Best of our TU Community Blogs, September 18, 2014: Ten for Thursday

No, your eyes do not deceive you.  The feature is back.  And I’m proud to bring it back.

For those of you who are new to my blog, let me fill you in on the backstory.  A few years ago, I took one day a week out of my blog to showcase ten of my fellow community bloggers, so that you could check out their articles and their observations and enjoy what they wrote.

I did this in an effort to restore the “Best of Our Blogs” feature to the TU’s print edition, which had been initially culled as part of a newspaper redesign.  My efforts were successful; the feature was restored and still runs to this day.

So why am I bringing this feature back in my blog?

I have a new goal in mind.

Every year, the Times Union does their annual “Best of the Capital Region” polls.  Readers click through a myriad of voting options – best Italian restaurant, best downtown nightclub, best this, best that…

And one of the featured categories is their survey is “best local blogger.”

Last year, among the nine or ten selectable choices for “best blogger” were a few Times Union staff blogs and some independent non-TU-affiliated blogs.

What wasn’t on the list?  The TU’s community bloggers.

Not one TU community blogger was recognized as a viable voting option for his or her work.  Not one.  And if someone DID want to vote for that person, they had to enter that name on a “write-in” ballot.

That bothered me.  The community bloggers take great time and effort to showcase their work, their thoughts are clear and erudite; funny and wistful; provocative and pensive.  And despite all that, they were not even listed as votable options in the 2014 “Best of the Capital Region” survey.  Or in the 2013 survey.  In fact, the last time any TU community blogger was even considered in the poll was what, 2011 or 2012, when Amanda Talar and Kevin Marshall, both of whom used to write in this blog portal, were part of the ballot.  So the TU has had community bloggers on the ballot before, I don’t see why they can’t have a couple of them on the ballot now.

Now I’m of the belief that “best” means “most well-written” or “most thought-provoking” or “most intelligent topics.”  Yet if these talented TU community bloggers aren’t even listed on the ballot, how can they even receive consideration for this honor without some “vote for me, write my name on the write-in slip, please please please” campaign?

So here’s where we’ll start.  Every week at this time, I’ll happily share ten blog posts by the Times Union’s quality community bloggers.  And I’ll provide hyperlinks to each article, so you can read and enjoy the articles as well.

And hopefully, when the 2015 “Best of the Capital Region” ballot is revealed, that one of two things happens.

(A) That at least two Times Union community bloggers are listed as votable choices on the ballot, and not just write-in candidates.  Either that, or:

(B) Make the “Best Blogger” category a total write-in ballot.

These are the community bloggers and blog posts that I enjoy reading.  And I want you to enjoy them as well.  And hopefully the Times Union will realize that they should give some of these writers a chance to receive some votes – on an equal and fair campaign.

So may I share with you ten Times Union community bloggers, and their blog posts of the past seven days that caught my attention.  They include:

1. Don Rittner’s history blog, “Did Albany Kill Houdini?“
2. Rachel Baum’s “Bark: Confessions of a Dog Trainer” blog, “My dog eats cat _(fill in the blank)_.“
3. Gina Peca’s blog, “When you need a helping hand.“
4. Rev. Alan Rudnick’s blog, “The 12 Disciples … and Bartholomew.”
5. Sonja Stark’s “Pilotgirl” blog, “Television memories of Peekskill, N.Y.“
6. Dan Lyons’ Classic Cars blog, “Rear View Mirror: 1969 AMC SC/Rambler.“
7. Mary Martin’s “A Good Enough Life” blog, “MOLST.“
8. Roger Green’s “Information Without the Bun” blog, “Erinaceous.“
9. David Kalish’s “Ruminator” blog, “Siri, I think I love you.“
10. Jeannine Trimboli’s “Real [Fit] Life” blog, “You don’t LOOK like a powerlifter.“

And there you have it.  The Thursday feature is back.  And hopefully next year, at least two of these bloggers – or maybe at least two other community bloggers – will be part of the ballot for the TU’s “Best of the Capital Region.”

Because they DESERVE to be considered.

And if you know of other TU community independent bloggers whose work should be considered for this Thursday feature… drop me a line.  That’s why this blog has a comments section.