Taking a cue from classmate Ernesto on his favourite websites, these are a few of my favourite places to visit on the web. There are a couple of blogs that I read regularly, but otherwise these places are little nooks in a greater website. The theme seems to be that I like reading about books, people’s stories and media. In other words, there is no theme – except that like most people, I read about people who like the same things as me.
Spike – The Meanjin Blog: The blog for the literary magazine Meanjin, Spike is mostly written by editorial assistant Jessica Au, and Editor Sophie Cunningham. As one would expect from a bookish publication, the posts are well-written, considered, concise and interesting. I first became interested in it when the Editor posted this photo from her trip to the Northern Territory. I have an ongoing interest in public memory, Australiana and history and I have been trying to write a story about those statues ever since (it’s almost there…). Apart from highly nuanced and intellectual literary debate, they also include a lot of pretty book stuff, like these shelves around which I will one day build a house.
Stair(book)case by Levitate Architects
Audrey and the Bad Apples: A friend put me on to this blog, around the same time as she introduced me to Marieke Hardy’s now defunct blog, Reasons You Will Hate Me. We were both quite bored with our jobs at the time. I think the reason I keep going back to Audrey’s is because she is so unafraid to be personal, to an extent I would never be brave enough to be online. She is entertaining, witty, interesting and recently went traveling to the US and Spain.
The Content Makers: Margaret Simons’ blog on the Crikey blog network is all about media. There are many like it (I also really like Mumbrella) but I really like Simons’ writing style – it is so accessible and readable and doesn’t assume you are part of some media-journo club like so many media commentators.
Since You Asked: Salon’s Agony Aunt for smart people. The questions can vary but Cary Tennis’ responses are nuanced and genuine. My favourite post addressed the common malaise of twenty to thirty-year-olds; indecision and anxiety about the future (relating to Camilla’s post about the Quarter Life Crisis, which we are now calling the QLC). Tennis gives this revolutionary advice:
The truth is that you’ve been hurt and you’re going through a tough time. This is a good thing. This is your chance to admit some new knowledge into your core being — knowledge of setbacks, lostness, the difficulty of making your way, the many false starts and illusions that are placed in your path.This is the classic course of youth into adulthood.
If I were you, I might be a little angry that my culture neglected to tell me the truth about these things, that my education did not prepare me for adversity. I might be upset that I had not gained an understanding of economic forces, of class forces, of the way power is wielded in hidden ways in the workplace, how we are led to believe that things will be easy when they are actually hard.
That is all I can think of for now – I do quite regularly check out some other literary blogs, but none that I consistently love. I’ve found Twitter amazing for finding stuff on the web – by following people you are interested in, its like a human search engine.
Posted by bowerbirdblue 
