First things first, eh? I'm Maria Del Rosario [Mary of the Rosary for you non-bilingual dummies], your guest reviewer for today. I write my own blog, entitled Immoral Matriarch: Catechizer. I've been reviewed already, so don't bother visiting it to 'tear me apart' if you don't like what I have to say. I'll just make fun of you.For the past few months, I've been in the process of becoming more empathetic to the plight of people with eating disorders. I have a new friend who suffered from one for years, and I have a certain cynical blog pal that frequently discusses hers. They are enlightening me to the real struggles and dangers that are a part of living with an ED. Maybe it's some sort of sign from above [or below] that I was assigned Frozen Oranges to review.
Alright – I friggin' hate it when people don't capitalize. It makes it difficult for me to take them and what they are saying seriously. The shift key is your friend, people! Not using it is only appropriate in instant messenger conversations and texting. Anyway, once I overcame my initial disgust at having to read something in all lowercase, I quickly came to appreciate the content therein.
Emmy's sole topic is eating disorders. There is virtually nothing on her blog that doesn't directly tie into that, and that's fine, but I can't help but want to get to know her as a person, not just a person struggling with her mental issues; especially after getting an ever-so-faint glimpse of who she is in her short and sweet background story. There is a bit about her art but not much else.
Her writing is introspective, but she hasn't quite mastered how to let others in, and you get the sense that she is still extremely guarded in what she exposes to the world, as open as she seems to think she is. She describes her experiences in recovery and in day to day life to her voyeurs in perfect detail, but I lacked the feeling that you can get from some bloggers, who know how to put their heart in their words and leave you feeling like you are not just reading them, but gaining entrance into their souls. I almost got there reading a few of her posts, but not quite. I'm certain that if she pushes just a bit farther though, she'll accomplish that.
She is a good writer, despite the boycotting of the shift key, and I'm guessing that's some sort of signature or something. Her posts flow freely, and are easy to read – I was able to get through most of them quickly and I was usually surprised to look back and see how long they were, but I did find myself getting bored with a couple of them and constantly checking to see how much was left.
Her layout is alright; very simplistic -- dull actually -- but I think it fits her content nicely: there's nothing to distract you from the words. Her sidebar becomes cluttered as you scroll, but the majority of it is information helpful to those needing assistance with their own eating disorders so I accept it. I love the header image, and the story behind the blog name was very interesting.
Is this a blog that I'll return to? Probably not. Actually – definitely not. Because I myself am an overeating lard-ass that can't stand to vomit but can't live without French fries, so I don't have anything in common with her, or her subject matter. But while it isn't for me, it's still an overall good blog that may be just what others need. Just a little more heart, a little more Emmy, and it'll be much more interesting to those outside of the ED community. I give it:
As a woman who has struggled with loving/hating her body, this line in one of Emmy's posts really spoke to me:
ReplyDelete"society does not choose for me to hate my body, i choose to love what i look like."
True dat. This is about more than eating disorders, it is about women choosing, for themselves, how to think about their bodies. Eating disorders are a smaller symptom of a much larger problem.
I dig it. I like the design, I like the writing (though she needs to edit herself, some posts do tend to drag on and on).
Yeah, I'm kind of with Ms. Bites on this one. If you'll permit me a rare moment of seriousness - addiction & recovery and all that jazz are just intertwined in me and mine. I agree that the cummings-esque lack of capitalization is a distraction, but the writing is great stream of consciousness recovery stuff. Good stuff, Emmy.
ReplyDeleteOK, way too much earnestness from me for the day.
I liked it, too. My only real complaint is that the text is teeny tiny in Firefox on my Mac and the lack of caps. Other than that, nice one.
ReplyDeletei appreciate your comments. yes, it's a signature thing that i "don't believe" in capitals. i don't know why. some people like it, some people hate it. i accept that.
ReplyDeletethank you for your review. i will certainly take your advice into consideration, especially working on keeping my entries from dragging. i try to cut them down and put them into parts, but i get carried away sometimes and don't know when to cut myself off ;) i've gotten better, as you can probably tell from some of my older entries. i've grown out of the idea that, "if i write really long entries, it makes me a good blogger!" ...i learned quickly that's not how this shit works ;)
thanks again!
emmy
Great review Maria, and I happen to love your name. :) I imagine given the subject matter, this may have been a difficult one, I like Emmy's site, but the punctuation did sort of irritate me. Then again I'm also one that punctuates text messages.
ReplyDeleteI can't read it. I suffered with anorexia from high school through college (well, technically, I still suffer with it) and I just can't make myself read it. Good on her for blogging through it, though.
ReplyDeleteExcellent review - I pretty much agree with you, only the lack of capital letters doesn't bother me a bit!
ReplyDelete