Know today was BlogDay? Neither did I, until someone from BlogHer told me. I'm always happy to shoot my fingers off about people I find who are excellent writers or awesome photographers or whatever combination of wonderfulness they've got going on here on the Internet. Therefore, I'm here to share some with you.

Per Blog Day initiator (and BlogHim) Nir Ofir , it's a 24-hour period wherein

one long moment on August 31st, bloggers from all over the world will post recommendations of 5 new Blogs, preferably Blogs that are different from their own culture, point of view and attitude. On this day, blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, unknown Blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers.

(The caps are not mine but my inner copy editor is taking them a little personally. Please proceed.)

The people I'm talking about today are not unknown to me, although I only know them in the blog sense of the word for the most part. And although some are more obviously different from me in culture, background, and location, they're probably all way different in point of view and attitude. I don't know many people who think exactly like I do. If anyone does, I kind of want to high five her and give her a hug, because you know - it ain't always easy.

Anyway, the web world of links and relationships being what it is, I find most of my favorite new blogs through blogs I read already, or people I meet at blog-related events. It just works out that way. If Kevin Bacon had a blog, I doubt I'd need six huge degrees to find him. A link is all he'd need. So today I'm going to tell you about excellent bloggers who I found through other, well, excellent bloggers.

Kris Likey from Not a Girl Not Yet a Wino (and a little old site called IndieBloggers) is one of the best writers I read online. Through her site, I found Paige Jennifer after returning from the BlogHer conference this July. I can't remember why I clicked through to Paige's site, but shortly after reading some of her words, I realized that this was one of my favorite finds - a blogger whose writing is the thing, who tells good stories, heartfelt and real. I haven't spent enough time on the archives yet, but I do know she recently headed to Ecuador for an adventure, and has written a little about it since she got back. Her pictures of that trip are here.

Through Wendy McClure at Pound I found Dana's old site, Bobofett. She hasn't updated it in a long time, but some of the entries make me laugh so hard I'm in danger of crying. This is a very, very uncommon thing. I'm a tough audience, not driven to tears by humor in quite the same way I'll start crying at a sad song or if I fall down or run out of snacks. And in addition to the hilarity of which she's capable, I really got hooked when she wrote with beauty, grace and righteous anger about the death of her grandfather, Angelo, last year. As a granddaughter of aging and deceased grandparents myself, I related in the most painful of ways. Dana wrote things I'd felt, and that made me feel lots better.

She writes over at LiveJournal now. She's one of those people that I inanely feel as though I'd be friends with if I met her in real life. Try to say THAT without sounding creepy. It just doesn't work.

I joined several people for dinner on the first night at the W in Chicago this summer at the conference.
Liza Sabater, Liz Henry, and Lynne D. Johnson were there, among others. I was seated across from Valencia Roner, aka Content Black Woman. We had a conversation about race relations, womens' issues (both specific to women of color and beyond), education, and particularly what I can do as a white person to show solidarity and increase understanding. Needless to say, this was not what I was expecting when I sat down, but I was glad I ended up in that particular seat. I admired her as a person and really enjoy her Website, which includes a ton of links to other sites and resources for women and people of color in particular.

Through Professor Kim Pearson, who I consider a "blog mentor" in addition to her role as a BlogHer contributing editor, I was able to cover the Tavis Smiley Presidential Forum at Howard University this summer. There, I met a number of bloggers, including Pam Spaulding from Pam's House Blend, where naturally, "it's always steamin'." Pam is a lesbian and a black woman, and also just plain smart and interesting. Plus, if it's happening in the news, you can probably locate it on her site, quickly and easily, with interesting commentary too. (I had Pam and Kim behind me during the forum, and Liza Sabater an aisle or so ahead. Talk about a brain trust.)

Finally, through last year's Advent Calendar challenge on Flickr, I found
Elinesca's beautiful photographs. Check out her profile for many testimonials about her photos, and a link to her forays into "Flickriting" .

Laurie White blogs at LaurieWrites. Her own blog roll sorely needs updating.