Bloggers who regularly make me think.

I've been dawdling on this. I was tagged by not one but two of my blog pals for the Thinking Blogger meme. Here are the official rules of the meme:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

Needless to say, I'm flummoxed by the fact that Zuska and Bill would have been in my list -- but they tagged me, so if I tag them back I may set up some sort of infinite regress that messes with the fabric of space-time. Which would be bad.

Of course, as it turns out, even setting Zuska and Bill aside, there are way more than five bloggers who make me think. (This means that, if you're not on the list and I read you, it doesn't mean you don't make me think!) Because the bloggers who make me think do so in many different directions, coming up with anything like an objective ranking to determine the top five would take a long time and hurt my head. So, here are five that come to mind:

1. WAAGNFNP: I'm totally cheating here, given that this is a blog of many voices, but darned if every single one of them doesn't challenge me to think differently about politics, history, religion, pop-culture, and other stuff. Also, they're kind enough to let me contribute an occasional post to the conversation.
2. Writing as Jo(e): When the sprogs are teenagers, I'm hoping I'll be as wise in the ways of parenting as Jo(e). If not, I'm going to use her archives as my cribsheet. Plus, her writing about nature, friends, and generations grabs my heart as well as my brain.
3. On being a scientist and a woman: Sciencewoman has a newish baby and a very new offer to begin a job as an assistant professor at Mystery U in the fall. Following her journey has been fascinating. Sure, in theory I've covered a lot of this ground myself, but by the time I was figuring out the juggling of being a parent and being an academic, I was in philosophy rather than science. Sciencewoman gives me a way to vicariously live out the path I didn't follow -- except I suspect she's making smarter moves than I might have. At any rate, I love watching things fall into place for someone who so clearly deserves it!
4. Republic of T.: Terrance is the kind of blogger who makes me proud to be part of the human race, because he is so good at discerning our common humanity in places where others don't even try. This post about the Virginia Tech shooter is a perfect example of what I'm talking about.
5. The Questionable Authority: Mike Dunford writes great stuff about biology, but where he really gets me thinking is in his posts about policy and politics. See, it's not an intellectual exercise or an abstraction for Mike -- his wife is a doctor in the U.S. Army (just back from Iraq). That makes U.S. policy rather more personal, and as a result Mike's letters to his elected officials cut right to the heart of things, as far as I'm concerned.

I could go on and on, but I've already filled my five slots.

I can't compel any of the fine bloggers I've tagged to continue the meme. (I'm really bad at threatening scary consequences for breaking the chain.) But I can wholeheartedly recommend that you read what they have to say if you haven't been already.