Blogs of Note: A Gag Reflex

I've been an active blogger since last summer. Not very long really. And in that time I have visited a untold number of blogs, finding their very existence heartening even if I did not find common ground with their content...the very act of sharing, of writing, of opening up bits of one's life or getting up on a impassioned soapbox being a wonder to behold in these times when closing up into oneself is much more the norm.

In that time, I have been exposed to a handful of truly remarkable blogs...sites which draw me in and hold my attention because of their brave (or even brutal) honesty...or their wonderful use of language...or their remarkable ideas...or their wit or whimsy or wisdom...or their gentle, everday humor and warm, inviting openness and simplicity...or delightfully unexpected combinations of any or all of these.

This then is one of a irregular series of spotlights on such sites (most of which are highlighted in the links column on the right.) Your experience with these sites may not be the same as mine but, for whatever it might be worth, I think they are more than worthy of some of your open-hearted attention.

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I've read the entirety of A Gag Reflex to date...it is too compelling...too beautifully well written...too engrossing (sometimes heartbreakingly so) for me to have stopped once I had begun (and, almost as a matter of course, I am compelled to return almost daily, re-reading some older entries and anxiously looking forward to new ones.)

The complex relationship of a woman's relationship to her own life...her complicated past, her complicated now, and, most especially, the willful, amazing, awful, undeniable force of human nature that was her mother...is explored in beautifully sketched out episodes, asides, flashbacks, and songs. It is at turns harrowing and frank, unexpectedly wry and witty, and, most importantly, utterly accessible if you're open to the bittersweet experience as it unfolds at its own pace and in its own quirky... yet completely natural and rational...rhythm.

Start at the beginning (there are very helpful chapter links on the site)...take your time...the journey will richly reward your investment of time, empathy, and attention.