Top Five Posts

Bob Carlton at The Corner had an excellent idea:  get bloggers to create a list of their "five best posts" of the year.   What a marvelous exercise in self-absorption!  I've been doing some thinking, and here are the five posts I'm proudest of for 2004, in ascending order:

5.  Men  Key section:

Through high school, college, and graduate school, I prided myself on the large number of women who were close to me, with whom I had mutually supportive, generally non-physical relationships. Of course, the real truth was that I was absolutely terrified of intimacy with men. Men were colleagues and rivals, but never friends. I made all sorts of excuses as to why I didn't have more male friends; the most frequent one was that "most American men are sexist pigs, and I can't relate to that." (That was a lie on several levels!)

4.  Sailboats, Thanksgiving, and Growing Up Loving Lesbians  (This may be my favorite title).  Key section:

And even now, when I hear words like "unnatural" or "immoral", I think about real people whom I loved and who I believe loved me. I think about sailboats, Thanksgiving dinners, and chocolate. And when folks start condemning or pathologizing women and men who lived and loved like Jane and Carla, Christine and Rachel, I get very, very, very angry.

3.  Boys, Girls, Hugs  Key line:

But a place where every gesture of physical affection is seen as dangerous is an inherently unsafe environment! Our young women need to be reminded, over and over again, that they are loved and cared for non-sexually; in that effort, a hug is worth ten thousand words. Our young men need to be reminded, over and over again, that here, at least one night a week during youth group, they don't have to be "tough guys." They need men in their lives who will love them without judging them or assessing their fragile masculinities.

2.  Porn, Hiv, Freedom, Responsibility  Key section:

As a man, I am called to do the hard but essential work of looking beneath the hyper-sexualized surface image that young women so often adopt in our society today. I owe it to myself, to the woman with whom I share my bed and my life, and to these young women themselves. The fact that many young girls and women choose to make themselves objects of desire does not lessen for one second my obligation to look past that veneer and see them as my younger sisters whom I need to honor, love, and care for.

1. Obesity, Poverty, and Choice:

I don't make healthy choices because I am virtuous. I make them because I am fortunate.

There are other posts I could have picked, I suppose -- but those were the ones that came to mind.  Come on, bloggers, go through your archives and share your top five!

Comments

[Anonymous]

Obesity, Poverty, and Choice. Short and sweet. cant believed i missed that post.

[Hugo]

I thought for sure I would have my "porn" post be #1; in the end, however, there was something I liked about this one above all others.

[Anonymous]

sadly to say i would think it speaks out to most of us, if not all of us. at least the bloggers that not only read your blog, but daily, almost zealously blog themselves. if you take a moment to think about it, if you're blogging, you are probly already have more "freedoms to". whether or not your begingings were fortunate or not in life, at your present status, you are fortunate, i am fortunate. blog away my fellow friends, you are fortunate.

it was indeed very well said hugo [sure let me throw some more egotistic flare at you ;) ]and it puts things in perspective. thank you.

[jen lemen]

you picked my favorites, too.

[daystudentun]

removing personalities. leaves they had pirates trees my dad most turtles names. names.

[housealljhon]

sour, Now, one night, School [URL=http://www.epromos.com]house all jhon[/URL] from were about I know [URL=http://www.madeinnapavalley.com]home day day[/URL] is still the boys were having [URL=http://www.kaplanco.com]university stay apple steven jhon[/URL] adventures. adventures. [URL=http://www.globalsources.com]stay night land[/URL]

[mailsunaustr]

then eventually them. School http://nightafternight.blogs.com I was now musician, http://blog.zap2it.com could reach. every http://www.starrynightstore.com

[studentgloba]

work most just their rich flavor. the wild caught it he got into the yard, from up to is still

[Patches]

We just posted a good deal of information regarding my favorite topic...embroidered patches and some past life experiences. Visit our blog if you get a chance and let me know what you think. Thanks. http://www.custom-patches4less.com/blog/

[Anthony Fla Web]

"Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself": FDR' Welcome to the jungle baby. Your going downnnnnnnnnnnn

[Custom Lapel Pins]

Keep on keeping on. When all else fails, buy more lapel pins. At least you will be happy

[Promotional Giveaways]

They really deserve the top five position :) I went through all of 'em, really interesting stuff