This is one of those blog memes I got tagged with. If you're interested in that sort of thing, click "read more"...

The theme of this meme is blogs that make you think. Joe Powell at Cup of Joe Powell [1] was kind enough to tag KnoxViews [2] as a blog that makes him think.

Because the nomination is for the collective KnoxViews, I will designate myself as spokesperson to graciously accept this honor on behalf of all contributors and arbitrarily pick five others as per the instructions:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,

3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote

Normally I would have to include Cup of Joe Powell in such a list, but I reckon it would be bad form to reverse-tag the blogger who tagged us. There are also lots of others who should be on such a list, but the rules say five blogs. So, without further ado:

1. Thoughts of an Average Woman [3], by C.E. Petro. Possibly the best liberal/progressive ET blog on national issues, with a particular focus on health care and women's issues. Definitely deserving of wider recognition.

2. Whitescreek Journal [4] by Steve. Steve hangs around here, but he also has this excellent blog that is also deserving of wider recognition. He's an interesting guy with interesting stories and he's a great writer with little patience for fools, especially when he gets fired up. But living out in the woods keeps him cool, and helps him better appreciate the subtleties of life [5] which he brings to his occasional writings about life at Whitescreek [6].

3. Domestic Psychology [7] by Cathy [8], who writes about family life, parenting, and struggling with the school system to advocate for kids with special needs including her own, while somehow managing to keep a sense of humor about it all. Here's a sample [9]: "PTA is where the high school mean girls continue their hierarchy of social worthiness. I will be allowed to do the things that the manicured, Hilton Head condo owning beautiful people don’t want to do."

4. Bob Stepno's Other Journalism Weblog [10]. Bob Stepno is a walking, talking encyclopedia of newspapers, electronic journalism, and the evolution of journalism on the internet. He is also an instructor at the UT School of Journalism and Electronic Media. I've always been interested in writing and journalism, and Bob's blog always has something interesting about those topics and the intersection with "new media", the internet, blogs, and more. He also links to tons of resources that can help one become a better writer, a better researcher, and a better journalist, citizen or otherwise, regardless of the medium.

5. Random Mumblings [11] by Jack Lail. In the "pro division" of online journalism, Jack Lail is the managing editor/multimedia for The Knoxville News Sentinel, and runs their website and online publishing operations among other things. He knows everything about the newspaper business and stays on top of how it is transforming in the "digital" age. On his personal blog, he talks a lot about the newspaper industry and the way forward, and is always coming up with something new and interesting [12] to experiment with in the world of online media.

So to all of the above bloggers, tag, you're it, see the instructions above.