This means so much more to me this time, I don’t know why. I think the first time I hardly felt it because it was all too new. But I want to ‘thank you’ to you. I haven’t had an orthodox career. And I’ve wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time I didn’t feel it. But this time I feel it. And I can’t deny the fact that you like me…right now…you like me. Thank you. – Sally Field, Academy Award acceptance speech (1984)
Last Friday, May 27th, I was informed by The Naked Listener that he had nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award (or “Versy” for short). Now, for a woman generally regarded as bright I can be rather slow on the uptake when it comes to pop-cultural stuff; as I’ve mentioned previously I’m actually fairly new to the whole blog thing (reading or writing), so I had never heard of the Versy before and assumed it was a regular award-award that people had to vote on; I therefore waited for further news but did not presume that I would have much chance at winning because IMHO I’m not all that versatile. But after his next email to me the wheels started to turn a bit and I realized that for this informal “award” the nomination was equal to a win, provided one fulfills the rules of acceptance, which are as follows:
Official Rules of the Award
1) Thank the award-giver(s) and link back to them in your post.
2) Tell your readers seven (7) things about yourself.
3) Give this award to up to fifteen (15) recently discovered bloggers.
4) Contact those bloggers and let them in on the exciting news.
I knew I’d have no trouble with three of those; it was the third one which gave me pause because I’m actually quite soft-hearted when it comes to my friends and I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by excluding him! So I thought about it for a few days and decided that I would add two criteria of my own: the recipients should be truly versatile, i.e. post on more than one topic (or at least a broad range of stuff within that topic) and should be relatively new to blogging (established no earlier than 2010). Since as I see it the “award” is really a way of calling others’ attention to bloggers, I feel those who need it most aren’t well-established and popular blogs but rather ones which IMHO don’t get enough attention.
So, first of all, a big “Thank You!” to The Naked Listener, who is a regular reader and commenter here since at least early December; you may not only be interested in his blog, but in his other 15 nominations (he cheated a teensy bit) as well. To my protest that I wasn’t all that versatile a blogger he responded that I deserved it “for being as versatile as anyone could ever be talking about whores and the law.” I reckon I can’t really deny that!
Seven Things About Maggie McNeill
I’m pretty open with saying things about myself in this blog, so I decided to tell you a few things that A) I don’t recall mentioning before, which B) aren’t likely to come up in posts in the near future.
1) I don’t actually have a favorite color; I have various favorites for various things, and sometimes even those change. The only color I never wear is yellow, because it makes my skin seem sallow and results in people asking me “are you feeling well?” I change my nail polish color every three weeks; purple during Carnival, red near Valentine’s Day, green for the vernal equinox, pastels for the rest of the spring, sapphire blue at the beginning of July, metallics for the rest of the summer, earth-tones in autumn, black at Halloween and the shiniest red I can find for Yuletide.
2) My favorite recording artists are The Beatles, Blondie, Heart, Meat Loaf, Joe Satriani and Vangelis; I’m also rather partial to Rush and Blue Oyster Cult, and there are lots of others I like enough to own several CDs of. My favorite composers are Bach and Beethoven.
3) I don’t care much for broadcast media; I stopped watching network television about 1980, public and independent television in the mid-‘90s, and cable about ten years ago. And I haven’t listened to the radio since the early ‘90s. But I have a really huge collection (600+) of music CDs, and a even bigger one (1500+) of DVDs. My secret: I never, ever, ever pay full price; at least 80% of my discs are used, and I burned at least 10% of my collection to disc myself.
4) I don’t know how many books I have, but it’s a lot. Definitely more than the DVDs, and that’s not even counting the cookbooks or the comics.
6) I love to cook and bake, and I make EVERYTHING from scratch except phyllo (the premade stuff is actually cheaper and better) and a couple of quick-fixes to be used in dire emergencies. Oh, and it’s just as cheap to buy cheese already grated as it is to buy the blocks and grate it oneself. My favorite appliance is my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, which is IMHO a girl’s best friend.
7) I need three pillows to sleep; two for my head and the third to go sort of between my tits to keep me from rolling from my side onto my stomach (which since my boob job is far too uncomfortable). I can’t sleep on my back at all.
My Nominees for the Next Award (in alphabetical order)
I’m only choosing ten because all the others I might have picked are either not really blogs per se or else they’re older and more established than I’m allowing.
1) A.K. Smith Books (sex work, but versatile topics)
2) Brandy’s Bedroom (the only hooker-blogger I know who is nearly as prolific as I am)
3) Econjeff (practically the definition of “versatile”)
4) FreedomWonk (“Public policy through the lens of liberty…and other stuff”)
5) I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This… (ruminations on all sorts of things!)
6) Isle of Hemingway (sex work, politics, economics and more)
7) Little Revolutions (“capricious spells of neurotic obsession on various subjects”)
8) Sex Hysteria (far more versatile than its name would suggest, and this award is a shameless attempt to get Dave to start updating it again)
9) Sincerely, Kelly James (sex work, civil liberties, politics, philosophy…)
10) Strippr (mostly about stripping, but with a lot of attention to other sex work as well)
If your blog doesn’t appear here or in my links and you think it’s one I might be interested in, send me a link! As you’ve probably noticed, I often call attention to other blogs I feel might interest my readers.