Dear Readers:

I would like to get your support to be nominated for Best New Blog, Best Writing in a Blog, Blog to Watch, Best Blog Post Series (“Black Men Masquerading”), and Best Culture Blog in the 2011 Black Weblog Awards competition. Click on the following to nominate me: Nominate Me! In a little over one year and one month, I have been able to amass well over 145,000 readers (and the readership is constantly increasing at astonishing levels). Most blogs could only dream about achieving this type of readership so soon. I have been able to gain such a large readership by not focusing on the number of comments that each blog post can get, but concentrating on producing quality material each time I publish a piece. I never pen an article here at Revolutionary Paideia that does not provoke serious thought. However, this is a site where we have fun too.

Revolutionary Paideia is a special blog because it does not make an effort to be this kind of blog or that kind of blog—it simply is a blog that promotes ideas that have significance for African-Americans and the world. When you arrive at Revolutionary Paideia, you are not going to see all of the frivolous stuff that you see on many other blogs, including many of the Black bloggers’ blogs I’m competing against. You will come away from this blog with some substance, even when some of the posts are just having fun. We all like fun, right?

Although I know that many of my very passionate readers will want to nominate me for every category, I request that you don’t nominate me for every category because Black Weblog Awards will discard your ballot. I’m focused on winning the following categories: Best New Blog, Best Writing in a Blog, Blog to Watch, Best Blog Post Series (“Black Men Masquerading”), and Best Culture Blog. With well over 145,000 readers in just a little over one year and one month of blogging, I think this says something special about this blog and qualifies it to be Best New Blog and Blog to Watch.

I truly believe that the writing at Revolutionary Paideia is far superior to the writing of any other blog. To be fair, most other bloggers don’t have the advanced training in English that I have and are not university English Instructors as I am. The reality is, however, that my writing is simply far superior than the rest of the bloggers out there. This may sound arrogant but I’ve never ran away from the label of arrogant. If you don’t believe I have the best writing in the blogosphere, simply go click on any other blog and compare the writing to my writing. If you don’t agree that my writing is better, then don’t vote for me in this category. However, if you come to the conclusion that my writing certainly deserves Best Writing in a Blog, then take a moment and nominate me for Best Writing in a Blog.  

I deserve to win Best Culture Blog because of the quality and range of cultural issues that my blog has tackled. I have not been afraid to grapple with any cultural issue and have not approached cultural issues from the perspective of pleasing people either. We have too many bloggers out there who are writing just to receive a “cyber high five” from their readers. Revolutionary Paideia is not here to make you feel cozy—it’s here to unsettle, unnerve, and unhouse you.

Tell everyone you know to vote for me in the aforementioned categories. Let’s win these awards and show people that we can win them by being substantive. Let’s continue to shake things up! I appreciate your support and thank you for your vote.

Best,

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison