Given I hadn’t heard about Blog Day 2005 until this morning, I’m unprepared to nominate five recent additions to the Blogosphere. But I can share with you five blogs from around the world that I think deserve a daily read:

Keep the Coffee Coming: Kat shares music (folk on weekdays, thematic choices on weekends), photos, and memories from her Cape Cod home.

Delicious:days: Nicky writes from Munich, blending a love of food with a clean design and phenomenal photography.

Blog of a Bookslut: Jessa in Chicago and Michael in Albuquerque (at least I think that’s where he’s from) provide weekday updates on the literary world-at-large, adding their own witty insights to each entry.

Count Your Sheep: Adrian from Mexico City draws this sweet web comic about Katie, Ship, and Laurie. Technically, I shouldn’t count it as a blog, but Adrian also includes little notes with most days’ comic, so we’ll classify it as a blog at least for today.

The Traveler’s Lunchbox: Melissa in Edinburgh describes lovely dishes — whether at home or abroad — and makes my mouth water on a regular basis.

After you’ve checked out my suggestions, investigate what other bloggers think are worthy reads.

I’ve been looking at photos from the Gulf Coast and would like to extend my heartfelt sympathy to all who are suffering. My parents’ house used to flood — just a few inches, but enough to wreak havoc — and that doesn’t even begin to compare to the total devastation I’m seeing in some of these shots.

Please know our sympathy is with you.

Generally, I remain ambiguous about Starbucks as a company. On the whole, I try not to buy into the corporate chain concept, feeling that they run small local outfits out of business (whether intentionally or accidentally). On the other hand, as far as chains go, Starbucks seems like it tries to respond to local customer demands — shade grown coffee, smaller musical artist playlists, community-based charities, etc.

So, I will go to Starbucks, but don’t go out of my way to choose them if a local option (like Tryst in D.C. or Klekolo in Connecticut) presents itself.

But I might have to up my drink quota if the Concerned Women of America have their way.

They object to an Armistead Maupin quote that appears on some Starbucks “great thoughts” cups:

My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long. I surrendered my youth to the people I feared when I could have been out there loving someone. Don’t make that mistake yourself. Life’s too damn short.

My guess is that if the first sentence hadn’t been included these “concerned” women would have been fine with the sentiment. But because it was associated with being gay, it became something to dismiss and belittle.

I’m fine with these women choosing to boycott Starbucks. That is their choice, just as my boycott of Wal-Mart is my choice. But they should understand that what they’re suggesting is both censorship and discrimination. And as they seem to imply that their own group is both censored and discriminated against, I would suggest that a little more tolerance on their part would make their own request for respect less hypocritical.

Because, if I remember correctly, another great philosopher suggested that the best way to live is to “do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” Don’t you think that would make a great cup?

(Via Bookslut)

If you want to be amongst the coolest of the cool, you should head down to the Kennedy Center for their Page-to-Stage New Play Festival and catch a reading of Michael Merino’s Henry Darger: Artist and Protector of Children.

A janitor and dishwasher by day, secret artist by night, Henry Darger cloistered himself in his apartment for over 40 years and dedicated his life to a world of writing and painting, using art as his confessor and as his tormentor. Using Darger’s own words, interwoven with psychoanalytic commentary, art criticism and interviews, this play explores his hauntingly beautiful works of art and his obsession with a mythic childhood innocence symbolized by the saintly Vivian Girls.

Michael’s play is the entry for the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. He debuted it with them during the winter.

A friend from the Dean days, Michael is quirky, fun, and intelligent. I imagine anything he writes will be the same. His most recent play — about Lewis Carroll, Donald Rumsfeld, and George Bush and language — was performed in New Orleans earlier this year.

The reading starts at 7:15 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 4, on the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Level. Seating is free, but first-come, first-served. Admission will begin at 6:45 p.m.

Today I bought my cousin Caroline some ornaments for her wedding. They’re nice enough, but I’m not overly thrilled. It just wasn’t what I imagined when I came up with the idea. Some of them are definitely fun — hiking boots and a string of hearts — but I just wish I were more pleased with them as a set. Maybe over the next week or so I’ll find that one perfect ornament that pulls the rest of them together.

This is the problem I face every time I buy presents — I get an image in my head and when reality fails to live up to imagery, I’m disappointed. I guess I have to work on that…

Sam and Alexis’ wedding invitation arrived in the mail yesterday. It was beautifully designed — the sort of thing you’re actually delighted to have grace your mailbox.

Today in 1920 American women were finally granted the constitutional guarantee of a right to vote* — the 17th nation to do provide gender equality in the voting booth. The process had taken 72 years. The 19th Amendment reads:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

I’d like to take the opportunity today to thank the women (and men) who came before me who worked hard so that I have the right to vote. The reality of the matter is that while I, as a D.C. voter, still lack Congressional representation, I do not lack voting rights in presidential races nor in local politics.

And remember — if you have the legal right to vote and you do not take advantage of it, you don’t get the right to complain.

———
*While technically all women were given the right to vote in 1920, the fact remains that many minority women did not gain their suffrage until the 1960s.

Thursday came quickly this week. Three beautiful things:

1. I finally got the results of medical tests I have been waiting for. I’m fine. I knew I would be, but others seemed to lack my certainty and chomped restlessly at the bit as we awaited the follow-up appointment. Everyone else’s stress got a little annoying, but the underlying sentiment — their interest in my well-being — made me feel loved.

2. D.C.’s downtown is the construction capital of the world. As I walk from the metro to my office, I can see three separate cranes all operating at various vantage points on the street. When they align correctly, they create the outline of a building, filling the sky with ghosts of architecture-to-come.

3. Danny and I wandered through Conn’s arboretum last weekend, ending our jaunt on the Arbo green. I hadn’t been to the Arbo since Professor Niering‘s funeral several years back (six already!) and was amazed how much it remained the same and how much I still love it. The pond was clogged with lily pads and swallows raced overhead chasing bugs. Dragonflies and catbirds alike paused in their flights to investigate us thoroughly. The sky above us burned blue and hot. The Latin alma mater, meaning, literally, “kind or nourishing mother,” is used to refer to a school from which you have graduated. It is, I think, relevant here, as I felt replenished and peaceful after leaving the Arbo in a way I don’t get from many other places.

According to today’s Hartford Courant, the Groton Sub Base will remain open.

This is good news for the economy of southeastern Connecticut, which depends heavily on the military families who reside there to stay afloat.

I’m not sure that a steady long-term diet of casinos, the military, and the pharmaceutical industry is a healthy one, but until a better solution is devised, I am pleased to see that Groton and its surrounding areas will not have to drop off the map.

The National Zoo has announced the public will play a role in naming the new panda baby.

Unfortunately, none of the names translate to Butterstick, what we Washingtonians have taken to calling the little tyke, since his birth last month.

The names you can choose from:

• Hua Sheng — magnificent or China-Washington
• Sheng Hua — magnificent or Washington-China
• Tai Shan — peace mountain
• Long Shan — dragon mountain
• Qiang Qiang — strong or powerful

I don’t know. They sound like a whole slew of Michaels and Ashleys to me…