Welcome to My Online World (Useful Links)

I admit it: I was the last person I know to get a cell phone (with the possible exception of my parents), and I've sent and received a total of maybe 30 text messages ever. But my habits as a news-and-opinion consumer have evolved as new technology has afforded easy access to all sorts of information. I use Twitter (where I'm CoCreatorDude) and iGoogle to cull headlines from blogs and other sources I find useful on a daily basis.

Below are some of my favorites, organized by topic. My inclusion of a source on this list does not mean that I endorse the content, only that I find it interesting, provocative or helpful in keeping up with trends, issues and ideas. Let me know of other sites you'd recommend.

National Politics and Issues:

• USDemocrazy (UMBC-based blog, written by students, breaks down policy issues into plain language and mixes in some humor)

• Talking Points Memo (insights and commentary from a generally left-leaning perspective)

• Ezra Klein (analysis from a brilliant 20-something policy wonk writing for the Washington Post)

• The Plank (political analysis from The New Republic magazine)

• Robert Reich's Blog (always-insightful commentary from the former U.S. Secretary of Labor and friend of Bill Clinton; he was one of my professors at the Kennedy School of Government)

• Paul Krugman (well-written and thoughtful commentary from the Nobel Prize-winning economist, writing for the New York Times)

• Swampland (Time Magazine's politics blog)
  

• Marc Ambinder (right-leaning political analysis, for The Atlantic Monthly)

• James Fallows (wise longtime journalist writing about a variety of issues, for The Atlantic Monthly)

• Political Animal (The Washington Monthly's political blog)

• Glenn Greenwald (sometimes-acerbic criticism and commentary from a liberal perspective, for Salon)
  

• Maryland Politics (a blog from The Washington Post)

• BlogNetNews-Maryland (a compilation of posts from blogs about Maryland politics)

• Baltimore Sun Op-Eds

• Inside Ed (Baltimore Sun blog about education news, policy and practice)

• Liberal.Education Nation (blog from the Association of American Colleges and Universities)

• The Paper Trail (U.S. News & World Report compilation of stories from college student newspapers)

• Peter Levine (Tufts-based educator's blog about many trends and issues relating to higher education and civic engagement)

• American Democracy Project (blog from a national collegiate civic engagement initiative in which UMBC participates)
  

• UMBC SGA

• The Retriever Weekly Blog

• UMBC Insights Weekly (news directed at faculty and staff, but often relevant to students)

• UMBC Eats
  

• UMBC Underground

• My Sociology (UMBC alum Eric Grollman's provocative commentary emphasizing social justice issues relating to race, gender and sexual orientation)

• On a Lobster Placemat (UMBC staff member Rose Huber's observations about nutrition, fitness and her creative process)
  

• The Rainbow Road Less Traveled By (student/activist Paula McCusker's personal blog)

• mistypedURL (UMBC alum Michael Castello's personal blog)

• Andrew Gordon's Blog (UMBC alum's personal blog)

• Mashable (great information about news and trends relating to social media)

• Metafilter (links to the most useful or odd web sites; trends seem to start here)

• The Edge of the American West (offbeat blog about culture, philosophy and current affairs maintained by academics based in the Western U.S.)

• More Information about Welcome to My Online World (Useful Links)