The Foreign Service Journal, June 2011

with kids, find new schools and obtain childcare abroad. The Embassy Wife http://www.tweekniks.com/ embassywife and http://kellyarmstrong.pnn.com Kelly is a stay-at-home mom cur- rently living with her husband in Costa Rica. The Embassy Wife includes helpful links to guides at the top of the page, such as “Five-Minute Recipes” and an “Embassy Wife How-Tos” sec- tion that provides useful travel advice. She posts entertaining, well-written stories of the daily tribulations — large and small — of her life abroad. The Both-Spouses Approach Travel Orders: Our Life in the Foreign Service www.travelorders.com Public diplomacy–coned Alex en- tered the Foreign Service in 2010. Her husband, Andy, is on the register to join as a management-coned officer. Alex has recently finished language training, and the two bloggers will leave for her posting in Benin after the birth of their first child in May. Their joint blog provides the perspectives of husband and wife, entry-level officer and applicant, as well as expectant par- ents in the Foreign Service. Two Crabs http://twocrabs.blogs.com The pseudonymous Mr. and Mrs. Crab are currently in Manama, where Mr. Crab is serving at his first post. They blog about starting out in the Foreign Service and living in Bahrain, and comment on news relevant to the FS. Their blog has helpful links in the sidebars to resources on expat living in Bahrain and on joining the Foreign Service. Monestel Family Odyssey http://monestelfamily.blogspot.com Currently serving in Bangladesh, Regional Medical Officer Robert and his family write about their adventures in foreign countries and cultures. He and his wife collaborate on the blog, with occasional insights from one of their three young children. The Insider These bloggers synthesize and ana- lyze all the news pertaining to Foreign Service life and U.S. foreign policy. They carefully search through news Web sites, press releases and other Foreign Service blogs to find relevant stories. Their work helps to build the credibility of the blogosphere as a for- um for discourse on foreign policy and FS life. DiploPundit www.diplopundit.blogspot.com Whenever there is an important, engaging or amusing story pertaining to U.S. diplomacy or the Foreign Serv- ice, DiploPundit will find it, comment on it and provide resources for further information on it. The Skeptical Bureaucrat www.skepticalbureaucrat.blogspot. com Meticulous in reporting, the Skep- tical Bureaucrat maintains a compre- hensive account of diplomatic news with commentary on each topic. Posts are thoroughly researched and draw information and opinions from multi- ple sources. Muttering Behind the Hardline www.mutteringbehindthehardline. com Consular-coned blogger NoDou- bleStandards declares his blog to be a compilation of the “rants of a Foreign Service officer on the things that mat- ter to you — and matter to you not at all.” NoDoubleStandards primarily focuses on serious commentary on for- eign affairs, but occasionally delves into more philosophical topics such as a Jan. 29 post titled “What, If Anything, Does Looting Say about the Condition of Man?” The blog was formerly named Calling a Spade a Spade. Retirees’ Reflections Former members of the Foreign Service have an entire career’s worth of insights on U.S. foreign policy and the domestic politics of the countries in which they served. Many of them write high-quality, well-researched posts that provide commentary on cur- rent world events. John Brown’s Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review, Version 2.0 http://publicdiplomacypressandblog review.blogspot.com A Foreign Service officer for more than 20 years, John Brown is now affil- iated with Georgetown University. He focuses on the relationship between propaganda and public diplomacy. He writes observations on current events through this lens and provides quotes and links from other blogs and media sources. Whirled View www.whirledview.typepad.com Writer and former FSO Patricia Lee Sharpe created this blog with her colleague Patricia Kushlis in 2004. The blog provides retirees’ reflections upon foreign policy. It is a resource-laden blog with incisive commentary and analysis on current affairs. J U N E 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 47 The FS blogosphere is raising the profile of the work of the Foreign Service among the public.