Show Some Love: Vote for Color Online at BBAW

Friends,

Voting ends Saturday. I'm asking for your vote. I'm in good company:
Guys Lit Wire, Maw Books Blog, My Friend Amy and She Is Too Fond of Books.

Thanks to the BBAW organizers, panelists and above all, our readers. For me, Color Online is a small but mighty community. We are close-knit. We come here and we chat; we browse. We hang out. Our community is growing. We're doing something that keeps you coming back. That makes me very happy.

Next week will be chock full of activities. One of the requested posts we were asked to write was to acknowledge our favorites who didn't make it. Well, I'm doing it today. Well, not really. See, when nominations opened, I took to heart the core of this event: celebrating my peers. I nominated more than 15 blogs here. I encouraged you to check them out and to nominate blogs of your choice. Celebrating one another is one of our core aims here so I don't need a meme on a designated day to do that. Our focus is multiculturalism and diversity so I'm only going to list personal favorites among the BBAW nominees I'm campaigning for in these areas:

The Bottom of Heaven- Best Cultural Blog
APOOO Book Club- Best Book Club

In my mind Color Online is a special interest and cultural blog. And while we didn't make these categories (I didn't expect us to. One, to have expected it is vain and two, we're barely on the radar), my disappointment is not in not making these categories rather that these shortlists did not include greater diversity. I was hoping like mad that among the finalists there would be a multicultural blog. I wanted to see a POC blogger who was committed to celebrating a variety of cultures, shortlisted. I did expect that celebrating people of color would be one of the defining factors if you're going to be shortlisted for a cultural, eclectic or special interest blog. And Maude knows, I'm not looking for tokenism. That would set off a rant; I'm talking about inclusion and acknowledgment. This is one drum I won't stop beating: the absence of color is an issue that needs addressing and as long as POC are underrepresented, I'm going to talk about it.

I will confess, I will likely lighten up next year. This process was pretty intense and in all honesty the goal of BBAW is something we do every day: celebrate and promote you. Participating in events like BBAW means exposure and exposure is opportunity. Let me keep it real, I'm fiercely concerned about diversity, and this event is an opportunity to share with readers writers and works I love.

I hope we grow so we can share more and enjoy more. Color Online is about community, and I think we are meeting that goal already.

I look forward to blog hopping next week, adding blogs to our roll, but most of all, I'm happiest here with you all. Your ongoing support and encouragement has significantly impacted what we do here. Because of you, we are getting the word out about great authors and great books, we continue to build our library collection which means providing greater access to young readers and we are learning from one another. I say we've already won.

Have a great weekend.