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Here's the finalists for the 2006 Weblog Awards, Best Latino, Caribbean, or South American Blog. I'm putting the women on top, of course.
Blog and podcast from Trinidad and Tobago, by Georgia Popplewell. I particularly enjoyed Podcast #39 - a taste of parang since I love parrandas and aguinaldos, which my dad used to play for me. (And that I still collect and listen to every year.) A really good podcast with useful cool links on every post. This is my choice for winner; it's interesting, political, entertaining, beautiful, informative, and balanced: a great example of successful bridgeblogging.
A blog from Brazil, written in Portuguese, by Luma. It's so charmingly tricked out with sidebar widgets to excess (like many Latin American blogs I have seen from younger people) with scrolling things, videos, chat applications, chiclets and buttons and badges and favorites and links. I like that aesthetic. Her blog is lighthearted, personal, and feminist. Here's an automatic translation of her current page if you would like to try reading it!
Caracas Chronicles
A mostly anti-Chavez political blog from Venezuela, by Quico, Katy, and JayDee. I like it because of its atmosphere of lively debate - rather than having one position and sticking to it. Definitely thought-provoking and informative on subtle details of many issues.
Cuban blog from the U.S., by Jonathan and Robert. I would consider this blog politically moderate. Relatively.
Cuban political group blog by Valentin "El Barbaro" Prieto, Amanda "La Sobrina del Juez" Dufau, Humberto "El Cirujano" Fontova, Henry "Conductor" Gomez, Robert "El Ciclón" Molleda, George "El Pitbull" Moneo, Mora "La Venezolana", Ventanita "Grasshopper", Ziva "La Viva". Strongly anti-Castro and politically conservative.
Blog for Cuba
Another U.S./ Cuban blog, strongly anti-Castro, highlighting the jailing of writers, journalists, bloggers, political dissidents and the difficulty of daily life in Cuba.
A progressive political blog by David Scott Anderson. Often humorous!
Daniel, the blog author, declined to accept the finalist nomination because he won the award in 2004! Anyway, another Venezuelan anti-Chávez blog. It's very good.
Oooookay. ANOTHER Venezuelan anti-Chávez blog. That won the award last year. A fine blog! But as I go through the finalists I think this is getting a little excessive... I don't love Chávez either... but I can think of more bloggers from Latin America or Latino in the U.S....
A North American guy teaching English in Oaxaca, who blogged a lot about politics and the terrible situation in Oaxaca. Moderate to conservative in politics.
All good blogs! Go over and vote!
My questions:
How can there be so many Venezuelan blogs nominated? And since there are, how can there be so many and NOT anything by Iria Puyosa? What about El Club de Lulu? Todas? Where is the fabulous Moleskine Literario? What about the amazing Edgardo Civallero of Bitacora de un bibliotecario? La Queen Sucia? En nombre del BLOG? La letra escarlata? (Though, I suppose she should be in the category for European blogs - still one of the most beautifully written blogs around.)
And so many more! With more variety of viewpoint and style than the ones that ended up as finalists. I think the view of the Weblog Awards is strangely narrow and that it is bizarre to have almost all the blogs be Venezuelan or Cuban, and mostly political, and mostly in English. Is this really the way to represent all of Latin America as it is seen by the U.S.? As a bunch of rather U.S.-leaning conservative guys who write in English? I dunno... there seems to be something inherently wrong with that vision!! Maybe just a little!
Of course while you are
