2009 Black Weblog Awards Nominations Open

I don't do what I do at TransGriot strictly for awards, but it sure is nice to get the recognition for being one of the better bloggers out there.

The 2009 Black Weblog Awards began their nomination process June 20 and will run until July 25.

The Black Weblog Awards have been around since 2005, and I'm nominated in three categories for it. Best LGBT Blog, Best Writing In A Blog and Best Political/News Blog.

I also have two shot at each category in terms of there's a Popular vote and a Judges’ vote. The winners will be announced on September 4.

So I'll keep y'all posted as to what's transpiring on that front.

Jena 6 Free!

After more than two years of protesting, writing phone calls and thousands of people descending on Jena, LA to protest this outrageous retro Jim Crow case, the Jena 6, Jesse Ray Beard, Carwin Jones, Robert Bailey, Theo Shaw, Bryant Purvis and Mychal Bell are all free to move ahead with their lives.

The five remaining Jena 6 cases were brought to a conclusion Friday when Beard, Jones, Bailey, Shaw, and Purvis pleaded 'no contest' to misdemeanor simple battery charges.

They will spend no time in jail, serve seven unsupervised days on probation, and fined $500 and court fees.

It's a remarkable outcome considering the Jena Six were originally and outrageously charged with attempted murder in this small Louisiana town with a racist past for what basically was a schoolyard fight.

Thanks to the efforts of Black bloggers, the Jena Six got the attention of Tom Joyner, the African-American community, our civil rights orgs and later the rest of the MSM. They began to get attention about their plight, funding and high profile legal representation.

It culminated in 50,000 people coming from all over the United States to peacefully descend on Jena in a televised September 20, 2007 protest.

Because people stood up, these six young men are not rotting in a Louisiana jail for basically BS charges. While Judge JP Mauffray was removed from the case because of the appearance of bias, unfortunately the person largely responsible for the drama in the first place, LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters, still has his job.

Nevertheless, justice prevailed. It's now up to the Jena 6 to ensure that they take advantage of the opportunity the African-American community and our allies collectively fought to give them and ensure they never do.

Villager's June 2009 Black Blog Rankings

The first day of summer is fast approaching and we are halfway through 2009. We're also approaching the 40th anniversary this month of the Stonewall Rebellion. It's also time for another edition of the Afrosphere's highly anticipated Villager's Black Blog Rankings.

This month the Villager and his team ranked 1704 blogs, an increase of 45 blogs from last month.

The runaway Number One BBR ranked blog is still Pam's House Blend, which is approaching a year in the top spot. Congrats to my homegirl Renee's Womanist Musings for finally reaching the BBR Top 10!

For the other nine members of the BBR Top Ten you can check out the Villager's post.

Villager and I noted that the Technorati ranking scores of Black owned and operated blogs have been declining. Since the Technorati rankings count links on a rolling six month calendar, the drops in rankings are probably related to the increased traffic we garnered from the historic 2008 presidential election and reflect those links now dropping off the rolling calendar.

I think it's time that we tackle this problem by immediately beginning to cross promote other Black blogs.

While I'm proud that I have a diverse readership, I'm always looking for new readers who haven't perused TransGriot. I don't think we do a good enough job across the Afrosphere of promoting each other's blogs.

It would also be nice if I had my own people linking to this blog as well.

Just as Villager created the BBR's as a measuring metric to track our progress and a tool to aid us in goal setting, it's time to apply the same FUBU principles to promoting the Afrosphere and our blogs.

Since no one else is going to do it, we'll have to do it for ourselves.

Read Black Blogs, Promote Black Blogs!

On that note, time to get off the soapbox and find out what my TransGriot BBR ranking is this month?

In the May BBR rankings TransGriot had a BBR of 37 with a Technorati ranking of 159.

As of the June 8 compilation date, TransGriot is now number 34 on the BBR rankings with a 138 Technorati ranking. I lost 21 points on my Technorati ranking but gained three spots in the BBR rankings.

I'm also just nine tantalizing spots away from my goal of cracking the BBR Top 25.

I have much work to do if I'm going to reach my goals of the BBR Top 25 and a 200 Technorati ranking by Labor Day.

Villager's May 2009 Black Blog Rankings

Go Moni! It's your birthday month! Go Moni! It's your birthday month!

And now that the celebration of the blessing of me getting another year older is out of the way, let's see if I'll be doing more dancing as I peruse the latest edition of Electronic Villager's Black Blog Rankings.

The BBR's started in September 2007 with 75 ranked blogs and has exponentially grown since them to become a much anticipated monthly event in the Afrosphere.

In our last episode of tracing TransGriot's climb up the BBR mountaintop, I was still as of the April 12 compilation date of that month's BBR's whining about my stagnant 150 Technorati ranking, but for some reason still managed to climb to a Number 43 BBR ranking.

In May the BBR's ranked 1659 blogs, which is an increase of 30 blogs over the last ranking period. The runaway Number One BBR ranked blog is still, all together gang, Pam's House Blend. (bowing in direction of North Carolina) If you wish to see Numbers 2-25, check the link. The full May BBR ranking list is here.

The 2009 Blogging While Brown Conference is June 19-20 in Chicago, and the TransGriot is seriously thinking about going if I can make it fit my schedule. If I can commit to it, I'll announce it on the blog.

So let's get to it, how did the birthday girl do this month?

Well, I'm a little disappointed I didn't make it to my goal of reaching the BBR Top 25 and a 200 Technorati ranking by my birthday. I did finally start making forward progress in both the upward mobility and see a rise in my Technorati ranking after three months of stagnation, but the three months of treading water around the 150 mark killed any shot I had of achieving that goal.

So where's TransGriot now? As of the May 10 compilation date the blog has a BBR ranking of 37 and a Technorati ranking of 159.

I jumped 6 spots in the BBR's and gained 9 points. I knew that continuing to create quality posts and adhering to that standard would eventually pay off.

So that means I need to set a new target goal. It's still reaching the Top 25 BBR's and the 200 Technorati ranking by Labor Day, September 7.

Since it's going to take a lot of labor for me to get to that level by that date, making that a target date seems apropos.

Okay, time to me to blow out the candles on my birthday cake and get busy.

Villager's April 2009 Black Blog Rankings

The 2009 NCAA college basketball champions on both the men's and women's sides have been crowned, the 2009 major league baseball season has started, I'm a few weeks shy of another birthday, and the Afrosphere is ready to peruse the latest edition of the Villager's Black Blog Rankings.

This month the BBR's ranked 1629 blogs, which is an increase of 8 blogs over the last ranking period. The runaway Number One BBR ranked blog is still Pam's House Blend.

For the rest of the blogs ranked 2 to 25 and beyond you can click on the rankings link to discover who they are.

As for TransGriot, in last month's rankings I was as of the March 8 compilation date sitting at Number 46 with a Technorati ranking of 150.

So how did I do this month? As of the April 12 compilation date, TransGriot was Number 43 with a Technorati ranking of 150.

My Technorati ranking is making as much upward progress as my 401k lately. I've had the same ranking for the last three BBR's, but inched up three more spots in the BBR's.

Go figure.

I'm also running out of time in terms of getting up to my goal of the BBR Top 25 and a 200 Technorati ranking by my birthday.

But all I can do is suck it up, go back to writing the same insightful, informative and entertaining commentary I've always do and have faith that the rankings and Technorati rating catch up with the quality of the writing.

Latest Blogtalkradio Show Is Up

Renee of Womanist Musings and I's most recent Blogtalkradio podcast show is now up and available for your listening pleasure along with our March 14 show.

We had a wonderful conversation with Tami, the editrix of What Tami Said concerning the topic of Motherhood as An Active Choice. We were also blessed to have Corinne call in and leave some thoughtful comments a part of the show and help us 'tell you something good'.

Our next show is scheduled for April 11, so tune in. As always, if you can't listen to it live, you can always download the podcast later.

Villager's March 2009 Black Blog Rankings

It's a new month, spring is here, and to the breathless anticipation of the Afrosphere, the Villager has compiled and unveiled his March 2009 edition of the Black Blog Rankings.

Will I get closer to my Top 25 BBR pot of gold, or will I be just looking at the rainbow in the sky from last month's position or worse in the BBR Top 50?

This month the BBR's ranked 1621 blogs, which is an increase of 22 blogs over the last ranking period. The Number One BBR ranked blog is, all together now gang, Pam's House Blend. For the rest of the blogs ranked 2 to 25 and beyond you can click on the rankings link to discover who they are.

As for TransGriot, in last month's rankings I was as of the February 8 compilation date sitting at Number 48 with a Technorati ranking of 150.

So how did I do this month? As of the March 8 compilation date, TransGriot was Number 46 with a Technorati ranking of 150

Talk about the luck of the Irish. I'm chuckling to myself and shaking my head because I had the same Technorati ranking, but GAINED two spots. The good news is that I'm STILL in the BBR Top 50 blogs, but progress toward my goal of a 200 Technorati ranking and a Top 25 BBR by my May 4 birthday has been glacial at best and the clock is ticking.

It's been a frustrating month for me Technorati wise because TransGriot's Technorati ranking has yo-yoed up and down and I know it should be far higher based on the traffic I get. It was as high as 154 at one point and has slid to 146. Since it's based on links people, if you like what I do here at TransGriot, show me the love by linking to the blog.

That still won't deter me from channeling my inner Taurus and continuing to come up with fresh commentary on a wide variety of subjects. You can also hear me run my mouth along with my partner Renee of Womanist Musings on our new twice monthly Blogtalkradio show.

So thank you for spending your valuable blog perusing time here, it's deeply appreciated. Hopefully, when I do next month's BBR post I can report some more substantial forward progress.

What The Hell You Mean Black Bloggers Don't Talk About Politics?

Kevin Ross pissed off me and many peeps in the Blackosphere by making the asinine statement while kissing his frat brother Tavis Smiley's behind that 'Black bloggers don't talk about politics'.

That Kappa Kane he's been twirling must have hit him in the head a few times

Where the hell has he been for the last few years? He damned sure wasn't at the DNC convention last year when Black bloggers such as Pam Spaulding were there in full effect to record the historic happening or checked out any of the almost 200 blogs that make up the AfroSpear.

TransGriot mostly concentrates on transgender issues from an Afrocentric perspective, and even then I have 110 posts that have the 'politics' label attached to them out of the over 1400 I've written so far.

Whether it's getting media attention for African-American kids who come up missing, injustice, disseminating information, talking about our history, shining spotlights on events across the Diaspora or what I do here in focusing attention on transgender people of color and race/class issues in the GLBT community, we play a major role in shaping the discourse that reverberates in the blogosphere and beyond.

Many African-American bloggers have built upon the historical tell it like it T-I-S is tradition of our print and radio media and structured our blogs to do the same. We not only report on the things the MSM ain't telling us, but in some cases have talked up an issue long and loud enough to where it actually begins to drive the MSM coverage as Jena 6 did.

The Black blogosphere is just as diverse and innovative as its counterparts. and has its own flava at the same time.

And just like in the past, when the blogosphere's rating, awards and ranking systems didn't include us, we created our own. We have our own rating system in the BBR's, and are putting our own conferences together such as Blogging While Brown so that we can talk to each other, exchange information and get better at doing the thangs we do well.

While there are the gossip blogs, there are far more of us around the world who take immense pride in the fact that we focus on educating and informing our people and others on a wide range of issues, including political ones. Kevin Ross did us a disservice by ignorantly claiming that we don't.

Tami's Blog Talk Radio Podcast

I love reading the What Tami Said blog, and I've been dying to have a chance to join in the conversation on her Blog Talk Radio show. Sometimes I'd remember too late it was podcast day after the conversation had ended, other times I'd run across posted shows on interesting topics or featuring peeps I wanted to hear.

With a timely reminder from Renee it was on and popping today. With the topic being WOC bloggers in the feminist blogosphere, couldn't let that one slide and made sure I listened and called in.

It was so much fun being part of today's show in which Tami, Professor Tracey of Aunt Jemima's Revenge, Renee of Womanist Musings, Faith of Acts of Faith and myself along with Black Sea Goat from Black Sapience just kept telling it like it T-I-S is about various subjects in the blogosphere and how they impact WOC.

It was a wonderful conversation which probably needs to be continued within the AfroSpear, the Afrosphere and other blogosphere venues as well.

If you wish to hear it, Tami has now posted the podcast for your listening pleasure, so check it out at your earliest convenience. As a matter of fact, if you have some time on Sunday afternoons from 4-5 PM EST, tune in. Her next show is scheduled for March 15.

Monica Speaks At Womanist Musings

Today is International Women's Day, and in honor of it Renee, the brilliant creative genius behind the Womanist Musings blog has begun posting a series of interviews she conducted with eight different women. They will be posted on her blog over the next eight days, and I was honored to not only be chosen as an interview subject, but be the person that kicked off this week's series of conversations.

1) It is my understanding that you don't identify as a womanist or feminist, would you share with us some of your reservations for not owning either label?

My major reason for not claiming the feminist label was the anti-transgender attitudes still prevalent in much feminist thought and discourse, especially the radical feminist end of it. I also didn't like seeing the way feminists have disrespected women of color, so why would I try to identify with a movement that hates me on two levels?

As for as the womanist label, it appeals to me since as an African descended transwoman, it speaks more to my own core beliefs of not only uplifting the race but all people. But I haven't totally embraced it because at times I feel like I'm still not part of the sistahhood and haven't done enough to be worthy of the legacy of Audre Lord, bell hooks, and other pioneering womanists.

2) What if any positive changes have occurred in terms of including the concerns of trans women in feminist/womanist circles?

The changes I see are more on the womanist end of the scale. Feminists, and particularly the radical feminists are still clinging to the 'hate on transwomen'. screeds uttered by Janice Raymond, Germaine Greer, Mary Daly and others. I see womanists as being far more willing to accept and embrace us as friends, get to know our issues, and intelligently realize that we have many things in common. Womanists in many cases are more tenacious about speaking up about our issues and defending our right to exist than some transwomen are.

3) As a transwoman and a woman of colour do you find that you are often asked to choose between your identity as a trans woman and a woman of colour? Which if any do you consider to be your primary identity and why?

I made that choice a long time ago, so I don't get asked as much since I made it quite clear to the transgender community where I stood. I'm a proud African descended transwoman that also feels comfortable with the woman of color label as well. One of the reasons is that when I'm out and about, they see 'Black woman' long before they see the 'transwoman' part of my identity.

4) What would you like to see allies do to bridge the differences between trans women and cisgender women?

One is form friendships with transwomen. You'd be amazed how much you do have in common with transwomen and how much we desire to be full partners with cisgender women. It's a win-win situation that does wonders to break down the wall of mistrust, hurt feelings, misconceptions and anger on both sides. You gain a loyal friend, and it helps us gain confidence that we can be the types of women you expect and want us to be.

Two, realize that many transwomen take our transition into our new gender roles seriously and want to be seen as compliments to womanhood, not a joke or detriment to it.

5) During your transition what differences did you notice in how you were treated? What came as the biggest surprise?

The most glaring one was not being treated as a criminal suspect. Since I'm 6'2", the other was not being asked by whites the annoyingly stereotypical 'if I played basketball' question. That got replaced with 'Are you a model' until the WNBA cranked up in 1997.

Biggest surprise had to be discovering that I now have a doubled risk for breast cancer and have to do breast exams and mammograms on a regular basis. Next biggest was discovering how fast my intelligence was devalued. It only took three months of living full time before as I sarcastically complain, that I lost 15 IQ points once I transitioned.

Read the rest of the interview here

Villager's February 2009 Black Blog Rankings

The Villager has compiled the Black Blog Rankings for February, so lets see how much love I received in them since I won't be getting any chocolate hearts or stuffed animals on Valentine's Day unless I buy it for myself.

This edition of the BBR's has 1593 ranked blogs, an increase of 43 blogs from the last compilation date of January 1. The Blackosphere continues to grow based on the continued increases in Black blogs beings added to the BBR's every month.

The runaway Number One BBR ranked blog is still Pam's House Blend, and if you wish to find out who the other Top Ten blogs are, here's the link to check them out.

My goal is to by my May 4 birthday, be at a 200 Technorati ranking and in the BBR Top 25.

My momentum toward the Top 25 hasn't been as meteoric since the historic election ended, but by continuing to focus on quality posts, adding some new features like my Shut Up Fool! awards and my upcoming discussion series, I hope to resume forward progress. I also want to earn some awards love from my own people in addition to earning a repeat trip as a Weblog Awards finalist.

I'm also pleased to see that I get a lot of international traffic. Welcome, glad you stopped by and appreciate you spending your web surfing time here. Please take a moment to peruse the posts on a wide variety of subjects and drop an occasional comment or two. If you like it, link to TransGriot as well.

Okay, so how much love did I get this month in the BBR's? In the January BBR's TransGriot was sitting at Number 46 with a 144 Technorati ranking.

As of the February 8 BBR compilation date, TransGriot was at Number 48 with a Technorati ranking of 150. I dropped two slots, but gained six points on my Technorati ranking and I'm still in the Top 50 Blogs.

It's frustrating right now because I'm not progressing like I think I should, but I still have a few months until my birthday.

Villager's January 2009 Black Blog Rankings

The Electronic Villager has released the January 2009 edition of the Black Blog rankings, so let's check them out and see how TransGriot fared.

The rankings continue to grow with 1575 blogs now ranked, an increase of 59 blogs since the December 20 holiday edition of the BBR rankings.

The Number One BBR ranked blog is still Pam's House Blend, who was nominated as a Weblog Awards Best LGBT Blog finalist for the fourth straight year.

I fell short of my goal of having a 150 Technorati ranking by January 1, but I did achieve my goal of being in the BBR Top 50 blogs before that date.

My new goal is to be in the BBR Top 25 blogs and have a Technorati ranking of 200 by my May 4 birthday. One unexpected pleasure was being nominated for and becoming a 2008 Weblog Awards finalist for Best GLBT blog.

So how did I do?

As of the January 1 compilation date for this edition of the BBR's TransGriot gained one spot since the holiday rankings. I was sitting at Number 46 with a 144 Technorati ranking.

My Technorati ranking is still tripping, but I'm still in the BBR Top 50 Blogs. Hopefully by next month's rankings whatever drams happening with my Technorati ranking will straighten itself out and begin to actually reflect the progress I've made toward building this into a quality blog.

Happy New Year And Happy Anniversary TransGriot Blog!

Goodbye 2008...Hello 2009!

Happy New Year to all you loyal TransGriot readers! Today also happens to be the fourth anniversary of the founding of this blog and boy how my baby has grown.

I started it on January 1, 2006 as simply a real-time way to comment on breaking news I couldn't do as a former GLBT alternative newspaper monthly columnist, and now it's considered a must read blog.

As you noticed I have over 1200 posts here on various subjects since January 1 and I've made it easier for you to access some of the TransGriot Golden Oldies with the new search feature. You can thank Renee at Womanist Musings for the gentle hints that I do so.

I'm also pleased to see the growth in this blog and my writing from the time I started back in 2006 to now. TransGriot became an AfroSpear blog in July and its also been a blessing to have the Black Blog Rankings as a measuring tool to chart the growth and progress of this and all Black blogs as well.

BBR Top 25 here I come!

I've also enjoyed getting to know some of my blogging colleagues thanks to some wonderful substantive real time conversations I've been able to have with various bloggers over the year. I hope I'll be blessed with the opportunity to attend the second annual Blogging While Brown Conference in Chicago this summer.

I can't thank you enough for taking the time to read TransGriot. For you lurkers, come on in, pull up a chair and join the family. I also don't mind if you drop me an e-mail every now and then or comment in the posts. I realize that your Internet browsing time is valuable, so thanks for perusing the posts and sometimes even commenting on them. I deeply appreciate it.

And for my biosisters, one of my resolutions and goals for this year is to do my part to ensure that we end 2009 with a better understanding of each other.

I want to understand your issues and concerns while at the same time I and my transsisters give you the 411 about ours. What I'd like to see as a result of this is not only intelligent discussions as a result of these conversations, but we create the conditions in which transwomen and biowomen do more in this historic year to have each others backs.

If you have any questions about something I've raised on the blog or just one that fits into the Trans 101 category, just e-mail me.

Even though we are starting Day One of a brand new year, one thing that will not change is my ongoing mission to provide thoughtful commentary on various issues inside and outside the transgender community and across the Diaspora, and do it from the perspective of a proud African-American transwoman.

Oh yeah, only 19 more days until the Obama inauguration!

Don't Hate On Jasmyne 'Cause She's Telling The Truth

Y'all know I absolutely love me some Jasmyne Cannick because as the late Jack 'The Rapper' Gibson used to say, she tells it like it T-I-S is.

Some white gay peeps already hate on her because of her successful efforts to shut down Chuck Knipp's odious Shirley Q. Liquor performances in the Los Angeles area and because of her blunt, no holds barred unapologetically Black blog.

In the wake of the passage of the Prop 8 same gender marriage ban she's been drawing increasing fire from white gays who took offense at her dead on commentary on why Prop 8 passed and her LA Times op-ed piece that appeared the Sunday after the election.

She's plucked some nerves out there and nationally, but that's the job of us activist types. We're not in it for popularity. If you like us, cool, but in our pursuit to make this a better society for all of us truth is an essential weapon in that struggle. Sometimes we have to bluntly state the obvious to the peeps enamored of denial, spin, sugar coating and outright lying.

Doing that and being unapologetically proud of her heritage doesn't make her or any person of color racist. I'm getting a little sick of seeing that tired comment being thrown out there because you don't like either her for whatever reason or the message.

As Parliament-Funkadelic would say, if you don't like the effects, don't produce the cause.

Many African-American GLBT folks, if they haven't already tuned you out, are millimeters close to saying to hell with y'all after the naked displays of anti-Black racism that erupted in many GLBT communities, the racist comments from some white gay pundits, and the startling ease in which those comments freely flowed from your lips, pens and keyboards in the gay blogosphere and beyond.

Whether you like it or not, Jasmyne has the respect and the ear of the Black GLBT and non GLBT community in LA and beyond. She's just the messenger trying to get it through your thick skulls what it will take to fix the obvious problem you have in crafting a pro-GLBT rights message that will resonate with the African-American community.

If you want to win, it would behoove many of of you trying to figure out what to do and how to approach the African-American GLBT community for help to listen to what she and other African-American GLBT peeps in Cali and elsewhere have to say.

But hating on Jasmyne Cannick for simply telling the truth is not an option.

December 2008 Black Blog Rankings

Merry Christmas peeps! The Electronic Villager and his elves were busy over the holiday weekend compiling the latest edition of the Black Blog Rankings while I was enjoying some classic Christmas songs with soul.



This month there were 1496 blogs ranked, only one less than last month. But seeing how popular these rankings are and how they've come to be viewed as a highly anticipated event in the Blackosphere and a valuable tool to monitor the progress of Black blogs, I have no doubts the January edition will crack the 1500 blog mark.

Top Black blog is Pam's House Blend. You can check out the rest of the Top Ten and Top 25 blogs at Electronic Village.

Okay, so did I reach either one of my goals of cracking the BBR Top 50 and having a Technorati ranking of 150?

As of the December 1 date of these posted rankings, the number 50 BBR ranked blog is survey says, TransGriot!

I jumped up 13 spots from last month's rankings and the Technorati ranking went up 11 points as well. I have as of this date a Technorati ranking of 143. I'm only 7 points and 30 days away from meeting my Technorati goal of 150 by January 1.

Seeing that I've finally hit the Top 50 BBR blogs, I've set my sights for my next goals.

I want to be at a Technorati Ranking of 200 and in the Top 25 BBR blogs by my May 4 birthday. If I get there sooner, I definitely won't complain.

Now where's my champagne bottle?

Oh yeah, killed it last month celebrating Barack's election. Champale will do nicely, too.

November 2008 Black Blog Rankings

Electronic Villager finally got the opportunity to update the BBR's for this month. This month there were 1497 blogs ranked, 57 more than last month, with the Number One BBR blog still being Pam's House Blend.

You can check out the BBR's for the rest of the Top 10 and beyond and see how your blog stacked up.

And congrats Renee, Womanist Musings is at Number 23 while the Electronic Village rounds out the Top 25.

I deeply appreciate as all of us in the Blackosphere do the Villager taking the time out of his busy schedule to compile these ranking so that we have this important tool to measure our growth and progress.

As you know, for several months now I've been posting my goals for TransGriot. I want to be breaking the BBR Top 50 blogs and hitting a 150 Technorati ranking by January 1, 2009. You also get to witness in these BBR posts how I'm doing in terms of realizing that goal.

The BBR rankings usually get posted the first weekend of the month, but I totally understood why it didn't happen this month. There was some historic presidential election we (and the world) were all breathlessly following, and I know the Villager has been busy with real world concerns that have cut into his allotted blogging time.

TransGriot was also nominated in two categories for the 2008 Weblog Awards. 'Best LGBT Blog' and 'Best Small Minor Blog'.

The nominations have closed and they are now in the process of whittling it the nominations in each category to the 15 blogs that will be voted on starting December 8 to determine the winner. Pam's House Blend took the 'Best LGBT Blog' Award in 2005-2006 and I'd love to be in that company.

So now I've caught y'all up on some housekeeping stuff, let's get to what y'all want to know: What's my BBR this month?

The October BBR's were good news, bad news. I lost ground and slipped to number 70 after several months of major progress, but my Technorati ranking went up to 136. My Technorati rating actually bottomed out at 130 probably due to my Ike hiatus and some old links rolling off before it started its current climb to where it is now.

According to the posted rankings as of November 26, TransGriot was at number 63 with a 132 Technorati ranking.

Only one problem. My Technorati ranking on November 26 was 144.

While that's seven spots up from last month's ranking, based on my Technorati ranking on that date, I should be much higher in the BBR's than number 63. (it's at 143 as I compile this post)

My 144 (or even my 143) ranking would put me just two spots away from the BBR Top 50 at number 52 and put me tantalizingly close to reaching and surpassing my goals with a month to go.

But I'll leave that up to the founding genius of the BBR's to sort that out. In the meantime, I'll just continue to focus on as we all do in producing quality blog posts for you to peruse, and worry about the rest of the small stuff later.

October 2008 Villager's Black Blog Rankings

It's a new month and that means it's time to head over to Electronic Villager, sit under the virtual baobab tree and wait for the Villager's October BBR's to come out.

As you regular TransGriot readers are aware, I've set the goals of cracking 150 on my Technorati ranking and being a BBR Top 50 ranked blog by January 1 (the 3rd anniversary of the TransGriot blog).

Then it's on to my 2009 goal of cracking the BBR Top 25 Blogs.

Speaking of the Top 25, Congrats to Renee, one of my regular commenters here and her Womanist Musings blog. She's on the verge of cracking the BBR Top 25 with this month's BBR ranking of 26.

So how did I do this month?

At the time the September BBR's were compiled, TransGriot was at Number 67 with a 133 Technorati ranking.

This month, out of the 1440 blogs that were part of the October BBR rankings, as of October 1, 2008 when these rankings were compiled, TransGriot is at number 70 with a 136 Technorati ranking.

Pam's House Blend is still the number one ranked Black blog.

I knew it was a matter of time before my meteoric progress toward the BBR Top 50 would slow down. I lost three spots BBR ranking wise, but did gain 3 points on the Technorati rankings. Being without Internet access for a few days didn't help either.

So instead of interpreting this situation as a negative, I'm looking at this as a glass half full scenario.

I'm only 20 spots away from cracking the BBR Top 50 and 14 points from reaching my goal of a 150 Technorati ranking.

Oh well, back to the drawing board. I have a historic presidential race coming down to the wire to comment on. I'm going to be headed to Denver next month to be the keynote speaker at a gender conference on the CU campus in Boulder, and who knows what other exciting stuff is going to pop up in my life I can comment on.

And I still have twelve weeks to hit my goals.