to pure crap, with the majority of them unfortunately tending to fall on the pure crap side of the spectrum. That said, there is a thankfully large pool of insightful, informative, and entertaining bloggers out there putting up great stuff on the so-called blogosphere.

I must stop here just to say that I passionately hate the word "blogosphere". It sounds like something that would inadvertently come out of your nose. If people are going to insist on inventing new words all the time, the least they could do is invent pleasant sounding ones . There's enough ugliness in the world without making up stuff that only adds to the ugly.

Come to think of it, the word "blog" is pretty unattractive on its own, even without adding "osphere" to it. Blog. It has the resonance of a racial slur. If somebody called me a "blogger" 10 years ago, I would have had no idea what they were talking about, but I probably would have punched them...

Anyway, back to the point of this post. I thought I'd share some of the blogs I've been reading lately, most of which are MS related. I don't mean to "dis" (another horrible modern term) any blogs I neglect to mention, because I know many of my readers have blogs, most of them very good blogs, and their exclusion from this list is not meant in any way to be disparaging. This is just kind of an off-the-cuff, "what have you been reading lately" list, just a perusal of some of the sites that have been gracing my computer screen these days...

• Healing Through Multiple Sclerosis-I find this site to be mesmerizing. It's the work of a visual artist named Cathy, who lives in New Mexico and chronicles her emotional, spiritual, philosophical, and physical struggles with Multiple Sclerosis. Cathy manages to integrate her visual artwork with her words in a riveting, graceful synthesis, and the site often comes together like an illustrated prose poem. Quite often, this blog has a subtle beauty that is breathtaking...
• Enjoying the Ride-this is a new site, the work of a fellow PPMSer named Mitch, who recently stopped working due to his increasing disability. He gives a very compelling account of his journey through the world of MS, and the wrecking ball effect the disease has had on his life. He's definitely not one for self-pity, but thinly disguised beneath his veneer of logic and analysis beats a very courageous heart. He has an ibot wheelchair, an incredible contraption which I'm sure is capable of some unbelievable Wheelchair Kamikaze hijinks. His site includes videos and photos, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how it develops.
• Nourish: Living, Laughing, Whining-a very funny woman named Marie writes this blog, which is an often hysterical account of her daily struggles with MS and the world at large. I appreciate Marie's keen sense of the absurd, and her ability to mix the pathos, anguish, complexity, and ultimate delight of this crazy existence into paragraphs that make me laugh out loud.
• Access Denied-a very honest and artful blog put together by Herrad, an MS patient living in Amsterdam. She always puts up lots of great eye candy, and her posts are literate and personal. Her husband Richie also has a blog, A Place to Scream, where he vents the frustrations of loving someone who has a dread disease. I feel very simpatico with Herrad and Richie's taste in music, art, and poetry...
• Narrative Junkie-this one doesn't have anything to do with MS, but is a great resource for links and reviews regarding books, movies, quality television ( yes, it does exist), and music. The blog's creator, Jon, is a talented and intelligent writer who is always a pleasure to read, and who links to lots of funny and/or thought-provoking stuff. This site is always good for a ponder and a giggle. Highly recommended.

Well, that's it for now. Happy reading...