Thursday, April 30, 2009

Blog Award Oblige



I love all the awards circulating through the blog realm. I love it that we recognize each other and appreciate each other so much that we are compelled to bestow these awards. There are so many of them! I am deeply honored to have been the recipient of so many. THANK YOU!!

Have you noticed, though, that every one of these awards has strings attached? It might be more accurate to call them blog grants rather than awards, since in order to accept them, allegedly the receiver must fulfill a number of requirements that vary from prize to prize.

Most awards require the receiver to pass them along to other bloggers. I love that rule, even though I'm not able to do it in any specific way. Look at my blog list - how in the world could I choose only five blogs to confer any of these prizes upon? There are other blogs I also read that I just haven't gotten around to adding to the list ... so you see to choose only five bloggers would be, for me, like choosing the five prettiest stars in the sky or something. I can't do it!

The Award of Noblesse Oblige is the most intense of all the prizes I've received. Please understand I am honored, I really am, in particular because it was the luminous, marvelous, profoundly compassionate Val of Monkeys on the Roof who gave me the award. Her blog, which describes her life in Botswana, has widened my horizons in ways I could not have imagined. She brings her readers into intimate contact with her world, so up close and personal that I think I can hear the monkeys on the roof, I can almost imagine the group of giraffes at the bottom of the driveway, the warhogs scampering by, or the porcupine in the kitchen. She even made it possible for me to imagine elephant flatulence! Wow!! Isn't that cool?

I could write a post about every blog on my blogroll, explaining what it is about each one that delights, entertains and informs. They're all GREAT blogs, every one of them. I feel a kinship with each individual on the list, even though I've never met most of them. The ones I have met have become true friends. I feel so lucky every time I think about it.

I could write about how blogging has opened my mind, helped me remember that the U.S. truly is not the center of the universe. Hello! I could tell you how much I love being reminded that it's not only late spring but also late fall, depending on where you live on Earth. I could relate how, for the first time in my life, I was actually invested in the South African presidential election, or how I felt truly relieved to learn that the rains finally arrived in Tanzania, in Australia, too (gosh!), how I saw the most beautiful photos of Texas bluebonnet flowers on several blogs (something that helped me understand what a big deal that bloom is for Texans), etc. etc. I wouldn't know about any of this if I didn't have blog friends who live in those places, who are generous enough, articulate enough, and willing to artfully share their lives on their blogs. Thank you! Blogging is orienting, humanizing, socializing, in a global way.

I could write volumes about what I think blogging is doing, i.e. creating a planetary neural network for artists in preparation for the next evolutionary leap. In fact I have written about this numerous times. I could go on and on. And on. I could!

Blogging is a literary and artistic gallery space and social network unlike anything that has ever existed. And that's why I'm here.

OK do you think this is enough? What I'm asking is, by writing this post, have I fulfilled my obligation?

34 comments:

ellen abbott said...

Yes, I think so. Very well, so.

Celestite said...

You fulfilled your obligation! And you eloquently spoke what many of us feel. And now I have to go read about the monkeys on the roof. I love your blog.

Siobhán said...

Most deffinitely!

Tess Kincaid said...

I know exactly what you mean. When I first started blogging last year, I did the whole award thing. I was thrilled with my very first award and proudly displayed it. Soon, every other post was the passing along of awards. I hated to, but had to stop.

Reya Mellicker said...

We all deserve awards! blogging takes time and an investment of creativity. Let's all share them all!

Thanks for letting me off the hook with the oblige, y'all!

Elizabeth said...

Dear Ms. Reya
I could not have said it better myself.....
Blogging really seems to me a way to keep in touch with kindred spirits all over the globe
an ether borne sisterhood/brotherhood
it is definitely a GOOD THING
even if it is rather time consuming
much love

Elizabeth said...

ps. I am a bit iffy about awards
I wish we could all just say everyone does her/his best to have a super blog which reflects
her/his world and leave it at that!

Verily I go. said...

Congratulations and I love your blog too.

R.L. Bourges said...

Noblesse Oblige? I hereby certify Reya has nobly discharged all her award obligations and done it in a manner befitting the award donor, the recipient AND all of their readers. Signed in Graulhet on this, the last day of April 2009

Cheers!

Joanne said...

Couldn't have said it better. What a world blogging has opened up.

Washington Cube said...

You get an award for blogging? Who knew?

Amy said...

You're a Blogging Queen and I'm so glad I landed here. I'm not even quite sure from where anymore, but you are one of those people you just described. You continue to enlighten, brighten and teach.

Happy day to you, Reya!

Ady Grafovna said...

I know exactly what you mean. I would never be able to choose just a few blogs either. Maybe if there were a specific category that the blog was being judged on... Congratulations on your award. It is well deserved.

Unknown said...

Definitely fulfilled any obligation. I do think that it gets harder to pass along awards the more blogs you follow, because how can you choose? A really eloquent tribute to what you love about blogging!

Tessa said...

You said it all so eloquently, Reya, for all of us. Thank you so much.

mouse (aka kimy) said...

fulfilled and exceeded the obligation!!

a bouquet of bluebonnets to you for such an eloquent post....

Ronda Laveen said...

Yes. You have fullfilled the requirements by writing your grant. Very wonderful thoughts on the meaning of blog-munity. From one of the dendrites on your neural network.

P.S. LMAO at W. Cube.

Meri said...

I share your view on the function of blogging in terms of planetary evolution. I think of it as building a web of peace, strand by strand, post by post, as we begin to experience people all over the planet as friends we visit with every day. It never fails to amaze and delight me that technology can connect (though it can also estrange and depersonalize, as in those who interact with their devices and ignore the people around them). Thanks for helping spin the web of peace.

Butternut Squash said...

You did just fine.

I do think it is good to acknowledge a newcomer when you can. If it weren't for a couple of awards and a few pats on the back from you and others, I doubt I would have continued to write. It does take a lot of time and effort. Peace.

hele said...

most definitely. you made me feel delight in being part of your world.

Steve Reed said...

Blogging is indeed a great way to share all our perspectives. I'm glad you're here. You deserve every award you've received. :)

(My word verification is "thothubb," like "thought hub," like blogging!)

Unknown said...

You ARE The Queen! You deserve any and every great blogging award out there. xoxox

Tom said...

Yes, i like very much the way you obliged! Also liked the pictures of your golden puppy.

Bee said...

Personally, I never mind how someone wants to acknowledge an award . . . or not. I much prefer no-strings-attached blogging . . . although, as you describe, we are becoming increasingly connected, attached (and perhaps a bit obligated?) by the threads we share.

How do you achieve that wonderful effect of overlapping pictures? There is such a "lightness" in these cheering images.

Reya Mellicker said...

Butternut S - good point. But I didn't pat you on the back to encourage you to keep writing. I did it because your blog is GREAT.

Bee, I cut and paste different pictures together in photoshop; that's how I make the collages. Thank you!

Reya Mellicker said...

And thanks to all for letting me off the hook on this one. Whew!!

Sandra Leigh said...

Before leaving my comment, I sneaked a quick peek at Monkeys on the Roof. Oh, my - I have a feeling Val's blog will be on my list within about five minutes.

Your post was excellent, Reya. Whatever obligation you were trying to discharge, I'm sure you discharged it admirably. In the process, you scattered virtual flowers over the paths of all your bloggy friends. ;>)

Nancy said...

Yes, you have, and very well done, I might add.

I don't pass them along any more, either. All the cutting and pasting and notifying made it too time consuming. But I love the sentiment behind them, and always appreciate the thought.

Helen said...

This is such a well written and heartfelt post .... thank you!

I am a fan of the 'blogging without obligation' theory ... and never want to feel pressured to respond in a certain way.

I am going send the link to your blog to a few friends who cannot understand why I love connecting in this way ... after they read this post, hopefully they will 'get it.'

It's Mt. Bachelor on my blog banner and it's about 25 minutes from my home.

A Cuban In London said...

I loved your honesty whilst reading your latest outing. Indeed, these awards come with strings attached! And given that we all have so many blogs on our blogroll (although I have not updated mine. Sorry, I put my hand up, your Honour and declare myself guilty of otioseness) it's nigh impossible to pass the award to just five or six other sites.

However, congrats on YOUR prize. I love coming to your blog because it is witty, intelligent, irreverent and yet serious. Many thanks.

Greetings from London.

Dave King said...

Congrats on your award. I have only just landed on your blog from Lizzy's, but can see from the superb photographs you have posted how well deserved the award is. I shall certainly visit again.

Reya Mellicker said...

Irreverant yet serious? It doesn't get better than that! Thank you!!

Stacy Hackenberg said...

Absolutely. Plus, I have to add that I love you new layout. I especially like the photo of your pup in the header.

Fun with Bo said...

Jake looks like a fun friend :)