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Seven links project

Seven links project

by Wolf Pascoe on August 18, 2011

A change of pace today. You see, I was tagged last week. As in, “Tag. You’re It.” The astonishing Big Little Wolf was the perpetrator. Allow me to explain.

Back in June, Katie from Tripbase began what she called The Seven Links Project. She picked seven of her own past posts that she thought worth resurrecting. These were the criteria:

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something helpless– The most beautiful post
– The most popular post
– The most controversial post
– Most helpful post
– A post whose success surprised her
– A post she felt didn’t get the attention it deserved
– The post she was most proud of

Katie listed all seven posts for her readers, named (“tagged”) five other bloggers she knew, and challenged them to do the same in a post for their readers. Each of the five wrote a blog entry listing their seven posts, and tagged five more bloggers. And so on.

Somewhere along this chain, Big Little Wolf was tagged. “You find yourself equal parts honored and exasperated,” BLW wrote to me. But she plunged ahead with her Seven Links post and tagged me
in the process.

“Don’t be mad,” she said. “No need if you’d rather not.”

The Internet is made for chain letters, those obnoxious requests for money or good luck (and please pass it on) of which you’ve received one or three-hundred. I almost always ignore them. I planned to ignore this one on account of the immodesty it required.

And yet …

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PROVENANCE

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I was intrigued by the genealogy problem. Big Little Wolf mentioned in her Seven Links post that she’d been tagged by a blogger named Mutant Supermodel. I went to Mutant Supermodel’s site; she’d been tagged by First Gen American, who had been tagged by Yes I’m Cheap, who had been tagged by Young and Thrifty, who had been tagged by Boomer and Echo, who had been tagged by Explore for a Year, who had been tagged by Turkish Travel Blog. Turkish Travel Blog didn’t say who had tagged her, so there the trail back to Katie of Tripbase went cold.

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But I was determined now. After all, it’s not any day you have the chance to trace the provenance of a meme to its source. Genealogist that I am, I decided to follow Katie’s own blogger links forward until I reached Turkish Travel blog from the other side. Mercifully, it didn’t take long. Katie had tagged Virtual Wayfarer, and Virtual Wayfarer had tagged Turkish Travel blog.

I am, therefore, of the tenth generation of Seven Linkers to be tagged. Which is to say, I’m one of potentially five to the tenth power (9,765,625) bloggers picked to carry on the flame. A mere four generations more to equal the population of the earth.

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All I can say is, it’s quite an honor.

MY SEVEN POSTS

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In for a penny in for a pound, I suppose. It was the categories that seduced me:

BEAUTIFUL: What it’s like to adopt a child.

POPULAR: The Wounded Parent, II: Something Helpless

CONTROVERSIAL: How we got to school on time, a six part series

HELPFUL: Mr. Rogers speaks to Congress

SURPRISED BY SUCCESS OF: Strange visitor from another planet

NEEDING ATTENTION: A story about fathers and sons

PROUDEST OF: Legacy

I have no glosses on my choices, except to say that if you see some you haven’t read, I hope you find one or two  worthy of your time.

PASSING THE TORCH:

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In order to avoid duplicate nominations, Tripbase keeps track of the universe of tagged bloggers. My favorite name on that list? Super Happy Awesome Fun Time with Sean and Alice, of course.

And I hereby tag:

Clark Kent’s Lunchbox. (My matchless, kick-ass mentor and champion, Ron Mattocks.)

The Altucher Confidential (James Altucher is fearless. I’ve tried to write like this guy and can’t.)

Walking on my Hands (A new favorite by a graceful, reflective writer, Pamela Hunt. Often, she tells us, we surprise ourselves “Because we are all adventurers here, we are all new at this, we are all learning how to live, how to breathe in this crazy, beautiful world.”)

Three is enough. Investigate them, you will find riches there. And this meme has just about circled the earth anyway.

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RELATED POST:

It relieves me to say that this post is related only to itself.

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YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY:

Two more blogs I might have tagged, if only I knew the authors’ emails:

Tribal Writer — The mysterious Justine Musk holds forth on creativity

Brain Pickings — A discovery engine for interestingness

EXPRESS YOURSELF!

But enough about me! Let’s talk about you! Which of my posts are your favorites? Kidding! But seriously, what are your Seven (or fewer) Links, here or anywhere, and which blogs would you tag? Add your comment below. I always respond here. This just in: you can be notified of responses to you by clicking “Replies to my comments” in the drop down menu under your remarks.

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{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }

Pamela August 18, 2011 at 9:56 am

Thanks so much for tagging me. What an honor! I love the genealology too! One more scrap of evidence that we are all connected.

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Wolf Pascoe August 18, 2011 at 11:32 am

My pleasure. I hope it’s more honor than exasperation!

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BigLittleWolf August 18, 2011 at 10:05 am

Oh, you make me laugh! 9.7 million bloggers!?! And I love that you took the genealogical approach, Wolf.

And speaking of Wolves, it seems to be a Wolf-to-Wolf day (little did I know), as I referenced one of your comments in my morning writing.

Thank you for doing this, Wolf. I am delighted. It was with equal parts trepidation and understanding of your busy schedule that I asked. I look forward to exploring these other fine writers, as well as your referenced posts.

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Wolf Pascoe August 18, 2011 at 12:09 pm

The question Big Little Wolf and I are debating this morning concerns a comment I made about what you REALLY learn on the Internet. You can follow the fireworks in her post this morning at Daily Plate of Crazy

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Sirena August 18, 2011 at 3:08 pm

I also love the VERY long blog name “Super Happy Awesome”(whatever the rest is), being partial to anything with the word “super” in it. I don’t read many blogs, but the only other 2 I read besides yours are Letters of Note (which I think I found out about on your blog and I LOVE) and the iPhone 5 Blog which I read obsessively every day to keep up on speculations about the new iPhone. LOVE ALL of your blog entries!!!!

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Wolf Pascoe August 18, 2011 at 5:52 pm

I think it’s time to broaden your horizons. Please subscribe to Super Happy Awesome Fun Time and report back here.

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Alameda August 18, 2011 at 6:23 pm

thanks for guiding us in our explorations

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Wolf Pascoe August 18, 2011 at 6:31 pm

The end of which will be to arrive at the place where we started and know it for the first time. (Thanks, T.S. Eliot)

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Natalie August 19, 2011 at 5:52 am

How much time did it take to figure out the trail? LOL. Well done to you and well done for giving me some new reading material. Looking forward to your posts once the kettle has brewed!

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Wolf Pascoe August 19, 2011 at 10:47 am

Not long–maybe an hour. I was lucky, though. Everyone gave their back link, all the way back to Turkish Travel Blog, so mostly I could just click through to each blog. Then look through the blog to find the 7 Links post. But since Turkish Travel Blog didn’t give a back link, I had to move forward from Tripbase to find her. She was in the second generation, so I only had to look at the five blogs in the first generation to see the link to her. If she’d been third generation, I’d potentially have had to search through 125 blogs, and if 4th, 625. I’m not sure I’d have been dedicated enough for that!

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Wolf Pascoe August 19, 2011 at 11:07 am

Yikes! Natalie, I just realized, YOU’RE TURKISH TRAVEL BLOG! How did you happen to find me???

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Natalie August 19, 2011 at 11:24 am

Hi Wolf, I got your email. I actually can not remember how I ended up on your blog. I was completing my afternoon session of internet browsing and just followed a trail. If it comes back to me then I will let you know. Your blog stood out for me as I have never seen it before and I was looking for new reading material. Big Little wolf is new reading for me as well. Both great blogs with a fresh, new style of writing. Glad I stumbled across you.

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Sirena August 19, 2011 at 11:48 am

Reporting back: LOVED Super Happy Awesome Funtime. Anything Japanese is always interesting to me. Thank you for broadening my horizons – I can see clearly now the haze is gone….

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Wolf Pascoe August 19, 2011 at 11:53 am

Just Add Father also recommends Daily Plate of Crazy. But be careful. Once you fall into the bloggy sea, it’s hard to swim back to shore.

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Sirena August 19, 2011 at 11:53 am

Sorry, I meant “rain”, not “haze”.

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Barbara August 19, 2011 at 1:17 pm

i love that you agreed to join in because of the genealogy aspect. But oh my gosh here I am already behind on my blog reading and you give me more to read? So cruel. But thanks. One day…

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Wolf Pascoe August 19, 2011 at 7:26 pm

It’s the infinite Internet, bane of us all.

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Clark Kent's Lunchbox August 20, 2011 at 12:21 pm

“mentor” is a bit lofty, but I am honored and humbled just the same. These are all beyond-superb choices, but I think we all know which is my favorite of the bunch.

Okay *cracks his knuckles* guess I best get to thinking on what I’m going pick out.

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Wolf Pascoe August 20, 2011 at 2:07 pm

I think he means Strange Visitor.

Readers are advised to consult CK Lunchbox for the results of the knuckle cracking.

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Mutant Supermodel August 26, 2011 at 5:53 pm

I just wanted to tell you it was quite genius of you to do this tracking. Your posts are fantastic. I totally get why Wolf nominated you.

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Wolf Pascoe August 26, 2011 at 5:59 pm

Many thanks, Supermodel. Glad you dropped in.

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