Scribble, Scribble, Mr Gibbon

The Blogosphere is an essentially flat place, what Monty Python used to call an autonomous collective, hardly friendly to the whole idea of elites and awards, except the sort you award yourself. I have had rather ambivalent personal feelings about gongs, ever since Father Ted came unstuck over his Golden Cleric award. Nevertheless, the superior graphics, catchy red border, and unsolicited nature of the Superior Scribbler Award has subverted my anarcho-syndicalist tendencies and won my heart to this improbable enterprise. This is a free cascading tag chain of affirmation cooked up by The Scholastic Scribe. Melissa B (profile picture Left) teaches high school journalism, (Mel B? Shome mishtake?).

Melissa’s blog emanates from the legendary ghetto of Haight-Ashbury, so getting this gong feels, in itself, like a thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat at Alice’s restaurant, even without a real VW Microbus, let alone Implements of Dee-struction. The catchy logo comes complete with a quotation from Herbert Gould, elder statesman of the Beat Generation:

Diverting the internal traffic
between the Writer as Angel of Light
and the Writer as Hustler
is the scribbling child in a grown-up body,
wondering if anyone is listening.

Yep. Sounds like me.

Furthermore, what really does it for me is the joy of being awarded this gong by Bosco Peters, whose Spirituality and Liturgy Blog from NZ is one of the most thought provoking and informative reads out there — from the origins of Martinmas to Thomas Merton’s grandparents. Bosco deftly applies real knowledge and creative imagination to core anchor points of Christian praxis, with a seemingly constant stream of helpful and sometimes unique perspectives.

So, I gladly accept this prestigious honour, estabished October 2008,with grateful thanks to Bosco, my family, my parents, my colleagues, and those vital people a gushy Hollywood recipient once named in her acceptance speech, “all the people of the world, just for being themselves.”

In spite of this tagging exercise’s hippy-dippy SF roots, there are rules:

Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.

Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.

Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.

Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!

Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

All that remains, then, is to nominate “five most deserving Bloggy Friends,” or the tag chain fails... So, I suggest, in no particular order, because that would involve envelopes, the following five off my feed list (their latest is always posted in the right hand column)...

• Steve Hayes
  At a time the word “Orthodox” is being increasingly used in ludicrous ways by Churchy politicos who don’t know Orthodoxy from a horse’s, er, bottom, Steve is a real Orthodox Deacon in South Africa. There’s a tremendous depth of experience and breadth of interest here, plus thoughtful reflection from an African perspective. All this spiced with interesting book reviews, and a well developed sense of fun about resources out there, including the notorious Typealyzer, that some people have been wasting hours with this past week.
  
• Tim Norwood
  produces one of the best day-to-day Vicar blogs out there, connecting with people around his ministry. His blog draws you naturally into what he’s doing as Vicar and area dean. I’ve often recommended it to colleagues wondering what use a blog might be in their ministry, and in these days of shared ministry, it’s a good means of sharing life and work, with its joys, frustrations and occasional flashes of inspiration.
  
• David Chillingworth
  was the first bishop blog I got to know — gently humerous, slightly quizzical, personal without ego, I’ve enjoyed getting to know what +David's work is all about, in its various dimensions. Coming from an Irish background, and ministering in Scotland, sometimes gives a particularly interesting twist to his view. +David also deserves a gong for his campaign of billets doux to the housekeeper, pressurizing University of Kent authorities to allow bishops’ spouses to share bedrooms with their fellas at the Lambeth Conference, just like the students do.
  
• Anne Droid
  is a Scottish prison chaplain. Get out of Jail Free rings various bells with me, having engaged in prison ministry myself in the past. She doesn’t duck the real issues, either. I’m struck how some significant dimensions of justice and grace that get hidden away in more genteel spheres of ministry stand out clearly in hers, and it’s a guaranteed good read. It also has an excellent blogroll for those times you just want to thumb round interesting and useful material.
  
• David Keen
  is a Vicar in the West Country, who reflects on a wide variety of issues and ideas around mission, ministry and the Kingdom. He brings together concerns about Kingdom and Ministry in all sorts of interesting ways — feet firmly on the ground, but with penetrating analysis, and a strong sense of justice which has given him a campaigning edge in articulating reactions to the dreadful saga of the SPCK bookshops and the Brewer brothers.