You may have noticed that I have a hefty number of blogs on my blogroll. This page is dedicated to introducing you to my favorites and letting you know why I love them and hardly ever miss a post. I hope you find a site to enjoy!
cream of the crop
The Pioneer Woman. I’m linking to her main page so you can see why I love her blog so much. It covers homeschooling, recipes (OMG please try them), good writing and amazing photography. I LOVE this blog. I have been reading it nonstop for days. Well, except for when I’m trying her recipes or tending to my own flock. Also, she has biweekly (BIG) giveaways. Hope you click the link.
Slice of Lemon. Sabrina is so, so funny. Actually, I visited the above blog through her site. I think she’s a great writer, extremely witty, and she has a video segment called The Closet that is dedicated to modest dress. With or without the hijab, the outfits she puts together are wonderful.
favorite kid craft/activity blogs (reviewed here)
The Crafty Crow. This “children’s craft collective” has activities for kids of all ages. They are submitted by bloggers, often come with tutorials, and following any link is bound to lead you to a gem of a website chock-full of more great ideas. This is the site that led me to the next three sites, as well as many others. Just keep it in your reader and scroll through the 3-4 crafts posted each day.
Mom in Madison. This unschooling Mama has regular kid-inspired adventures. Her kids lead the activities, she supplements and documents, and she reviews the books they use on their learning journey. She also takes great pictures. Seriously, if a blog isn’t either well-written of full of good pictures, I can’t read it. This scores an “A” for both.
plumpudding. Another great craft site with fantastic photos, but it was her recipes that first drew me in. My mouth is watering just thinking about them. Now I’m a regular reader.
No time for flashcards. I just found this one. As in I found it in the last half hour. It’s the reason I’m writing this post. (Okay, I intended to anyway, but this lit my fire.) This site is jam-packed with simple activities involving glue, markers, construction paper and recyclables you’ll find around your house that you can do with kids under three. I now have something to do with Noah every day for a long, long time. And I don’t have to spend any money! Awesome in today’s economic climate (grumble, grumble). Be sure to check out the Letter of the Week posts.
must-read muslimah blogs
Organic Muslimah. Organica’s posts are part spiritual inspiration and part fashion. She’s a teacher getting ready for married life with a serious eye for detail. I love her photos and her insights. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure what her draw is, but my experiences with her comments on other’s sites and my own indicate to me that she is a supportive and sympathetic person. It’s nice when people in the computer show themselves to be more than just people in the computer. Know what I mean?
on issues of race and religion
Racialicious. The intersection of race and popculture. I don’t read everything on this site, but I do enjoy many of the pieces posted there. And if you watch closely, you’ll notice some of my writing surface there as well.
Muslimah Media Watch. This is a fascinating look at the way Muslim women are portrayed by the media–especially prudent in post-9/11 culture. A different woman posts each day of the week, and posts cover everything from book reviews to link lists (every Friday).
Islam on My Side. This blog is actually mine. It’s meant to an ongoing anthology of Muslim-American experience post-9/11 with the hope that a book will come out of if. Currently, Jehanzeb is running this blog. I chime in occasionally. The search for writers who can contribute regularly is on, but we’re also accepting work from people who can’t commit to scheduled submissions. Work can be in the form of non-fiction, reviews, fiction, poetry, audio or visual (audio and video through YouTube). We also have a list of people to be interviewed. If you would like to conduct an interview or be interviewed, let us know. Writers reserve all rights to their work. Submissions can be published or unpublished. Send inquiries or writing to submissions@islamonmyside.com.
Anti-Racist Parent. A great resource for parents or parents-to-be curious about or engaging in racism prevention for their children. What I love about this site is that it opens your eyes to things you do that you didn’t even realize were harmful. I garauntee we all have one racial slur in our vocabulary we don’t even know is incredibly hurtful to your friend or neighbor.
Cake and Potatoes. This is actually a web-comic by a peer of mine from the IU MFA program in Fiction. Jackson Brown writes and illustrates this hilarious and often-times uncomfortable venture into the world of interracial relationships, spoofs and stereotypes. It’s important not to be afraid to laugh, or to look up more information on a topic.
food
Destiny’s Vegan Kitchen. Her pictures alone would keep me coming back, but I’m thrilled to fine so many recipes with dairy alternatives since I’m lactose intolerant. I also don’t like to overeat meat. Don’t worry. There’s no compromise on taste.
Joy of Baking. It’s simple: I love baking. Every recipe makes my mouth water.
shawna’s recipes. This one is mine. It’s a favorite because I love writing it. I put up family recipes as well as others I’ve tried and modified. I’m nothing close to a chef. To be honest, my older sister is better at baking and my younger sister is killer at everything else. But I do have a few tricks up my sleeve learned from two months in my aunt’s kitchen in Lebanon. Sometimes Noah helps me out. I try to document those occasions. Also, I’m a busy mom of two, so there are plenty of kid friendly as well as slow cooker adapted recipes in my collection.
family and fertility
The Ipps. My friend Megan and her husband, Alex, keep up this blog. They have two wonderful boys. I actually never miss a post on this one because I knew Megan before I read her. After seeing them in person recently, my suspicions were confirmed. The pair are wonderful parents. They are kind, loving and exceedingly patient, even in the face of a tantrum. I like to read their blog for ruminations on American and World History, Catholicism, and the ups and downs of parenting. Megan’s was the first blog I read other than my own.
WWdN: In Exile. Ah, Wil Wheaton dot Net. This is a guilty pleasure of sorts. It brings me back to my Trekkie youth. I admit it; I had a crush on Crusher. Well, on the guy who played Crusher. I kind of still do. A writer crush. Wil Wheaton is now a dad and self-published writer. I love his posts on process. They give me a good kick in the pants. I also love his posts on parenting. It’s clear he loves his family dearly. He’s the kind of father I think every stepfather should be. There’s no talk of “step” for him. Those boys are as much his children as if by blood, and he takes a lot of joy in raising them.
Truth be told, I love all the blogs on my blogroll. I can think of numerous reasons to refer you to each of them. I’ll probably do a favorite posts page at a later time so I can link to my most-loved reads. That way I’ll have a chance to let you know where I go for a calm moment and inspiration. For now, here’s one of those blogs I read with a cup of tea:
Broken Mystic. I’ve connected with the writer of this blog. He’s no longer just a ‘friend in the computer.’ I love his writing. I don’t get to read it as often as I want to. I need to have a quiet moment so that I can focus on his work. I’ve taught Poetry and Fiction, and the teacher in me as well as the writer in my needs a chance to really digest his writing style. No matter what it is, and even if I feel a little uncertain as I’m reading, I’m always happy to have read his posts. I feel like there’s always a level on which I’m being spoken to personally. I hope that one day he takes the time to do some podcasts of his poems. I love to hear writers read their own work. Hint, hint.
[Adventurous Ammena's] Islamic short stories. I love the topics Ammena handles in her stories. I think she has a strong voice and she excells with first-person narrative. If you don’t mind wading through a bit of a grammatical bog, her pieces are absolutely worth the read. And the educational value is tremendous if you’re interested in learning about Muslim culture and variations in observation.
