The Honest Scrap Award

by Danny Fisher

The wonderful Scott A. Mitchell over at the buddha is my dj has bestowed upon me an “Honest Scrap Award.” The award is described as follows:

    This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant. This award is about bloggers who post from their heart, who oftentimes put their heart on display as they write from the depths of their soul.
I’m honored and touched to be recognized like this by Scott, whom I respect very much as both a blogger, a podcaster, and a scholar.

Now then, the rules of the Honest Scrap Award stipulate that I am to:

  1. brag about it;
  2. choose a minimum of seven blogs that I find brilliant;
  3. and list ten honest things about myself.
So here we go! First, “brag about it.” Hmm. OK–just pretend I’m Jay Sherman in this scenario:

Now that that’s out of the way, it’s on to the second task: bestowing seven Honest Scrap Awards onto other bloggers. Sure, my list is a little nepotistic in spots, but, hey, my friends and family are honest scraps. Take a look:

  • “there is no path, paths are made by walking.” ~Antonio Machado
      Peter Renner’s blog, which draws on the author’s interests in “end-of-life care, Engaged Buddhism, meditation practices (Zen, Vipassana, Centered Prayer), being-of-service, silence, inter-faith curiosity, travelling, and life-long learning,” was the first one I thought of with regards to this award. I think that’s the best compliment I can give it.

  • The Quilted Librarian
      Yes, the Quilted Librarian is my mom. She’s also a great mom, which I think is probably pretty difficult to pull off if you’re not drawing on deep resources of heart and soul. And, relevant to this award, I think that all of things that make her great are splashed all over that blog like paint on a Jackson Pollock canvas.

  • American Buddhist Perspective
      Justin Whitaker: the man, the myth, the legend. Justin is someone I’m delighted to have a real-life friendship with, in part because I think he’s tremendously good at this blogging thang. I remember thinking before I met him in person, “Gosh, I hope we hit it off, because I can tell from the blog: this guy is really something.” In bestowing this award upon me, Scott noted that I tend not to “deviate too far into [my] own personal trials and tribulations.” One of the things I admire so much about Justin is that he can write just as skillfully about aspects of his personal life as he can about Buddhist ethics (his particular area of expertise). I’m looking forward to Montreal, sir!

  • Monkey Mind
      Our friend and past interviewee James Ishmael Ford uses his blog in such a way that the reader feels a bit like a congregant at his church. His site allows us the opportunities to read James’ sermons, follow his travels, see video and hear music that inspires him, and know what’s happening in his life. “Honest Scrap” is this guy’s middle name.

  • A Monk Amok
      What I love about my fellow UWest alumnus and old buddy Gyatso’s blog is that it’s like reading a letter from a close confidant. He shares very openly an un-self-consciously. He tells you about what’s on his mind, whether it’s a trip to the beach, his journey as a Buddhist pracititioner, or a disquieting news story he read. True to his monastic vocation, he treats his all his readers as he would old friends.

  • The Wheel of Dharma
      Author and fellow Buddhist chaplain Lawrence Grecco has things to say, and he’s not afraid to say them. Behold, a Buddhist prophet for these dark times!

  • the buddha is my dj
      Honestly, Scott would be on my list even if he hadn’t given this honor to me. I couldn’t possibly put it better than not2wo, who also honored him with the Honest Scrap Award, so I’ll just emphatically say “ditto” to this:

        Buddhist scholar Scott A. Mitchell of the buddha is my dj tells it like it is – honestly, genuinely, always from the heart. I’m especially thrilled when he gets a bit testy – now, that what I’m talkin’ about! Keep it up, Scott! His posts always make me go “hmmm,” and even if he may think otherwise, I find many of his posts very touching.

    Now, lastly, ten honest things about myself. I feel challenged a bit by Scott’s comment that I quoted above about my tendency to avoid delving into my own trials and tribulations, so I’ll try to put that stuff front and center here. “And away we go…”

    1. I closed down my old blog after I wrote a post about an encounter during my first chaplaincy internship. I was careful to protect confidentiality, but I felt almost immediately ashamed: I knew that this was not something to carve a story out of, and yet that was exactly what I did. Though I was aware that writing is my way of coming to better understand things, I also realized that in the case of chaplaincy I needed to learn how to cultivate that understanding in group work and pastoral supervision. So I decided to delete the post and close the blog, take some time off to get a handle on these other ways of processing, and come back when I felt like I had figured out how to do that. So, that’s why I left and came back.
    2. I really don’t know sometimes if I’m a journalist in deep denial, fleeing from a natural inclination toward something that for whatever reason seems “more important,” or a Buddhist minister/chaplain who just likes to write a lot. (Or if it really matters at all.)
    3. After spending the last year-and-a-half on the other side of the country with good friends and family close by, I’m back in Los Angeles and I feel F.I.N.E.–Fucked-up, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional.
    4. Like a chicken, I’ll say two years later, after all the conversation and debate in the Buddhoblogosphere about it, that I think Clark Strand is right.
    5. I often worry that I’m not good enough, but I know that if I could just let all that go then I’d probably be at least as good as I hope I can be.
    6. I think about her all the time.
    7. I swear a lot. (That’s a popular one, if you look at the responses of other Honest Scrap Award-winners.)
    8. Honestly, truly, really: I just want to do what I can to benefit beings. That’s what I want to be when I grow up–a helper. I want to be good at that.
    9. I quote Anne Frank: “In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
    10. Like my uncle, I would cop to having a man-crush on Gabriel Byrne.
    Done, done, and done! : )