This session, the final of the day, is the “Community Keynote,” where BlogHer community members read some exceptional blog entries. I love this session!! I was part of it last year, reading an entry about Twitter, but dear god, some of the other entries people read were amazing. Way out of my league, they were incredible. I went from laughing to crying within the hour, and still read a lot of the blogs I discovered through there.

So! These are some of the highlights from today, although I do recommend checking out the link at the bottom and reading them all. Amazing blog entries, every one.

• Melissa Davis was the first to leave the audience in tears. Very touching story about her Uncle getting in an accident at 24, developing paranoid schitzophrenia, and becoming homeless. Amazing, because she focuses on her uncle – the man – and what his personality was like, what he enjoyed doing. Not on the fact that he was mentally ill and homeless. *and I’m already in tears*
• Karen Walrond had a blog entry about Obama, written back in January. Great quote “it’s not always easy living in a country where you look different.” Sad to hear the passive aggressive racism she’s seen. As recently as December “well, you’re not REALLY black, are you?” Unbelievable.
• JD from “I do things so you don’t have to.” She told a story about what she did when she was 10 yrs old, fell off a picnic table, exaggerated how bad it was, and ended up spending a night in the hospital. It sounds simple here, but believe me, the actual blog entry was very funny – faking the concussion was fun, staying in the hospital was not!
• One of the few BlogHim’s at the conference, Mike Adamick! He blogs in a bunch of places, including the SF Chronicle. Main takeaway? Cell phones are “People Avoidance Machines.” I He’s spent entire parties “on the cell phone….easier than hiding in the toilet.” I LOVE IT.
• Now another BlogHim – Black Hockey Genius – makes an appearance. He wrote this post as a letter to his daughter on her birthday. It is a very sweet post I’m sure any parent can relate to (hell, I’m not a parent and _I_ relate). He’s making everyone cry.
• Danielle Henderson from Knotty Yarn, Subject line of entry “There is something stuck in my vagina.” Very, very funny, something that I think most women can relate to, but I don’t recommend any men read, so, link to her blog, not this specific entry. Hysterical. Women who want to read the exact entry, check it out here.
• Tanis Miller from Attack of the Redneck Mommy (@redneckmommy) talking about raising a disabled child. Very touching – “why can’t people see past the wheelchair or the way he turns his head to the side so he can see, and look at the person he actually is.” She brings home the point that people who insult disabled adults or children are insulting HER children, they’re insulting relatives they may have, that someone you love could end up the punchline to a joke if people don’t stop. (and yes, tears again…)
• Grace Davis had me digging out the tissues with her entry about surviving child abuse. The best quote, I can’t even read it without tearing up – “Forgive yourself, you’re the one who deserves it.” There are a few quotes that can bring me to tears, I guess that’s a new one to add to the list.
• Ok, this is too perfect for me. An ode to diet coke by Wendie Aarons. I may have found someone who’s actually more addicted to diet coke than I am! I can’t do the blog entry justice at all by describing it here, she’s hysterical. And bless her for going off on WTF is diet coke doing putting vitamins in there??? Love it.

This was, and always will be, my favorite session of the conference, and I HIGHLY recommend any women (or men) considering attending BlogHer next year (in NYC!!) make sure to attend this session.

A full list of the blog entries featured at the community keynote are over on the BlogHer site.