never say never

Yesterday I posted the contents of a very creepy email that I received. I jumped the gun and I want to set the record straight. This morning, I went beyond checking out the web site of the supposed church listed in the email and did a search for Faith Covenant Ministries - which I should have done yesterday before posting anything.

The email address listed in the email links it to this web site. This is the actual web site of the church. I’ll save you the trouble of clicking on the links and tell you that the first is a slimmed down version of the actual web site. I’ve contacted Faith Covenant Ministries through their web site to let them know that someone is committing fraud using their name. This is the email that I sent to the church.

I’ve received an email from a man calling himself Prophet David Johnson four times in the past two days purportedly soliciting donations for Faith Covenant Ministries. I do not believe that it is written by anyone associated with your church. The email address listed in the body of the mail belongs to a domain that hosts a version of your web page. Many people will not look beyond that email address and will associate this email with your church. While I am not a member of your congregation, nor do I have any desire to be, I find it reprehensible for a con man to be preying on the good faith of people to steal money from them using the name of any legitimate church.

I’m calling it to your attention so that you can take appropriate steps, whether those steps are publicizing and denouncing the letter or taking legal action. This is an excerpt from the letter - I would be happy to forward the entire thing to you to aid you in debunking it or pursuing legal action.

=============================
I am Prophet David Johnson, I went for a prayer mission in HAITI and the Lord revealed so many things about you to me.

I see things and I reveal to people, something terrible which I have seen will happen to you, I just have to tell you, you will lose two important people you love very much, and evil will visit you personally, troubles and problems will leave with you, the things you never never believe that can happen to you, will happen. It has been dated when it will start very soon, sooner than you think.

The Lord reveal everything to me, and your email address appeared to me, after reading this message, if you believe me keep this message for your self alone do not share it with anybody, but if you don’t believe me delete this message and talk to your family, friends and relatives, tell them about the message so when things start happening to you, they will be informed, everything that will happen to you is spiritual, nobody will understand, when you even tell people what is happening to you they will never believe and understand because it is spiritual.

I have warned you now, we can prevent all this, but only if you believe God, but if you don’t believe God, wait and see what will happen.
============================

The letter goes on to solicit donations in any amount to be sent to
pastoremmauelanderson@faithconvenantministry.co.cc
and goes on to say:
==============================
The church will go on 40 days fasting for you starting from the day you sow a seed for the building of the church. Contact Pastor Emmanuel Anderson, tell Pastor Anderson that you want to contribute for the building of the new church, do not tell him about what I told you, just tell him you want to contribute then ask him how you can sow a seed, do this as quick as possible, nothing is too small and nothing is too big for the Lord do not cheat God again, do this I have told you.
=================================

As I said, I’m very willing to forward the entire email to you if you contact me with an address to which it can be forwarded. I have already posted the contents of the letter on my own blog and LJ account, and I will follow up those posts with one that states I don’t believe it comes from your church. I only have a small voice, but I’m willing to use it to spread the word that a false prophet is using your name to defraud people. Please let me know if there’s anything else that I can do.

I stand by my opinion of the whole Prayer Warrior apostolic movement, but I do not believe that this church was responsible for the email that I received. I hope that they’ll publicize it and what is being done in their name

Okay, so that may be a little bit of a sensationalist title but really. I've got three copies of this so far this morning. It's pretty nasty stuff.

I am Prophet David Johnson, I went for a prayer mission in HAITI and the Lord revealed so many things about you to me.

I see things and I reveal to people, something terrible which I have seen will happen to you, I just have to tell you, you will lose two important people you love very much, and evil will visit you personally, troubles and problems will leave with you, the things you never never believe that can happen to you, will happen. It has been dated when it will start very soon, sooner than you think.

The Lord reveal everything to me, and your email address appeared to me, after reading this message, if you believe me keep this message for your self alone do not share it with anybody, but if you don’t believe me delete this message and talk to your family, friends and relatives, tell them about the message so when things start happening to you, they will be informed, everything that will happen to you is spiritual, nobody will understand, when you even tell people what is happening to you they will never believe and understand because it is spiritual.

I have warned you now, we can prevent all this, but only if you believe God, but if you don’t believe God, wait and see what will happen.

Lord has done so much for you, that you have failed to recognize and you have been cheating God, at this time your email address was revealed to me three times, that’s why I am contacting you, do not think this is a joke or just an email because I know what will be going on in your mind, you are free to believe and disbelief this message, but when evil starts happening there is no going back, I warn you it has been destined and dated, it will start sooner than you think.

As you are reading this message I still see doubt in you, but I will stop here. If you want to prevent all this evil that will hit you soon, I will know and I will tell you what to do.

God reveal to me that you have a lot of doubt in your mind that you will doubt this message.

The reason for writing this message, is because of the strong challenge which you must have to follow to prevent all this evil which will surround you sooner, you will not see them and you can never see them, because it is spiritual, when it starts it cannot stop, it will be as if God has giving you to Satan.

Look this is not a joke, this is what I have seeing and the only prevention is for you not to doubt and do what I will tell you to do, for your soul to be covered in God’s harms. We have to take you back from the Satan if you are ready to follow God’s instructions I will tell you what to do.

I can still see even as I’m writing this message that there is plenty of doubt inside your heart and mind, but you can over power your doubt, only if the evil leaving in your heart will allow you, it will be very difficult for you to do what God’s want you to do, but you can do it only if you put doubt aside.

God told me that we will win you back, but it will be difficult because your heart has been eating by doubt, my only advice to you to remove doubt and keep this message to you self, if you don’t take my advice wait and see.
This is the only way out for you to avoid this evil, you have to sow a seed in the house of the Lord, there is a church we are building in Africa, and we want you to sow a seed in contributing on that church where your name will be writing as one of the people that contributed to stand the house of the Lord where people will enter everyday and pray for you who contributed to put up the structure.

The only way out of this predicament is you must have to contribute for the building of the church, your name must be writing in the church as one of the sponsors that is where your name will be written in the book of life, the book of joy and the book of happiness things will now turn around, when the church is completed everyday service your name will be announced for the church congregation to pray for you.

So you have to sow that seed that is the only message that will take you out of this evil, you name must be writing in that church before it is completed. There’s no way back we will beg you to do this because this is the only way for the evil to turn around, I’m a prophet I don’t talk too much. But if you fail to do what you have been told now, when the predicament start even if you give all you have to the church at that time it will not work, I am warning and begging don’t ignore this message.

The church will go on 40 days fasting for you starting from the day you sow a seed for the building of the church. Contact Pastor Emmanuel Anderson, tell Pastor Anderson that you want to contribute for the building of the new church, do not tell him about what I told you, just tell him you want to contribute then ask him how you can sow a seed, do this as quick as possible, nothing is too small and nothing is too big for the Lord do not cheat God again, do this I have told you.

Give what you have never giving before, give what you feel your heart tells you, remember nothing is too small and nothing is too big for the Lord, contact Pastor Emmanuel Anderson on this e-mail (pastoremmauelanderson@faithconvenantministry.co.cc) and tell him you want to sow a seed, after you have done that, then wait and see how blessing will rain upon your life each day, how you will swim in the rivers of success and joy.

I have given you the information and message which I was asked to give you, so now it is now left for you to believe it and do what you where told or forget it. I will never write you again or reply you, I have told you what I have to tell you, after reading this message you only have two things to do, either you follow the message or not.

 I wish you the best in life.


Have a blessed day.

Regards,

Prophet David Johnson.


This is a link to the 'faith' that the letter tells me to contribute my money to. If I hadn't been reading up on the fringe Pentecostal prayer groups - the Spiritual Warriors who claim to have prayed people out of town, prayed towns back to moral superiority and - in the case of the prayer group to which Sarah Palin once belonged, actually taken credit for praying someone blind and causing her car to blow up - through prayer. They have also claimed that their prayers were responsible for the death of Mother Theresa and Princess Diana. Let me be clear - this letter didn't come from a church with which Sarah Palin is associated - it just subscribes to the same ideology of using prayer as a weapon. So seriously, friends - I'm posting this everywhere that I have an avenue as a dare. If bad things start happening to me, you'll know why, eh? 

I had the incredible good luck fourteen years ago to fall into a spot on the Worcester Poetry Slam Team and attend the 1994 National Poetry Slam Finals as a member of that team. It was one of the most magical, incredible weeks of my life, and I know now that a big part of that magic was a direct result of being at the Nationals under the wing of javabill. You can read why here. That is not to say we didn't think about the points, and didn't talk strategy and didn't practice our butts off to polish our performances to perfection - but when push came to shove and we were stepping out on that stage, Bill didn't say 'Go win!' He said 'Get up there and have fun!'

Non-tangential tangent: recently, I ran across Taylor Mali over on Facebook, and dropped him a line. In the short conversation that followed, I reminded him of the time the Worcester team slammed against his Maine team at Granny Killams. His response was "You were on THAT team!? What a night that was! Granny Killam's was, by design, a very tough crowd. Old school. I remember thinking, "These folks must come from a much more rarified venue!""

And we did - we came from a venue where poets were welcomed and encouraged to get up on stage and find their audience. We came from a venue where the host introduced every poet glowingly and applauded newcomers when they left the stage with a loud, hearty, "PLEASE COME BACK!" I was blessed to have been part of a team that was groomed by Bill, not to win but to do our damnedest and deliver our finest and enjoy every moment of the experience.

I haven't attended an NPS since 1994, not even when it was here in Worcester. My life just hasn't allowed for it - and as much as I sometimes wish things had been different, I'm not sorry to have missed the things that have turned so many of my old friends off to the whole experience. I know there are people who were there in 1994 who remember the experience far differntly than I do - and I suspect it has a lot to do with finding others who were there for the poetry rather than for the points. I do not remember the scores. I do not remember the points. I remember amazement and awe and poetry - lots and lots and lots of poetry. If you're attending the Nationals, I hope that's what you take home with you - the feeling of having been part of something magical and transformative. It's worth ignoring all the pandering for points to get to the poetry.

I have no idea how long ago I started writing this - it just popped up when I started to write the next post I'll write - so I finished it. I don't remember what you wrote,nerak_g, but thank you for writing it.
For the Giftgivers
(inspired by
nerak_g
's post about the thank you note)

giving up my son should have been
the hardest thing I ever did, but it was

the logical thing
the easy thing
the right thing (for me, for me, for me)

the hardest thing was the guilt
that it was not a harder thing to do

you were not the woman who raised my son
you were the nurse whose job it was
to visit my newborn daughter, make sure
that she was healthy and doing well

you were the first person to hear about
the son I gave away and the guilt I carried
because it was so very damned easy
(so logical, so right for me)

you were the woman who stepped outside
(my house, your professionalism)
and walked back up my stairs to ring the bell
and tell me thank you

because you were raising someone else's son
and never had the chance to
thank her to her face.

This is a meme of 10 Things You Love that begin with a certain letter (which another person gives you). brags2bitches gave me the letter L. If you want a letter, just say so in the comments and I'll give you one.

1. Life - I know. It's cheesy and corny and cliche, but it's true. I love being alive and lively and living and don't intend to stop doing it any time soon.

2. Lime Jello - Yeah. Don't ask. It's something only a few college friends and the guy that wrote the letter to Penthouse would understand.

3. Lightning - Gorgeous doesn't begin to describe it. Lightning - forked lightning, sheet lightning, flickering and slashing across the sky is one of Mother Nature's most beautiful sights. I still remember sitting in a sheltered ell on a cliff in Montana watching a lightning storm make its way across the open sky.

4. Lili - What the kids at camp call my daughter Emilee. She is beautiful and generous and loyal, and makes the whole world sparkle whenever she enters a room. (I say things just as nice about all of my kids, honest. She just happens to be the L one.)

5. Love - In all of its forms, from the incredible fluttery rush when you see your crush to the deep, abiding warmth of motherly love. I am ultimately in love with Love and all the possibilities it opens in this world.

6. Lilacs - They're the only flower that truly means spring to me. I love love love the scent of early spring lilacs, and the lacy intricacy of the blooms. So beautiful.

7. Lavender - Lavender soap, lavender shampoo, lavender fabric softener, dried leaves of lavender in the bath - it's not surprising to me that they've finally discovered that lavender really does soothe the nerves.

8. Lexus drivers - or one in particular. That would be my amazing oldest daughter who is a Queen of Rods, a firebrand with a social conscience who um... drives a Lexus. No one said crusaders can't indulge themselves, after all.

9. La la la lalala la - Music and singing - and not that high-falutin' stuff either. Gimme something that I can sing along with and I'm a happy happy camper.

10. Logos - Not pictorial symbols, but the word - spoken, written, recited, words are my passion.

So back on February 2, I woke up just in time to watch someone hijack my internet identity - or try to. He used a loophole in yahoo's webmail interface to change the password on my yahoo email address, which is the address I'd been using as an alternate contact address for most of my other accounts - then used the yahoo email account to request password resets to my paypal and two hosting accounts. I've spent significant chunks of time over the last two weeks trying to recover all of my passwords and all of my accounts. The end damage count: lost two years of posts at www.girlswantporn.com and my entire links list there. I'm trying to rebuild the links list and want to include links to as many of my poet friends-acquaintances-crushes-muses as possible, so if you think you fit into one of those categories, drop me a comment either here or there with the url you want me to link to. Thanks!

Eighteen years and ten days old,
my daughter asks me,
"Who should I vote for, Mummy?"

I got bored and decided to see if my OKCupid dating style has changed. Nope. I'm still a Peach.. for the fourth time.

The Peach Random Gentle Love Master (RGLM) Playful, kind, and well-loved, you are The Peach. For such a warm-hearted, generous person, you're surprisingly experienced in both love and sex. We credit your spontaneous side; you tend to live in the moment, and you don't get bogged down by inhibitions like most women your age. If you see something wonderful, you confidently embrace it. You are a fun flirt and an instant sweetheart, but our guess is you're becoming more selective about long-term love. It's getting tougher for you to become permanently attached; and a guy who's in a different place emotionally might misunderstand your early enthusiasm. You can wreck someone simply by enjoying him. Your ideal mate is adventurous and giving, like you. But not overly intense. Your exact female opposite: The Nymph Deliberate Brutal Sex Dreamer Always avoid: The False Messiah (DBLM) Consider: The Loverboy (RGLM), The Playboy (RGSM), The Boy Next Door (RGLD)

Link: The Online Dating Persona Test @ OkCupid - free online dating. My profile name: : ladychameleon

My favorite comment: You could wreck someone just by enjoying them. Oops?

Behind La Giaconda's smile are
countless hours of "Don't move
a muscle." I still recall the
way that he'd reprove me

for a twitch of cheek, a blink.
He wanted teeth and sparkling eyes
Try to look happy, he told me.
I begged a compromise

relief from aching cheeks and jaw
Do you know how hard it is to smile
like that? I asked him. I defy you
to hold that rictus grin while

your ass has gone to sleep, and pins
are playing havoc with your spine.
He didn't see my point. How could
he when his eyes were blind

to anything but paint and brush
and canvas? I was nothing more
than composition of light and shadow
he never thought of all I bore

to be his muse - the hours I had to live
inside my mind, try to transcend
cramped calves with flights of
fancy, learned to pretend

the dab of brush on canvas
was his tongue upon my clit
and devised a challenge
- to ignore it and to sit

unmoving while he stroked me
and beneath that awful dress
my thighs were pressed together
in the subtlest caress

and it was that expression
the quirk of mouth and brow
that captured his attention.
I never told him how

while he stood at his canvas
lost in his muse's embrace,
my shadow Leonardo
put that smile upon my face.

after a long dry spell - a poem.

before hello,
you said six words that made us sisters.
your eyes were an open door between us
and I stepped through

you love him too, don't you?

yang to my yin
you were my polar twin,
and he the silver thread that wove
between and through us both
transforming black and white
into something that gleamed and rustled
in the stillness between our words

you love him too. Don't you

remember how
time separated, spun minutes into months
turned hours into I've known you forever?
Because I do. You made me wish
I had no arms so I could stop wondering
how they would feel around you.

You love him, too. Did you

know you let me in
with those few words - opened doors
I never knew were there, invited me to share
more than an afternoon, more than his bed.
You gave me all your yesterdays together
and I returned my trust in our tomorrows.

You love him too, don't you,

you said, and dissolved
the awkwardness of "babe,
I know you'll love her", turned it into
wonder at how well he knew us both
transformed us from the triangle we were
into a never-ending twist of Moebius

where he and I and you
transform to we.

  P&G's New Poverty Initiative to Keep Girls in School in Africa

P&G had to go to Africa to find girls that don't go to school because they don't have pads?? Boggles. my. mind.

It's not new, but it is heartfelt, and it applies to each and every one of you.

the poets i love are not restrained
(in imitation of e. e. cummings the boys i mean are not refined)

the poets i love are not restrained
they dance with words that slap and bite
they will not clap or snap for crap
they toss the gauntlet down and fight

one upside downs a metaphor
one spits out words all uncontained
they do not write for tour or score
the poets I love are not restrained

they sleep with words that bite and slap
that do not mince and are not trite
that paint the ear in shades of true
and sap your strength like kryptonite

the poets i love are not restrained
they will not bend to kiss an ass
they will write poems for Dew or brew
whichever one will fill a glass

they let their feelings run unreined
they set their fancy free in flight
the poets i love are not restrained
they rock your world when they recite

Just a reminder - I'm hosting the poetry carnival at Girls Want Porn tomorrow.  Not a lot of submissions this time around - I usually get 10 or 12 submissions and I've only got three right now. If you'd like to widen your audience a little, this is a great way to do it. Just drop me a link to a poem about "character" on your lj or other blog, add a few words about what character means to you, and drop by GWP tomorrow evening to see your poem and others about character. Jonathan, darlin', where you at?

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A few days ago, radioactiveart posted about a story he'd read on indymedia (read the story here) (read the post here).

I, too, read your post, followed the link to learn more, followed that up with searches to see what else I could learn. Unfortunately, I have no resources or information that would have been helpful, and nothing to further shed light on the situation, and didn't see a point in posting a "how is this still happening" response.

Maybe the answer to msteg's question (okay, so what do we do about this) is that we TALK about it, get our outrage out there, publicize it, make our feelings known. Buzz CAN make a difference. How many friends you got on LJ, T? How many friends do each of us have? How many of us have our own web sites and blogs and other communities? What if each of us wrote a "how the hell does this happen?" post in our ljs, blogs and communities? What if each of us wrote about our outrage and and sent our writings to others who are involved in this same fight - perhaps for different reasons? What if our raised voices were added to the voices of others who object to the border wall and the border fence for whateverreason?

I think that we have all grown too complacent with the "but what can I do?" mind set. It's not apathy so much as learned helplessness. We CARE - we have just been taught for so long that our voices are meaningless and our efforts useless that we believe it. The sheer size of some of the things that need changing has put us in the position of believing that our puny efforts won't make a difference - or worse, that there is NOTHING WE CAN DO. The truth is there is ALWAYS something we can do. It may seem like a futile effort. It may get lost in the storm. It may be so small that we even forget that we did it. But there is always something - even if that something is telling someone else about it.

So here's what else I've learned in just ten minutes on the Internet.

The proposed border wall is NOT popular, but it has political muscle behind it. The Sierra Club has brought suit against it, and a federal court issued an injunction halting construction on a portion of the fence through a National Conservation Area in Cochise County. Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security secretary, ordered work to continue, invoking waiver authority granted him under the 2005 bill that mandated construction of the fence. (news story here)

The Texas Border Coalition is adamantly against construction of the border wall. (news story here) The TBC is a coalition of Texas businessmen and elected leaders "representing two million Texans who live in the 11 counties that border Mexico". Here's a list of TBC members posted in that story:

 Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster, who serves as its
chairman; Cameron County Judge Carlos H. Cascos; Edinburg Mayor Joe
Ochoa; El Paso Mayor John Cook; El Paso County Attorney José R.
Rodríguez, Hidalgo Mayor John David Franz; Laredo Mayor Raúl Salinas;
Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas; Maverick County Judge José Pepe
Aranda; McAllen Mayor Richard Cortéz; Mission Mayor Norberto Salinas;
Pharr Mayor Leopoldo Palacios, Jr; Rio Grande City Mayor Kevin Hiles;
Roma Mayor Rogelio Ybarra; Val Verde County Judge Manuel “Mike”
Fernández; Weslaco Mayor Joe V. Sánchez; Mike Allen of McAllen, a
member of the South Texas College Board of Trustees; Monica Stewart of
McAllen; Pat Townsend Jr., president and CEO of the Mission Economic
Development Agency, and other community leaders.

New Mexico Governor and Dem candidate for president Bill Richardson is also adamantly against the building of this wall. In July, he told a group of Edinburg, TX businessmen that "The first thing that will go down down when I am president is this wall". In the same article, a local County judge, J. D. Salinas states that

“We need to bring this up every chance we have,” Salinas said. “If we
are talking about the levees causing possible problems in Hidalgo
County, we need to hold the federal government accountable when they
say they don’t have the money to fix our levees, then how is it they
have the money to build a wall or a fence? We need to keep educating
the American people that we don’t want a wall.” (read news article here)

In yet another article from Edinburg politics, Salinas said, "“There are more important issues to South Texas – safety and health
issues – than a fence that is going to cost $16 million a mile. That’s
why we are here today,” the county judge insisted. “We feel a Veterans
Hospital, taking care of the levees which may be built where they want
the fence, are more important than a plan that was (drawn) on a napkin
by the Border Patrol over lunch.”"

He  has talked a lot locally about using the media to highlight the Texas opposition to the wall. He talks about "keeping the pressure on" by getting the opposition to the wall into the media as often as possible. He cites promises made and broken to the political leaders of these Texas towns about involving them in any decisions about the border fence.

The Texas Border Coalition has its own web site where they talk about their Legislative Advocacy Network and their efforts to make the voices of the Texas-Mexico border communities heard on Capitol Hill. Maybe they could use additional ammunition. Maybe one more voice, one more letter, one more issue with the fence (environmental violations, business and economic disadvantages, racial discrimination, violation of federal court injunctions) can help tip the balance. Their contact form for feedback, requests and comments is here. What if the issue of taking land by eminent domain for the border fence got thrown into their pot of issues? What if we all wrote about this issue and added our voices of concern to the avenues that they have already built?

I understand that there is a larger issue here than the proposed border fence - that the forced taking of yet one more piece of land from the people who live on it and have claim to it is yet another black mark of shame. I understand that there may be reasons that the Native communities in the area may not be comfortable working with the established local political community.

But I also know that there is strength in alliance, and that the louder the buzz becomes, the more likely it is to be heard by those with the power to make the changes. So in response to the question raised by mstegosaurus in his comment to radioactiveart's post here, maybe the answer is that we do what we do well - we write. We share. We talk. We spread the word.

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Ganked from my new project at Poet a Day:

readwritepoem is a newly begun weekly poetry-prompt-and-share site in the tradition of Poetry Thursday. The site is pretty and easy to read and use - and offers a lot more than just a weekly prompt. In the middle column, you'll find random prompts, random writing tips, random reading tips and random collaborating tips - lots of fruit for fodder when your muse isn't responding to his or her usual bait. The site writers are Ceridwen, Carolee and jillypoet, three refugees from Poetry Thursday who decided to continue the tradition. In addition, Christine and Dr. Tom offer writing prompts to help keep the community lively. It's new, but the participants have drawn on an existing community to start off with a bang - the first week's get your poem on post (where poets post links to their response) has been up since Monday and has already gathered 48 responses.

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For the second year in a row, I have managed to cook a Thanksgiving turkey without a working oven. Emilee misses the crispy skin - which isn't that good for her anyway - and it looks pretty pitiful, but the flavor? Best. Damn. Turkey. Evar. I stuffed the thing and put it on a rack inside a big stock pot, then tossed in a couple of quartered onions, some celery stalks and a few carrots. We buttered the baby, salt and peppered it, added water to just below the rack, and then set it over low heat for about four hours. The dressing is amazing, and the meat is moist all the way through and melt in your mouth fork tender - and the drippings? No seasoning at all needed to make incredible gravy.

It's all resting right now while Peyton stirs the gravy till it thickens. Time for me to go take over.

Because I don't already have enough on my plate that I don't keep up with, I've started a new project - poetaday.com. (I've got another great url registered that I'll do something poet-y with later, too). I've played with different little techie toys to make it really easy for me to update this one so maybe I'll actually keep up with it. My plans with it - a short review and link to a different poetry blog every day. I'm on day 4 so far... I figured if I post about it here I might actually be shamed into keeping up with posting everyday. Check it out and go visit some of the featured poetry blogs - I'm trying to spread the word just a little more.

If you know of any blogs that should be up there, drop me a comment and I'll definitely check them out. (Those include your own, please!)