Candleblog

Seven Days has released it’s annual readers’ choice awards ballot, asking Vermonters to vote on everything from their favorite restaurant to their favorite newscaster. Candleblog has been honored to receive the Best Vermont Blog (non political) “Daysie” for a few of the last several years. After winning the award last year, I predicted that my time holding onto the Daysie was likely coming to an end.

The writing is on the wall, I argued, because Candleblog’s readership has never been all that (indeed, it has declined somewhat over the last couple of years) and because as more and more Vermonters spend more and more time online, another blog is sure to become legitimately popular (as opposed to just popular enough for a few well-placed pleas for votes to scooch it over the top to victory) and when that happens, Candleblog won’t even be in the running.

All of which is to say I will not be actively seeking Daysie votes this year for Candleblog. By which I mean you won’t find me repeatedly shilling for votes here on the blog and I won’t be sending out any emails to friends and colleagues and I won’t be pestering my family members and associates, reminding them to fill out their ballots (and honestly, with Twitter all the rage these days, I’m surprised there’s even still a category for “blogs” — it’s so 2005).

I’m not saying “don’t vote for Candleblog.” If this really is your favorite Vermont blog, go ahead and vote for it, but my time actively competing for a Daysie is all done (short of, you know, trying to publish a blog that someone like me would enjoy reading).

I’ll note that Vermont Daily Briefing blogger (and perennial Daysie winner) Philip Baruth is also explicitly not seeking Daysie votes this year, but his reason for staying out of the Daysies fray has to do with the fact that he’s actively seeking an altogether different kind of vote — the kind that gets you elected to state senate. Instead, Philip has thrown his Daysie support behind the excellent group political blog, Green Mountain Daily, and I think it’s a fine pick for Best Vermont Political Blog. Odum and the rest of the GMD crew are committed deeply to Vermont politics and provide a valuable public service to the state. They get my vote too.

On the non-political side, I have a few friendly suggestions to throw out there of some very worthy Vermont blogs for your Daysie consideration (note: I absolutely will accept bribes for an outright endorsement, make me an offer!)…

*Nobody wants the non-political blog Daysie more sincerely or obviously than The House of LeMay. At last year’s Daysie party at the ECHO Center, the Sisters threw down their fabulously ornamented gauntlet and vowed to take home the 2009 prize. If either desire or glitter is a metric by which Daysie worthiness is measured, the Sisters should have it wrapped up this year!

*I mentioned these blogs as worthy choices last year as well. Undead Molly and SR Wild are my kind of bloggers. They are both creative and funny and wry and awesome. If you have to pick one, I suggest Molly’s, just because Scott’s last post was in March announcing he’d been laid off. Where are you, Scott? Doesn’t losing your job mean you have more time to do other stuff? Like blog? Molly is a Vermont treasure. If you’re not reading her blog constantly, you should be.

*I don’t know if this one is eligible or not, but Blurt, the Seven Days staff blog, is a daily stop for me. I wish Cathy Resmer was personally blogging more often, but now that other staffers are picking up some of the slack, it’s becoming a must-visit blog in my routine. This is a blog that actually breaks news. And while the comments can occasionally get heated, the 7D staff does a very good job of setting the tone so it doesn’t devolve into stupid troll-baiting… often. (note: 7D has several great blogs but rather than make this post a love letter to the paper, I’m limiting my recommendation to this one blog — it doesn’t mean the others aren’t also full of win.)

*Speaking of daily stops, Dear S is a Tumblr blog kept by a friend of mine (I’m honestly not sure if it’s intentionally anonymous or not, so I’m not spilling the author’s name). It’s a Vermont blog and one of my primary sources for crazy shit online.

*And speaking of crazy shit, Matty the Greek (AKA Magister Matt G. Paradise) holds court at Diabologue (runner-up for a blogging Daysie in 2006) where he shares cynical insights, hilarious links and schlock horror movie reviews. If his blog wasn’t published in unreadable white-text-on-black-background it would be almost perfect!

Any of these fine Vermont digital publications would be deserving of recognition. If I didn’t mention your Vermont blog, it’s obviously because I think it’s stupid and worthless. Wait, that’s not what I mean. I mean there are lots of great blogs and If I’m not going to yours often enough to make me promote it for a Daysie it’s because I’m an ignorant jerk. Send me some cash and I’ll gladly openly endorse your blog on this site too (still waiting for my check, Satan Boy).