Newscoma is a goddess

and not just because she bestowed this lovely award on your humble Cracker, but you knew that.  Her blog is a daily source of humor, inspiration, good talk and information that makes you feel better for having gone there.

When you get one of these, you are requested to name ten blogs/bloggers that make you think and that you enjoy, and why.  I will have to name ten in addition to our beloved Newscoma.

1.  TennViews/KnoxViews -These are the creations of our blogfather, one Randy Neal, who started out as SouthKnoxBubba, and whose writing convinced me that I could do this.  He is the STATE'S blogfather, as far as I'm concerned, and I owe him more than he knows.

2. The Pesky Fly - Memphis' best blog, for several reasons.  First, they have the most impressive group of writers this side of DailyKos in Pesky, Jeff, CPL, Auto, and one of my mentors, the Kibitzer.  They never fail to make you think, and the commenters inevitably make me laugh.

3. Paul Ryburn's Journal - The single best argument for living in downtown Memphis comes from reading his chronicle - it's FUN to be there.  He keeps us posted on restaurant openings and closings, the ongoing struggle with panhandlers (NOT to be confused with homeless) and why downtown is a great place to be.  The Center City Commission should pay him for this!

4. Polar Donkey - No he doesn't write as much as we would all like, but when he does, he hits harder then anyone.  His series of maps on how the departure of financial institutions from low-income areas has hurt them should have won an award.

5. Memphis Music Confidential - new to the blogosphere, but Andria Lisle sure isn't; there's not a better music writer in this town than Andria, and the CA was unusually sharp in getting her to leave the Flyer and write this blog.  Musically, if she doesn't know about it, it ain't happenin', know what I mean?

6. Smart City Memphis - No, I don't always agree with Tom, but his posts are always thought-provoking and the commenters at his blog are as well.  We do agree on more than even I thought, and we are both supporters of downtown.  It is a MUST-READ.

7. at home she feels like a tourist - It had to have been a HUGE culture shock to move here from BERKELEY, of all places, but fearlessvk has a good eye for Memphis and its strangeness and beauty.  She is a welcome addition to the blogosphere.

8. 55-40 Memphis - Wow.  Bob has been on fire ever since he (she? it? we really don't know) arrived in the blogosphere over a year ago.  Another must-read for his observations of Memphis and the Mid-South; he and Pesky have had a great discussion over the shield law and whether it should apply to bloggers.

9. Volunteer Voters - I would be lost without AC Kleinheider's compendium of blog posts and news events related to politics in Tennessee, hosted by WKRN-2 in Nashville.  He always has short, thought-provoking intros to each piece or video, and he is more in the center than he thinks.  If you live in the Volunteer State and you are a political junkie, you HAVE to go there.

10.  Vibinc - He brings experience from his days in Arkansas to his writing about national and local politics, and he's already infuriating some of the local old hacks, so that's a POSITIVE in my book.  Well worth the read.

Dammit, I can't stop at 10, so, for today, this blog goes to ELEVEN.

11. Silence Isn't Golden - Two years ago, in the middle of the Junior Senate campaign, GoldnI and I were tearing each other new sphincters on a daily basis at DailyKos, she took the pro-Junior position, and, well, I didn't.  I thought at the time I was reading the work of a thirty-something writer from the Nashville area; imagine my surprise to learn that she was barely twenty and a student at Cornell.  Her pro-Obama writings this year have been on point, and I have applauded every time she went over to TGW and smacked them down for being over-the-top on their criticism of the junior Senator from Illinois.  I just couldn't leave her out.