There've been some changes around here

First off, thanks to the reader who alerted me to this post at the Uptown Update blog that made use of the Riviera photo from my "Thriftiness" post, improperly and hilariously citing my blog as "City of Density." I've barely yet investigated the oft-vicious world of Chicago neighborhood blogs...And thanks to the blogs that recently added mine--General Carlessness; Bright Lights, Dim Beauty; reallyboring (who I've added) and the Ecology of Absence blog, the first I know of to actually quote and link to one of my posts. I'd listed the Ecology of Absence site but overlooked the blog; it's blogrolled now.

Also added: EveryBlock Chicago, which is a news feed for, well, every block; The Beachwood Reporter (a sort of newspaperish site); B12 Solipsism (a photo/news/random stuff blog by the guy known as Swanksalot on Flickr); Ottermatic and Shapely Prose (two Chicago blogs that cover weight issues a lot; the latter's founder, Kate Harding, was on the cover of RedEye last week, and the article actually wasn't bad). I definitely overthink the way the links are organized...for the record, everything until the "More architecture..." section in the lists is based in Chicagoland, except for a few in the top "Architecture" category, but everything in there is Midwestern, at least. I deleted the bicycle/transit and "Health and happiness" categories and moved those links. I haven't done really extensive searches of Chicago blogs, so I'm sure I'll have more before long, and there are friends I'd like to promote who have Flickr pages and other sites but not blogs...we'll see.

The biggest change is the addition of several new categories for some of the non-Chicago political/personal blogs I enjoy. Many were old favorites, and others were discovered as I went through hundreds of links on old favorites' blogrolls. I chose blogs that had posted something new in at least the past couple weeks, are well-written (of course I don't agree with everything, and picked several that challenge some of my views), and weren't exclusively personal blogs (nothing wrong with those, they're just not what I want to list there). The lists are here for my convenience more than anything. I don't expect any of these blogs to blogroll me since I don't write much political content here. Nor will I explain right now why these are the particular causes I care about.

So. There's a general category for political/feminist blogs (* = group blogs), and categories for three issues I particularly care about. Adoption: reform-oriented blogs by people who are one or more of the following: adoptees, especially international/transracial adoptees, birth mothers, adoptive mothers. Mental health: by people who've experienced psychiatric treatment. Weight/body image: fat acceptance/anti-diet oriented. Big Fat Blog, Shapely Prose, and Ottermatic fit that category, but since they're Chicago, they're elsewhere. I'd like to be a member at Big Fat Blog (a blog I've known about for years, but didn't realize was Chicago-based till last year). I understand why they don't want diet-talk there, but their "please don't register if" says: "You are interested in losing weight now (or possibly in the future, maybe - like you're actively planning on it)" and well, I would like to...I just wouldn't make a big deal of it. The Health Institute of Nutrition (THIN) and Fascism Advocacy Center are satirical sites that may baffle those not familiar with their respective issues. But I think they're cool.

All for now, though I'll have another, somewhat depressing post up within a day. Soon I'd like to put up "A Walk in Albany Park", because I did in fact get photos of the building mentioned in the previous post, and buy donuts (pretty good) at Donut Doctor. Okay, it's not a bad place...just don't let the orange-and-lavender color scheme scare you away!