My Latest Unsuck Crush

Ok. So there are BlogEntries you should know about, and also Blogs you should know about. Because occasionally, something *so* doesn't mostly suck that it's hard to pick your favorite facet. An unsuck crush, if you will.

Historically, first things Cheek-discovered as unsucking were books. Bit by Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time in the third grade, my love affair with science fiction was born. Octavia Butler. Orson Scott Card. Robert Heinlein. Frank Herbert. Julian May. Once I turned their pages, I kept turning. And turning. And re-turning, reading works again through the years. #1 fave is still Card’s Ender’s Game.

Books led to poetry. Poetry to plays. Plays back to fiction. Too many writers to list – a post for a rainy day. But there’s one book – and only one, so far – that found me *immediately* re-turning: Tom Robbins’ Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates. Run, don’t walk, and read it. When you do, be sure to come back and report if you have C.R.A.F.T. Club membership.

Unsucking Cheek seconds: musicians and the first time I heard one of their albums. Ok, ok, ok. CDs. Ok, ok, ok. Musical releases (there!, modern, only-known-digital young FREAKS!). First listens found me captured by the collection of songs, not just any one. Sure, there were standouts. But as a whole, I listened to the entire things over. And over. And over. (See next post if you’re curious.)

The test, tho', is time. I may think something is great, but does it last? Is it overdone? Does it become full of itself? Or does it only continue to have poignant meaning? New works are longed for, but once acquired, may or may not be enjoyed as readily. As wholesomely. Could be hit or miss. But overall, I keep seeking it out. I revel more than I rue. I rarely walk away.

So, back to B.Y.S.K.A.: there are those I peruse, and those I check daily. Ok, more than daily. I read them for withing: to connect with, identify with, groove with, learn with, laugh with. Before you leap to say “should it be ‘from’” - no, it’s *with*. Cuz this new fangled internet thang and its blog – sorry - blag spawn lets me interact, thanks very damn much.

There are many I like muchly and score high on my unsuck-o-meter – you know who you are. But please don’t be jealous of my new unsuck crush, CountryMouse. She’s earned this valentine. How, how, how do I choose my favorite post when betterer ones keep appearing?

Cheek’s CountryMouse unsuck list, dateline 27-Mar-2007 7:58 PM EDT:

1. Roll Call. One woman, many voices. I hope to meet them one day in concert.
2. Too Expensive. Every woman has been here. Or will.
3. The Peevies. She’s after Kernan the Grammarian’s heart with this compendium of malapropisms.
4. An Extrapolation. I was on the edge of my seat: *will* she?
5. Suburban Legends. The language, the lore; “bean blasphemy” at its best.
6. Walking a (Green) Mile in Someone Else’s Shoes. Stark honesty.
7. Have A Euphemistic Day. Foreplayfully good.

CountryMouse reminds me a lot of Hollis Gillespie. Hollis’ articles have appeared weekly in Creative Loafing for years. She contributes to NPR’s All Things Considered, collected her columns into 2 different books, and is working on bringing her tales to the small cable screen. I’m considering taking Hollis’ writing workshop this summer – I’ll be guarandamteed to pee my pants laughing, at a minimum.

CountryMouse, I reckon, and I believe rightly, that the wankosphere is your oyster. My glass is raised to your unsucky, non-lazy ass-mother of three self, and toasting to a blag future of only revel, no rue.