The Rising Blogger

matt, liz and madeline

JHSEsq — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 07:01:45 +0000

Sometimes a post — or even an entire website — renders the reader completely unable to articulate the emotions invoked by the piece. So it is with many of the posts published by Matt Logelin at matt, liz and madeline.

How I managed not to hear about his site until very recently, I don’t know. But somehow I clicked from link to link to link one foggy evening while on vacation … and eventually I found myself mesmerized by images of a beautiful little blond girl named Madeline.

If you, like me, have not visited before, you must begin your exploration of the site here: What happened? And like me, you will probably find yourself clicking from entry to entry to entry, reading Matt’s raw, honest, heart-wrenching account of how he came to be a single father raising a beautiful little blond girl without the love of his life at his side.

We take so much of our daily lives — and the people in them — for granted, but Matt can no longer do that. When Madeline was just a few weeks old, he poignantly pondered her academic future:

but what’s gonna happen
when she needs help
with her
economics homework?
(or science, math, psychology or any of the other subjects her momma studied with ease)?
that easy answer…
“go ask your mom.”
to her question…
“can you help me with this?”
is out the door.

Matt says he doesn’t believe in signs, but the Post of the Day Award goes to an entry I found in the archives, originally published on August 13, 2009. An obscure brand of wine — one he had only heard of because friends gave a bottle to him and Liz, suggesting that they savor it during an anniversary celebration in “a year that won’t happen” — sat on the shelf of the bar Matt walked into. $22 per glass. A conversation with the waitress. Another life touched. The story told to his faithful readers who now number one more than they did the night I clicked my way to his site.

Don’t miss Matt’s photo-rich posts about their recent trip to India.

Click your way to the Post of the Day: about an hour ago … You’ll be glad you did. Then go hug whomever it is that you love.

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The Typing Makes Me Sound Busy

JHSEsq — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:34:39 +0000

She describes herself as “a freelance writer and stand-up comic who is both good at Jeopardy! and annoying to have at parties.” Jelisa “J-Money” Castrodale has been blogging since June 2005, describing her small town Southern upbringing which included sitting on her grandmother’s porch listening to “mixtapes on my Walkman (including classics by Heart, Michael Jackson, and Dolly Parton, a combination that has probably never been duplicated)… ” She has “an enamel-eroding Diet Coke habit and a dog named for a member of the Grateful Dead.” Clearly, she has no lack of inspiration for blog post topics. After all, where else but in the South could you overhear one elderly woman tell another, “Well, the doctor said she could take care of his tick bite, but not his heart,” while waiting in line at Old Navy to purchase Performance Fleece Pajama Bottoms for $10?

Jelisa makes the most of the material that her life and relatives provide. There are many posts worthy of the “Post of the Day Award,” including her two-part recitation of her experience as a contestant on “America’s Got Talent.” She shared a little over ninety seconds worth of her stand-up talent with three people who didn’t really appreciate that her act “is based on rambling setups told as I fidget, jam my hands in my pockets and laugh at my own cleverness.”

If, like me, you are one of the fiftysomethings who anxiously await the results of their colonoscopies to whom she refers in Preheat Oven to 375, you will appreciate her description of her attempts to bake her own Christmas presents. Suffering, like the rest of us, the effects of America’s economic crisis, she decided to replicate a gingerbread cake with blueberry sauce that, at least on the magazine cover, looked “more attractive than [her] prom pictures.” The results? Well, as of December 22, 2009, she wasn’t “sure that deciding to experiment in the kitchen was a better idea than having a sudden urge to explore body modification,” but you’ll have to read all the gory blue details yourself.

The Post of the Day Award goes to Christmas. With a Bullet. Jelisa spent Christmas with her family in West Virginia where “it’s not uncommon to turn off the main road in the middle of the summer, your tires crunching on gravel as you notice a hard plastic baby Jesus sleeping peacefully beside a lawn chair and a box of Black Cat fireworks.” Irrespective of where you live, every family has one member who is a bit off-center and whose gifts cause the other members of the clan to scratch their heads in bewilderment and wonder. Even a family like Jelisa’s, in which she and her sister have a habit of trying to “embarrass each other in front of our parents by giving each other the most squirm-worthy gifts possible.” This year, however, it was her uncle who transitioned her family’s quiet Christmas “from a Capra flick to ‘Full Metal Jacket,’” and left Jelisa texting her sister — stranded in ice-encrusted Cleveland — the blow by blows.

Congratulations, Jelisa!

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We’re At Dad’s That Week

JHSEsq — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 07:01:54 +0000

White lies. We all tell them for myriad reasons: To spare a friend’s feelings, to avoid becoming embroiled in controversy, to keep a loved one out of trouble … There are times when white lies are appropriate and harmless. And other times when the truth must be told, no matter how brutal or how serious the consequences.

So today’s Post of the Day Award goes to Dual Mom, a self-described “mom to three, gradually learning how to be the person I want to be.” For the past nine years, she has shared custody of her children with their father, hence her site’s title.

On Christmas morning, Dual Mom was decked out in her “Christmas pj’s” and the presents were under the tree, but her kids were spending Christmas with their father, so the house eerily quiet and everything felt “wrong.” Dual Mom decided to share her Christmas Eve morning experience with the driver of a car that came “flying up” behind her and then had “to forcefully brake to avoid hitting me. I gueestimate she was probably doing about 50km over the speed limit.” As Dual Mom watched in her rearview mirror, she could see the driver’s “hands are going and she’s talking on her cell phone and she’s craning her neck out her side window to see if there’s an opportunity to pass me, … ” It’s an unpleasant and nerve-wracking predicament in which every driver has found him/herself at one time or another.

You will have to read Merry Christmas Y’all yourself to appreciate Dual Mom’s description of the entire sequence of events. Eventually, she found herself speaking with a police officer to whom she “briefly considered” telling a white lie. After all, as she told herself, “We all make mistakes right? We’ve all driven faster than we should and we’ve all been in a hurry to get somewhere.”

Congratulations to Dual Mom. She responded with integrity, opting to “do the right thing.” She also shared a compelling vignette with her readers, reminding them that actions have consequences for a reason. After reading today’s Post of the Day, I think you’ll agree that the answer to her question — “Is it evil of me that I derived a little bit of pleasure knowing [that]?” — is “no.”

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Speaking from the Heart

JHSEsq — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 07:14:16 +0000

Ah, the holidays are over. The Christmas decorations have been taken down and stowed away until next Thanksgiving (or, for some of you, before the big turkey feast). All across the land, a collective sigh of relief can be heard as family’s return to work and school, resuming their normal daily routines (and dining habits). Time to look ahead to all that 2010 has to offer, right?

Not so fast.

Before leaving the joyous 2009 season behind, the Rising Blogger pays homage to Twas the Night Before Christmas for Moms, one of the most clever and poignant posts published during this most recent Christmas past.

The author, known only as Speaking from the Heart, is a Florida electrical engineer turned domestic engineer who is homeschooling her two children. She has been writing about her family’s adventures since December 2006. Her original poem, based upon the classic “Twas the Night Before Christmas” is one to which all mothers can relate.

Sometimes we need reminding of what life is all about.
Especially at times when the Holiday season shouts,
and all we do is clean, bake and procure.

The twenty-first century-style plot twist she injects and resolution to the story are both humorous and touching. But most of all, her message is worthy of a reminder every day of every year:

[S]top for a moment and hug that little one so dear,
whether he or she is 2, or 22, or even older this year.
For they are the gift that God gave us from Heaven above, …

Congratulations to Speaking from the Heart, the first recipient of the Post of the Day Award in 2010!

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Becca’s Byline

JHSEsq — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:12:02 +0000

Becca is simply one of the best writers in the blogosphere. At Becca’s Byline, “an American woman looks at life in general” from the vantage point of “newly embarking on the second half of her century here on earth.” She is thoughtful, introspective, frank, and usually very grounded in the realities of her journey. And her thought-provoking vignettes and essays are frequently devoted to topics to which readers of any age can relate, but particularly poignant to those of us at similar stages in our own lives.

Becca, like so many Americans, has had a challenging year during which she has struggled with the deaths of close family members and the tasks that follow, as well as her husband’s loss of employment. She has returned to the workforce full-time. And she’s not thrilled about it, but she is pressing forward and, as is eventually always her way, finding blessings in the midst of undesirable circumstances.

So on this Thanksgiving Day when Americans everywhere stop, pause, and spend a few hours contemplating all that is right in their lives, it is appropriate to honor Becca with the Post of the Day Award for Women at Work.

It is commonplace to hear women who are stay-at-home wives and mothers complain that their labor is undervalued by society, in general, and, sometimes, their spouse, children or other family members. In the current economic climate, the ability to be a stay-at-home partner is increasingly becoming a luxury in the wake of pay cuts, furloughs, stagnant wage rates, and rising prices. Many couples are finding that no matter how frugal they are, it is impossible for one adult member of the household to eschew employment altogether. Still others, like Becca, have found themselves exchanging roles and responsibilities with their partner.

Listening to her younger female coworkers describe their struggles caused Becca to develop a new appreciation for her husband who worked “so successfully and so hard all those years ago when I was a young mother, so that I could stay home with our son and not have to worry about daycare and preschool.” Now it is Becca who “goes bustling out the door every morning while my husband stays home drinking coffee and reading e-mail,” sometimes feeling resentful and tearful as she navigates deadlines, superiors’ moods, and the unrelenting demands upon her time and energy.

But Becca is making her way — as she always does — in her new lifestyle, adapting and persevering. In that sense, she is a quintessential American woman. She’s doing is graciously, sharing her insights with us along the way. And that makes her uniquely Becca.

Congratulations, Becca, on the Post of the Day Award. I look forward to continuing to share your journey with you at Becca’s Byline.

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Southern Fried Momma

JHSEsq — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:11:18 +0000

Sometimes I lose track of time while sitting here in front of the computer trying to decide upon a post that deserves to be the Post of the Day. It happened again this evening after I happened upon Southern Fried Momma. And at one point, I was laughing so hard that my oldest child came out of his bedroom to see what was causing me to shriek with laughter to the point that tears were running down my cheeks, I was having trouble catching my breath, and I literally snorted a couple of times.

Meet the woman responsible: Dejoni. She describes herself as “30-ish bottle blond” clinging to her “sanity and youth by [her] fingertips.” Her goal? To “raise my children right like my parents raised me. I try to have it all together but fail miserably.” And her confessions about her self-professed failures are hilarious.

Dejoni, her husband, and their two daughters, Rachel and Ella, live on the “Redneck Riviera.” Translation: In the country. Kentucky, to be exact. Ten miles from things city-dwellers take for granted, such as grocery stores and workplaces. They lead a glamorous life to be sure, characterized by discerning palates: “And yes, we eat bologna … the poor man’s steak … and we like LOVE it. Sometimes we get a little fancy … fry it and serve it on Chinet instead of cheap foam paper plates.” And culture: On the third weekend in September, they attend Cow Days where “the big highlight for the kids is to gather around ‘Annie,’ the large fiberglass cow, and ‘milk’ her for Kool-Aid.” And which merits, of course, a Round-Up post about the festival that commemorates “all things cow.”

And, of course, the happy couple experience Redneck Romance:

“How does enjoying a nice Cabernet Sauvignon, steak. cheese and a romantic evening become this?” asked Dejoni.

The Post of the Day is, however, A new low, even for me. You have to read it to appreciate it. And if you are a working parent, you will find yourself experiencing a variety of emotions, including amusement, compassion, and empathetic guilt. Dejoni’s babysitter assured her that “sometimes a momma’s gotta do what a momma’s gotta do; and [Dejoni] told her that’s exactly how we roll, keeping it real in Hooterville.”

The beauty of Dejoni’s writing about her day-to-day struggles and joys is deceptively obvious: She is a twenty-first century “everywoman,” a modern-day Erma Bombeck, a southern-based variation on Garrison Keillor. As she blogs about life in Hooterville where, on some days, she survives it all only through Divine Intervention or the “Custom Deluxe” redneck truck her husband bought, she is speaking our all of our lives. Only the geography and names are different. She is blogging about life in a quintessentially American family. We can all relate to her tales of domestic tribulations because we’ve experienced our own as we keep it real in our own home towns just as she keeps it real in Hooterville. For that reason, Dejoni is truly a “national treasure” and it is fitting that she receive the Post of the Day Award on the brink of the most American of all celebrations, the Fourth of July.

Congratulations, Dejoni!

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Miriam Pauline’s Monologue

JHSEsq — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:02:18 +0000

She’s an American living in Europe who homeschools her two young daughters, Jewel and Flower. She is also a cross-stitcher, “wannabe writer, reader, reflector, teacher and lover of Scriptures,” in addition to being a quilter. After reading only a few of her posts, it is evident that her moniker, “The Piece-Maker,” is a double entendre. Miriam Pauline’s writing reflects that she is a gentle spirit, a seeker of truth for whom the faith about which she writes regularly and honestly is the central theme of her life.

So it was difficult to pick just one post upon which to bestow the Post of the Day Award. Virtually any selection from Miriam Pauline’s Monologue: Random thoughts of a woman seeking to piece together what God is teaching her is worthy of recognition.

But the post that most resonated with me long after I closed the browser window and went on my way was Measure Words.

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.“
~Mother Theresa~

Based upon the words of Mother Theresa, Miriam Pauline pierced my consciousness with three simple words that have stayed with me in the six months since she published the post: “Measure … Sift … Speak.”

And in a straight-forward, but deceptively profound manner that is characteristic of her writing, Miriam Pauline’s observations are distinguishable among the melody-less cacophony that the blogosphere, in particular, and more generally, the Internet, seem all too often to be.

Congratulations, Miriam Pauline.

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Julie’s Jewels and Junque

JHSEsq — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:09:17 +0000

Nominated by Mimi Lenox at Mimi Writes.

The story of a goal accomplished, a dream fulfilled, a journey home completed, an injustice righted.

The post honored today fits into all of those lofty categories. But more importantly, it is about a daughter of a member of what Tom Brokaw termed “The Greatest Generation” who wanted to honor her father’s service to his country by presenting him with the tangible record of his accomplishments. During World War II, Private Harold H. Schultz served with the 134th Infantry Regiment, part of the 35th Infantry Division. Between July 5, 1944 and September 5, 1945, its members liberated or captured 124 towns, suffering more than 10,000 casualties. Over 1,200 soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice.

Staff Sergeant George W. Daugherty, Sergeant Penn D. Soland, Sergeant Harold H. Schultz, and Private First Class Hobert Hunt likewise found themselves isolated. They kept up sniper fire until three of them decided that they could infiltrate through the enemy positions to rejoin their units. Sergeant Schultz remained in position to fire while his companions made the attempt. They were successful, and some time later, Schultz too was able to make it to safety …

Private Schultz was awarded Bronze and Silver Stars, as well as a Purple Heart, and numerous other medals and ribbons. However, for reasons that are not entirely clear, he did not receive them. So Julie determined to secure them and present them to her father for Christmas 2003. Unfortunately, the task was complicated by the fact that records were destroyed in a fire at the National Archives in 1973. Sadly, Mr. Schultz died on April 6, 2004, so Julie never got to gift her father with the physical memorialization of his service to America. But she forged ahead with her efforts to obtain the spoils rightfully due her father … and his descendants.

In Finally, Julie details her father’s accomplishments and gives readers a glimpse of the emotions her quest to locate and finally receive his medals evoked. The Rising Blogger recognizes and honors Julie’s description of her effort to secure her father’s legacy by bestowing The Post of the Day Award upon her. The significance of Julie’s labors was summarized best by one of her readers, Hope:

His service and character and love of country not only is displayed in those ribbons and pieces of metal, but in your love for him and in the spirit that moved through him and onto those he may have saved, touched and inspired and to those soldiers’ familes, friends and people of circumstance who in turn may have benefitted. The perpetuation will have been and still is, endless.

To Julie, we extend congratulations on many levels but, in particular, for sharing her story with all of us. It stands as a reminder of the sacrifices made quietly, and without fanfare or expectation of reward or celebrity, by our Veterans. Julie, you and your father have both made us proud.

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Halftime Lessons

JHSEsq — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:01:30 +0000

Jay and his wife, Kat, one of the many gifts in his life.

The tag line selected by Jay for his site, Halftime Lessons, says a lot about him and his writing: “Prepare all you want … fate doesn’t care.” He offers wry and frequently hilarious observations about his life. As he explained last August, he is 40 and coming to grips with the fact that “[t]ime is no longer endless, like it was when I was a kid … you couldn’t move the clock no matter how hard you tried … Now, especially with kids, time moves exponentially, horrifyingly so.” He’s “well past halftime” and determined to “do it ‘right’” from this point forward, which is why so much of his writing is also incredibly poignant and touching.

Along with Deb at Dirty Socks and Pizza, he kicked off 2009 by launching Tuesday’s Tribute, a weekly writing exercise that invites bloggers to shine their light upon someone else, pausing for a little while to acknowledge and celebrate that “it’s not all about me.”

On January 19, 2009, Jay shown the spotlight on his mother. In a letter addressed to My Mum, Jay described how he dealt with his mother’s health crisis four years ago, comparing his feelings then to the way he is handling the news that she is once again unwell.

I was frightened, sure, but more so I was in denial about what you would be going through. Plus, never having been through all those new feelings about watching someone you love struggle with their health, the more I emotionally hid from the whole thing.…

I made it more about me. I know that now. It took watching your bravery to understand how little I was being, how selfish.

Jay is receiving the Post of the Day Award because he wrote to his mother in a brave, raw, public, and refreshingly introspective manner, expressing feelings of fear and denial that are easily recognized by other persons who have been through similar experiences with loved ones — but much more difficult to discern or lay ownership to in oneself.

Now a parent, Jay understands his mother’s inclination to focus her energy upon worrying “about how [her] kids are going to cope with it this time.” But he is selflessly and rightly encouraging her to “focus on yourself.… [T]his time, it won’t be about me. This time, my only hope is that you don’t worry about anything but yourself. I know you will be fine.”

Jay is a good son, standing by and with his mother during one of the roughest periods of her life. “You always hold us up, Mom; this time it’s our turn.”

The Rising Blogger wishes the very best to Jay, his mother, and their entire family, especially those little grandchildren who adore her. Fate may not care, but all of us associated with The Rising Blogger do.

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A Better Woman

JHSEsq — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:44:31 +0000

The author of A Better Woman considers her blog her “mission, my personal ministry, so that my ongoing journey will inspire others to change and be the best person they could be,. . .” She describes herself as “a work-in-progress. We all are.”

In Violinist in the Metro, she relays the story of an experiment arranged by the editors of the Washington Post about perception, priorities, and people’s artistic tastes. A Better Woman relates the tale in an intriguing manner that makes readers want to forge on and learn the outcome. Thus, she is the recipient of the Post of the Day Award.

Spring has arrived and it is the time of year when we focus on new beginnings, awakenings, and the reemerging glories of nature. But the reality is that beautify is around us all the time in the most unexpected places at unplanned times. A Better Woman asks her readers to ponder whether they “perceive beauty” and “stop to appreciate it,” as well as whether they recognize and appreciate talent in an “unexpected context.”

Read the entire story here.Popular Posts:

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