The Fulwiler Awards for Awesomeness in Blogging
Wow! Thank you, thank you, thank you for the votes in the Catholic New Media Awards! I sincerely appreciate it. I was shocked when I saw that I got Best Written Blog, Most Spiritual Blog, Best Blog by a Woman, and People’s Choice Blog. No pressure though.
It’s only fair to note that some popular blogs weren’t on the nominations list, and likely would have beaten me in a very humbling way if they were (cough-cough American Papist). Nevertheless, I thought I’d put all the extra traffic I’m getting from the awards wins to good use by highlighting some great blogs that deserve a bigger audience!
This is by no means an exhaustive list of my favorite blogs; in fact, it’s an off-the-top-my-head collection of sites I like to read that you may not know about. I just about drove myself crazy trying to come up with a coherent list, my thought process being something like, Of course I want to plug Brandon…but he’s already getting tons of buzz from his book. So maybe Leila Miller? No, everyone’s already reading Leila. And JC Sanders is a must-read…but everyone knows about him now that he’s writing for VirtuousPla.net, right?” After about an hour of this I decided to just go through Google Reader and list the first few blogs I saw that always lead me to spend too much time in front of my computer because of their awesomeness. Thus, I present to you…
The Fulwiler Award for Excellence in
Making Me Waste Time on the Internet
Bad Catholic
Would someone please give this guy a book deal? And a TV show? Marc Barnes is a desperately-needed voice in modern Christianity: he’s young, smart, orthodox, full of energy, and hilarious. If you’re not reading his blog, stop what you’re doing right now and remedy this grievous error.
Example post: Y’all Suck at Sinning
A Catholic Worldview
This is the new blog of Aimee Cooper, who used to have a blog called The Historical Christian. Her posts are always lucid and insightful, and never fail to give me something to think about. And you’ve got to love someone who took the initiative to start a door-to-door evangelization program for Catholics!
Example post: The Death of my Brother, and Hope
Word Incarnate
This blog by Abbot Joseph (yes, he’s a real abbot) is so full of profound thoughts that I usually have to wait to read it until I have time to really digest everything he says. It’s the perfect read for a quiet morning when you have a cup of coffee and some time to dig deep into some serious spiritual reading.
Example post: The Dynamics of Despair
Slow Mama
This is a new lifestyle blog by Zoe Saint-Paul that includes some great contributors (like M.C. Cabaniss, who enjoys “bourbon, books read in hammocks, picking on the mandolin, and searching for the perfect biscuit recipe” — love that). Between the beautiful pictures and well crafted prose, these ladies will inspire you to unplug from our fast-paced world and live slowly.
Example post: Just a Note
The Deeps of Time
If you have even a mild interest in science and astronomy, go add this blog to your bookmarks right now. Michael Baruzzini does an excellent job of highlighting the most interesting stories from the world of science, occasionally examining them from a Catholic perspective. It’s one of the most readable, well done science blogs out there, so the fact that it’s Catholic as well is a great bonus.
Example post: Every Experiment Proves God
Steve Gershom
If I waited one more day on this, I don’t think I would be able to put Steve in the “undiscovered” category. His blog is blowing up, and for good reason. His tales of being a faithful Catholic while being gay are funny, touching, inspiring and insightful. He’s a great writer with some important things to say.
Example post: What Did You Expect?
Seeing and Believing
What a great idea for a blog: A roundup of the best Catholic videos. I don’t think I’ve seen a video on there yet that I didn’t find to be well worth my time to watch.
Example post: Rationality of Belief in God
The Theology of Laundry
Marissa K. Nichols is a mom who’s also getting a Master’s Degree in Theology, and she shares great reflections on faith and life from the perspective of a wife and mother. All of her posts are well-reasoned, thought-provoking, and sometimes humorous.
Example post: Bringing Children “to the Sidewalk”
Scrutinies
What I love about Dorian Speed (yes, that’s her real name) is that she’s funny without even trying. As a fellow tech nerd, we sometimes exchange emails about how to get the CSS in the master WordPress template to render correctly with the HTML generated by the PHP, and she manages to crack me up when writing about that. On her blog she covers everything from catechesis to homeschooling to general life stuff, and it’s always good.
Example post: Black Friday: The Year I Learned My Lesson
The Catholic Young Woman
This is a great group blog written by Catholic young women for the purpose of encouraging one another as they seek to stay strong in their faith in our crazy culture. Their sincere, sweet tone is a refreshing antidote to a lot of the negativity and cynicism that’s out there in the blog world.
Example post: Love, Freely Chosen
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Congratulations to the recipients of this extremely prestigious award! I’m sure that as soon as I hit publish I’ll think of five more that I want to kick myself for not mentioning, but if I analyze this anymore I won’t get it posted at all. Enjoy checking out some of these great sites, and thanks again for the votes in the New Media Awards!
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Jennifer, you are so gracious. I am honored to be recognized on this list and I’m so happy you were universally acclaimed via the Catholic New Media awards. You excel at building community via this blog and helping your readers connect with each other. Looking forward to checking out these other time INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES, as I like to spin it.
Seriously, I feel like I just won an Academy Award for the mention!! I’m so glad it’s only via computer, though, because I truly don’t have a thing to wear…
And, I can just say that Bad Catholic’s post (“Y’all Suck at Sinning”) is one of the best things I’ve ever read? It’s so original — I have never thought of things that way before. So glad you gave him his due!
Hearty congratulations on your much-deserved multiple wins!
Ever since I started reading Marc Barnes’ stuff, my mouth has been permanently dropped to the floor. His newest article at VirtuousPla.net may be one of his best ones yet:
http://virtuouspla.net/2011/08/31/miracles-happen/
I echo Jen completely. If you haven’t read BadCatholic (http://badcatholicblog.blogspot.com), STOP what you’re doing and head over there. It’s some of the funniest, wittiest, brightest, sarcastic, joyous writing on the web.
Brandon, I could’t agree more. It was actually my college-aged daughter who recommended Marc’s blog to me. Her words: “Mom, this is the funniest blog I’ve ever read. I cannot stop laughing!” And doctrinally sound. Can’t get better than that!
I have two more additions to my Google Reader! Thanks!
I love all the blog love! I was scouring the list last night, seeing how many I knew and how many I still *need* to know! I kept showing dh ‘see, JEN got this award, and this one and this one…’ lol.
Congrats! I can’t always make it to comments, but I am reading everything you post. And taking notes. 🙂
My wife just told me that you mentioned my Catholic video blog, and now I see that indeed you did. Wow, thanks! I really appreciate the link and the kind words.
You totally deserve all the awards.
I love Leila’s blog, it’s so awesome and she’s so sweet! Badcatholic is cracking me up. Love it. Thanks for sharing all the good sites!!!
Thank you so much for listing these blogs. This is a real help for a newly returned Catholic interested in learning more about my faith!
Wow! Thanks so much, Jen! Blessings to you and your family as you adapt to life with your newest little one. All I can say is that this made my summer (which is how the blog started-as a way of keeping me busy in between semesters!) I always look forward to reading your posts – congratulations also on your latest accolades!
Congrats and thanks for sharing some of your favorites too!
🙂
Jennifer, do you have 30-hour days? How do you find time to do what you do and read this much? (But thanks for the suggestions!)
Linda
Thank you, Jen! Judging by the spike in traffic to my site, I’d say your internet powers are formidable. But that was already clear from reading your stuff.
Jen, Congrats on all of your awards. That’s awesome and well deserved. You are a fabulous blogger. So very kind of you to alert us to some more totally awesome blogs. Looking forward to checking them out.
Jen, Congrats on your awards. That’s awesome and well deserved. You are a fabulous blogger. So very kind of you to alert us to some more totally awesome blogs. Looking forward to checking them out.
Sorry for the double post!
Thank you for the recommendations and big congrats to you!
Jenna
Congrats on your award! Also, I was excited this morning to hear you on Relevant Radio as I drove to College Station : )
Congrats Jennifer, job well done! See the Texas heat doesn’t make people crazy.
Thanks for the kind words, all! And I’m glad to hear you’re discovering some of these great new sites!
Just what I need; brand new time- sucks!
You deserve your awards! Thank you for posting the recommended blogs.
Congrats, Jennifer, and thanks for sharin’ the luv! Now I better go write something . . . 🙂
You’re so kind to mention my blog – thank you! Indeed, I have the best contributors and it’s a ton of fun. Although SlowMama isn’t a faith-focused blog, so many people today desire to live more like a human and less like a machine. Bourbon helps. So do biscuits.
You’re so kind to mention my blog – thank you! Indeed, I have the best contributors and it’s a ton of fun. Although SlowMama isn’t a faith-focused blog, so many people today desire to live more like a human and less like a machine. Bourbon helps. So do biscuits.
Oh, and congrats on your award!
Congratulations on your awards! I have loved your blog for years and you deserve them all! But I can’t thank you at all for suggesting new, great blogs to read. I was trying to cut down on my blog reading (trying to make room for those things called books) and now that’s dashed to pieces! There truly is some awesomeness in the blog world! And I was even thinking of starting my own blog called The Orthodox Slacker, but apparently Bad Catholic has beat me to it. Amazing stuff, all of them.
Congrats on on the awards! They’re well-deserved for sure. And thanks for the plug! 🙂
Thanks for the tips on the great blogs. And congratulations on your awards! They are well deserved.
Jennifer, I interviewed “Bad Catholic” boy for an article I wrote a while back. I really enjoyed talking to him; he’s got something good going on there. Well, something bad, that is. 🙂
This sort of graciousness on your part means you also win Miss Congeniality ;^P
Hey thanx … many more blogs for me to visit.
God bless.
You deserve your awards! Thanks for the tips on the great blogs. So do biscuits. Jennifer, do you have 30-hour days?
Love it. Congrats Jennifer, job well done! And I’m glad to hear you’re discovering some of these great new sites! Thanks for the tips on the great blogs.
This is a well deserved award. Thank you for sharing those awesome sites above.