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Yesterday, I found out that I had won Best Disability Blog in the Canadian Blog Awards and I am dorky and uncool enough to admit that I am ridiculously excited. Being nominated was a thrill and winning is an even bigger thrill.

A couple of weeks ago, I watched Barbara Walters “10 most fascinating people of 2008” and one of the people she interviewed was Frank Langella (who I’ve liked for many years). Langella is particularly “fascinating” this year due to his role as Nixon in the stage play and now in the movie Frost/Nixon, which is apparently getting quite the Oscar buzz. Ms. Wawa asked if receiving an Oscar would mean a great deal to him and when he said a very firm ‘yes’, she faked surprise and asked why. To which he responded “it would be disingenuous and absurd to say ‘oh, it doesn’t matter.’ Of course it matters” and based on his vocabulary and honesty, I instantly developed quite the crush on the man.

Now, I’m not in the top ten fascinating people anywhere, nor am I even close to the calibre of Frank Langella’s babytoe, but his words resonate. It does matter. Recognition matters and I have decided that perhaps it is not quite so ridiculous to be excited, in fact, it may very well be absurd not to be. But I’m excited about more than the win – I’m excited that there is a disability blog category within the awards (thanks for making noise last year, Beth). It’s a level of visibility and recognition that reflects integration. We may be fighting on a daily basis to achieve equality and integration in the three-dimensional world, but in the blogosphere, we are equal. And that matters.

I would like to thank the Academy… No, wait. Different award. I would like to thank Dave Hingsburger for his nomination and his incredible grace when he posted about the results and one of these days, I hope to express that in person (hey, we both live in Toronto, so it’s possible). He and the other nominees are wonderful bloggers who regularly challenge me to think deeper and if you haven’t already, I urge you to check out Chewing the Fat, Disadventure and Moon Phases: the Life & Evolution of Me. I would also like to thank you – yeah, you out there – for voting for me. Some of you have been here since the beginning 3 1/2 years ago and some of you are brand new. You being here, reading and commenting, matters and I am privileged that you choose to share your day with me.

This seems a perfect reason to have a contest to say thanks in a slightly more tangible manner. To enter, leave a comment, any comment, between now and Sunday evening, 6 pm Toronto time. Winner will be randomly selected and will get an 8×10 print of their choice from my Flickr page.

Now if I could only figure out how to put the flagwaving beaver on my sidebar (and I can’t wait to see what kinds of hits that one gives me)