It isn't a like a rainbow, this feeling inside...

It's the latest fashion: Arthurian shrubbery-wear.

Echidne of the Snakes turns her eye to fashion, and she gets downright poetic: "How cumbersome, how idiotic, how lifeless is the correctly fashionable woman." Click through to read her entire piece.

The Snake Goddess also does me an honor by linking to a Sour Duck essay.

Often the most interesting posts are those that express uncertainty, ambivalence, and thoughts and emotions that you tend to ignore as you go about your daily tasks. "It isn't like a rainbow, this feeling inside…" is one of these.

Liz shares her thoughts on blogging, politics, the war in Iraq, TV, and more. At the end, she writes:

"I apologise for the doomed atmosphere of this post, I guess I'm in a black mood at the moment. But I don't apologise for telling the truth of how I feel. I hope someone can relate to me somehow, or that my post makes someone feel they are not alone. I want to thank all the feminist bloggers who have written some amazing posts recently, it's really helped me."

Many feminists go through similar states of despair, so it's helpful to read someone else's frustrations and anger laid bare on the screen. Despite this, it does glimmer with hope and optimism, and readers rise to the occasion with supportive comments. I point readers to the whole post.

As with so many good things in my life, I was looking for something else when I stumbled across Being Amber Rhea, whose link roundup led me to Is there no sin in it?. This blog doesn't have the Technorati tag "feminism" or "feminist" attached to it, which leads me to wonder:

If a feminist post isn't tagged in the woods, does Technorati record it?

Ha-ha, you see my witticism? No? Well, it was a valiant effort…

Anyhow, back to the Polar Bear themed Is there no sin in it?. Her post starts off linking to a discussion about the "casual sexism of otherwise left-leaning guys" but moves on to her own thoughts. Her post makes for an absorbing read, but I'd like to highlight part of her conclusion:

"… feminist talk online brings together (sometimes successfully), feminists at all stages of their emotional development to talk about the functionality of rage, guilt, community, separatism, and education. It can be just the thing to shake someone up and make them see what it would feel like to breathe all the way in, for the first time since she was a little child, even if that first wonderful breath comes with the anger of having been denied it so long."

With all the conflicts and online debates that arise from the sheer complexity of feminism, it's good to be reminded of this simple truth: online feminist communities do a lot of good.

Photo: Echidne of the Snakes