Some Recent Posts Have Gotten Great 'Pickup' on Other Blogs

It's so nice to have a place in the Jewish blogosphere. After blogging for three years, it's clear that I'm not just standing on a soapbox. My blog posts are often part of a larger conversation.

In June, I wrote about the creation of the Jewish food blogosphere as its own niche, and Just Call Me Chaviva expanded on the idea.

Last month, I talked about the plight of injured vegan air guitarist Jacob "The Golden Ghost" Calle. The Houston Press' blog picked up the story with the title "Circus Animals Tortured Because of Air Guitars." (In my post, I talked about the spate of injuries during this year's air guitar season; since then, Craig "Hot Lixx Hulahan" Billmeier became the first-ever two-time U.S. air guitar champ and fell victim to the trend. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Billmeier "landed awkwardly on his left hand - the hand used to play the frets on an air guitar - and badly mangled his thumb. Billmeier held up the disfigured digit to a grossed-out audience. But during the break, Billmeier taped his hand in a makeshift cast and was able to return for the finals.")

Earlier this month, I blogged about Hekhsher Tzedek's animal welfare guidelines. I think it's pretty cool that a post on Hekhsher Tzedek's blog linked to my post alongside stories from The New York Times, The Jewish Press, the Associated Press, and other major news outlets.

Yesterday, I wrote about non-Jews who have come up as part of my Jewish punk research, and Teruah (the Jewish music blog that featured a post about my air guitar career last month) posted about it immediately. Teruah's first post about me was very exciting and flattering, but I appreciate this recognition of my research and writing about Jewish punk at a much deeper level. Yesterday's Teruah post directed readers to my February 2007 heebnvegan post titled "Jewish Punk and Tikkun Olam" as well as articles I've written for the Forward, New Voices, and the New Vilna Review. Here is an excerpt of yesterday's Teruah post:

It turns out that, like me, Michael has a thing for any intersection of Jews and punk music. And he's written a lot more than I have about it. His most recent piece "The Non-Jewish Side of My Jewish Punk Research" is a hoot, chronicling a wide range of non-Jewish punks with some association or affinity for Jews. Take Total Passover, "a Jewish-themed punk band that played in Iowa in the early 1990s" led by the Jewish Andy Levy. ... And on it goes, including discussion of bands ranging from the Dead Kennedy's to the Mexico City based Polka Madre, a punk polka band that uses Hebraic lettering and Jewish star in their logo.

If you're at all interested in Jewish punk, read the article and check out some of his other articles and blog posts.