One Last Question

From Bleue:

I stalk your blog roll often because you have some great picks on that sidebar. I would love to know what has caught your eye recently.

So top three posts from other bloggers that you've enjoyed in the last little while? Posts that have stayed with you or made you think? 

That’s an interesting question, chica. 

Bearing in mind that my interest is piqued in slightly different ways these days, here you go.

(In no particular order.)

Lee Harrington wrote a wonderful piece called “Respecting Those in The Shadow”, daring us all to open our eyes and share the love - to remember to appreciate the people who give willingly of their time and energy from the background, behind the glamour, outside of the limelight. 

This post stayed with me in part because he addresses a subject that aggravates the pants off of me, yet he found a way to say his piece in a way that encourages people to think, rather than the knee-jerk reactionary response that I tend to have, which simply puts people on the defensive. (Which never accomplishes a danged thing.)

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There’s K8 at And All I Loved, whose “On Being a Happily Unsexy Penguin” rang so many bells I had to wait for the buzzing in my ears to die down before I could finish the post. 

I am nominating her as designated apologist for all of us who just don’t really quite get this whole “sexy” thing.

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Finally, in purely vanilla land, a post by Mike, the husband of Patricia Briggs, one of my favorite paranormal authors. Sadly, I can’t link directly to the actual post, so you have to go to the blog archives for 2016 and scroll to very last one to read this gem. 

I enjoy his posts at any time but the latter part of this one, called, “On a Completely Different Note” had me absolutely rolling on the floor. Finally, a man speaks out against penis pix! (And brilliantly so.)

The full piece is well worth reading but here’s the denouement for those who aren’t sure they want to brave the linking difficulties:

“…it would appear to my jaded eyes that the art of wooing has become grievously diminished in recent years… 

...Wooing is an art of skill and wit, and there is no human endeavor with higher stakes or greater rewards.

Imagine then, my surprise at finding that my would-be rivals, who ostensibly seek to win my fair bride's affections, have chosen tactics so ill-conceived that they invite mockery. Over the past several months, a number of men (I can scarcely call them gentlemen) have chosen to begin their overtures of affection not with prose or poem, but with photos of their rampant manhood. The message, as I read it, being "Hi. I'm a crass, inelegant, vulgar lout. Knowing myself utterly impoverished of wit or manners, I yet hope to impress you with this poorly-composed, badly-focused photo of my penis."

I am assured by women of my acquaintance that this crude practice has become a common means of courtship. To say I am appalled is an understatement. What lady would be flattered by such churlish blandishments? As an old fisherman once told me, "Your bait determines your catch. If you are fishing for a mermaid, son, don't use stink-bait; all you'll catch are bottom-feeders."

Gentlemen, in courtship, you are the bait. Elevate your game or vacate the playing field, your conduct is unseemly and counterproductive.”

(I may need to find out if Mike has a brother...)