Right now I think I prefer nasty to namaste

Edited: Right now the very last thing I need in my life is more conflict, so in the interest of soothing ruffled feathers, even though certain folks should have realized they'd be ruffled given the title of our blog, and even though they checked that they'd read the FAQ, and even though there are no takesies backsies in blog reviewing, I'm removing the links (even though I wasn't asked to). 'Cause I'm decent like that. I will not, however, remove the review, since I spent a long damn time on it and produced it in good faith. 

I've never been punched. I've never been slapped. I've never been choked or kicked. I've never even been shoved, except as a child by other children rough-housing. No one has ever laid a hand on me in anger, not really. My mother spanked me, but not often and not hard. I don't know what it's like to reel away from violence, to feel the smash of flesh and bone. My heart has taken its share of beatings, but my body hasn't. Knowing the statistics, reading the stories, I count myself lucky.

She [blogger redacted] was not so lucky.

This is what her blog centers around -- a single act of violence and her attempts at recovery. It's an intensely personal blog, which is in some ways difficult to judge. Because it's not for us, not really. I don't mean that there aren't people out there who should read this, who would want to read this -- I just mean the primary purpose isn't, or doesn't seem to be, discourse, dialog, or community, or even writing, really. The motivation for writing is so very emotional and visceral. She's writing to process, to heal. And critiquing that is hard for me, especially now when my own personal blog has gone from amusing essays to tears on the blogworld's shoulder.

But y'all ain't paying me to wax philosophical and melodramatic, are you? And she deserves a review. So.

There's poetry, oh goody. There's an its/it's problem. She has "Read full posts" links, which are annoying as hell. The design is benign and we see it all the time, but it's not too cluttered and there's a pretty header. She makes good use of tabs, but I'd put all your links on a tab, too. Thanks for the drop-downs, but get rid of all the other useless crap in your sidebar.

The tone of the blog is very woo-woo spiritual personal discovery, which I admit I can be partial to, when I'm not utterly embarrassed by it. And most of the posts are loooooong. And deep. And kind of exhausting. And when you have to click to read more, and the posts are already kind of long-winded and wordy and written with this very zen and meditative tone... well, I didn't click to read more as often as I might have. Even the ribald stuff is a bit, oh, I don't know. Contemplative, I guess.

I found her story interesting and heartbreaking and, if I'm being honest, not terribly easy for me to relate to. I kind of hate that I said that, but I just don't have the same sphere of reference. The spiritual journey, the PTSD, the gurus and yoginis and spiritual retreats and all that looking inward. I don't know -- I'm a little tired of my own innards right now, so I'm sure that's coloring my perspective.

God, didn't you guys miss me terribly? All this indecisiveness and malaise is riveting.

So. Bottom line. I liked it but I didn't love it. I think the writing could use some work. Tighten it up and edit, learn that whole its/it's thing, give us more action and less thinking. (I'm so tired of thinking.) I like that you're using blogging to process these things because I think it's therapeutic and helpful and someday you'll want to read all this stuff and remember and recognize how far you've come. And people in the same boat, or tied to your flotilla, will appreciate your insight and your journey. I just think I'm going to sail my boat in a different direction right now. Toward puppies and Firefly episodes and chocolate cake and books where people don't think so much.