Mr. H.S. Key has kicked up a conversation on the word “nigger.” Regarding Michael Richards’ outburst:

Most offended Americans said it wasn’t necessarily the word that bothered them – since the word is used by rappers and even some crazy white people in somewhat less unacceptable ways (nigga and so forth). Rather, it was the manner, context and intent behind Richards’s usage that made the situation so bad. Or was it the word itself?

He describes another comedian who used the word clearly without malice and has apologized.

The word “nigger” is not one I plan to use when I’m not talking about the word itself, but I must say it doesn’t have the negative connotations for me that some people seem to give it, probably because it and other words like it carry more meaning in their usage than they do in the definition. For more on this, see Randall Kennedy’s 2003 book, Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word.

I guess litblogs or blogs on books, plays, writing, painting, and similar works are not prevalent enough to warrent notice when you look at the whole blogosphere. Still I keep hoping will point us out, and again my hopes are dashed.

The 2006 Weblog Awards (now accepting nominations) has an arts category with this list: Best Photo Blog, Best Culture Blog, Best Diarist, Best Gossip Blog, Best Music Blog, Best Podcast, Best Video Blog, Video Of The Year.

Best photo and music–good. Where’s literature or best humanities maybe?

Sherry is asking for your favorite Dickinson poems, and she keeps going on about pecans. It’s over the top, as you can see. Does that make her a nut-case? 🙂 (That’s as bad as the jokes my girls have been telling lately.)

You may have heard that Senator John Kerry commented on education the other day and has since tried to explain that it was a botched joke. The would-be joke: “Education, if you make the most of it — you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart — you can do well. If you don’t you get stuck in Iraq.”

Yeah, I know what he meant. If you don’t make an effort to be smart, you get stuck blogging.

Someone in the marketing department is talking about blogging in 2006. He seems to make good points, but I still don’t like the label “Web 2.0.” It’s old-school, though it may be a better name than anything that would be more accurate.

Feel free to comment on Brandywine Books in this thread whether or not it relates to this list of blog observations. Complain, entreat, rebuke, what have you.

Mr. Bertrand has a good post on discernment in general and points out that the Apostle Paul quoted a Greek poet out of context and the blogosphere doesn’t flame him for it.

Did Paul read the poem from which he quoted or is it more likely that he heard the poem recited in the marketplace or courtyard?

Well, blimey, Bert! Look what I’ve copped. The blog of the American Chesterton Society (ACS). They have a rare, autographed book of Chesterton poems for sale with a charity angle on it, and they point to a review of an interesting book I hadn’t seen before, The Flying Inn. The reviewer writes that the book “was condemned to many years of neglect, presumably because of what was then seen as the quaintness and irrelevance of its subject matter — an Islamic attack on and infiltration of England.” The ACS says, “This is a hilarious satirical romp in which Chesterton inveighs against the forces of dreary and oppressive modernity, in the form of Prohibition, vegetarianism, theosophy, and other movements.”

Maxine of Petrona is carrying on multiple blogs. On the one dedicated to writing, she asks, “Do you have to read a lot of fiction to be a good writer?”

Mark Bertrand has continued his comments on judging the Christy Awards. Here he discusses the mystery/suspense category he was invited to judge. Here he talks about judging for a literary award. (links defunct)

Best Sex? Decadence and Debauchery? Adultery? Subversion and Rebellion? What is all this? Just a list of Sherry’s posts at Semicolon. I for one am shocked, shocked–a little interested, but mostly shocked!!