Thinking about blogs

A couple of days ago I was delighted to find that I'd been tagged with a "Thinking Blogger Award." I don't even know who the author of My Blue Puzzle Piece is, but he/she has a beautiful, thoughtful blog that I'd seriously consider passing the award on to--but that would be redundant.

So what I've had to think about is which five blogs to recognize in turn. Originally it was called "5 Blogs that Make Me Think." Lots of blogs give me information. And to be sure, way more than five of Technorati's 71 million blogs offer more thoughts than anybody could possibly think about. But in no particular order, here are five that I regularly count on to make me think, sometimes about things I know something about, often about things that I don't, but always in surprising ways.

Arse Poetica. Not shy about letting you know what she thinks, ae often manages to find the time to blog about issues that are important to me as well, yet I've let the bloggable moment pass. Like her recent post on Blaming Poor Women for the Ills of Poverty.

wood s lot. An amazing constant flow of literature, art, and photography, somehow always relevant. I don't know how Mark Woods does it (is it because he's Canadian?), but I'm glad he does.

Is That Legal? Eric Muller's musings as a law professor, historian and more are consistently thought-provoking. A major historian of the Japanese internment, he saw his blog catapult to fame when he and fellow historian Greg Robinson took on Michelle Malkin on that subject. Most recently, he has been sharing his experiences tracing the life and tragic death of his great-uncle Leopold Muller, a victim of the Holocaust.

Blue Gal (in a Red state). Down in Birmingham, Blue Gal keeps an engaging, spunky blog thoughtfully tuned to the political moment. She has a salon. She was involved with the 2007 Blog Against Theocracy, "a blogswarm dedicated to the separation of church and state," which she kindly invited me to participate in (but I sadly forgot).

Blue Girl in a Red State. A recent discovery. Blue Girl, who shares with her fellow-traveler Blue Gal a married-with-carpool perspective, has a deliberative, distinctive voice that resonates. This week she has a thoughtful take "on needing analysis."

Bonus #6: Learning to See. Michael Czeizsperger's photoblog. Because not all thinking is verbal. UPDATE 4/25: He's got today's best shot in the Chapel Hill News.