Recommendation

I’m not a fan of memes (those wanna-be viral ideas that are supposed to spread in a self-perpetuating way — think chain-letters for blogs.)

Still, I would be remiss not to share some spotlight.

Dr. Mark Story works for the Securities and Exchange Commission in DC, and for fun, in his off-hours, he teaches at the School of Continuing Studies at Georgetown. He’s long claimed to be a fan of my work, and is now on a personal mission to highlight others who express themselves well online. He calls it “#blogmonday,” and has appropriated that tag to make it easier to find mentions of it throughout social networks.

I’m going to call it a recommendation. And in honor of Mark’s gig at Georgetown, I’l nominate a Hoya that’s under his radar.

Her name is Olivia Cooper (but I’ve always known her just as Cooper, or nowickedwitch), and she writes in several places. I got to know her through a friend of a friend of a friend back in the LiveJournal days. We’ve both pretty much abandoned that platform, but still drop in on each other frequently. Her main site is Wonderland or Not, which is a mixture of notions and cultural observations. Her politics are decidedly left of center, but she never sacrifices the frontal lobe.

Cooper also writes at Darfur: An Unforgivable Hell on Earth. Before you accuse her of being a wannabe or a latecomer, check out the archives link. That site has been active for over two years now, and that’s just after it re-started on the WordPress.com platform. She was writing passionately about Darfur before it was trendy to care, and she keeps it on the front-burner when everyone else leaves the kitchen.

She’s a grad student now, working on dual degrees in public policy and international affairs to go with that double major of anthropolgy and photography. Smarts plus arts. Always worth checking out, because you never know if you’re going to get insight, inspiration, or a little music dusting up from “Old School Friday.”

Both Mark and Cooper are worth following on Twitter, if you aren’t already there.

(Mark… I know the concept of #blogmonday was to highlight several. I’m going to do mine one at a time, much in the same manner that I eschew shotgun blasts of #followfriday recommendations on Twitter. Somehow, I don’t think this will surprise you.)

Oh… and if you’ve made it this far, maybe you’d like to help me and Mark spread this recommendation idea around. I’ve installed these neat little icons here at the bottom, that let you quickly share this article by email, on Facebook, on Twitter, or Stumbleupon… you get the idea.