Helping Hand: For My Brothers and Sisters in the Blogosphere

Many thanks to SjP at Sojourner’s Place for creating the Helping Hand emblem and for sharing tit with me by “paying it forward.” In turn, I would like to recognize the following blogs, both established and new.

If you are interested in participating by passing the helping hand to bloggers who have made a difference to you, then check out the guidelines (rules) at the end of this post.

First, I would like to offer the Helping Hand emblem to my blogging mentors (tip of the keyboard to SjP). These blogs and bloggers have inspired, encouraged, and supported me directly and indirectly. I have learned and gained much from their work and their words, and I am honored to be the beneficiary of their collective wisdom and experience.

They are:

Sojourner’s Place: your active support and regular visits have helped make the blogging community feel like home.

Electronic Village: your work in the Black bloggers’ community has increased our visibility and facilitated our growth in more ways than I can name.

The P. Cash Perspective: I have learned so much from your site. Thank you for everything.

Black Tennis Pro’s: this is such a unique blog. I learn something every time I visit. So glad to share the ‘sphere with you.

Hagar’s Daughter’s: an incredible blog with a wonderful name. Your encouragement has been inspiring and humbling. Your site is challenging and affirming, all at once.

Second, I am “Paying it forward” to the following blogs. Each of these blogs is outstanding in its own right. I encourage you to take check them out and leave a comment. Subscribe to your faves, and look for these blogs and bloggers on your favorite social networking and bookmarking sites. Every blogger can use a little love and attention, and the more you support us, the more we will thrive.

So here’s my list. I’m paying it forward to:

Morphological Confetti: this blog is lots of fun, and it’s informative and provocative too. After the most recent post on the history of watermelon and black folks, I think I’m in love!

Turista Africana: Turista writes about Africa from the unique perspective of an emigre who has returned (from the West). This blog presents Africa from the perspective of an insider who can (also (and sometimes has no choice but to) inhabit the outsider’s perspective.

Black Looks: Feminist perspectives from an African and Afro-Diasporic perspective. To borrow a phrase from SjP at Sojourner’s Place, this blog is “doing it and doing it well.”

Where the Hell Am I?: i have a soft spot for blogs by African American expats. Expat Jane’s Where the Hell Am I? is one of the best. Currently living in Seoul, South Korea, her perspectives on race, politics, and the challenges and joys that life offers up makes hers a blog worth returning to again and again.

Clement Nyirenda’s Blog: informative and thought-provoking commentary by a unique mind whose ideas remind us that blogging, the internet, and other technological developents each have an important role as tools for social change.

If you want to participate in spreading the Helping Hand, here are the rules:
The Rules:

1. Select 10 bloggers: 5 you consider your blogging Helping Hand then “Pay it Forward” by extending your “Helping Hand” to 5 additional bloggers in support and encouragement for their efforts.
2. In passing on the Emblem, each recipient must provide the name of blog or blog author with a link for others to visit.
3. Each recipient must show the Emblem and put the name and link to the blog that has given it to her or him.
4. Link the Emblem to this post: Helping Hand: Much Obliged and Paying it Forward so that others will know it origin and impetus.
5. If you have not already done so, show your recipients some love by adding them to your blog roll, Technorati Favorite list, or in any other way to further let them know that their blog voice is important to you and being heard.
6. Add your name to The Helping Hand meme at my new blog entitled The Emblem of the Helping Hand and don’t forget to leave a comment as a permanent record of all Helping Hand recipients.
7. Display the rules

Posted by Ajuan Mance