ReadMe

Life, Love, and Lobster Rolls
There are six million stories in the naked city, some of them more naked than others. Blissqueen bares her innermost thoughts and feelings---about dating, death and lobster rolls---to a waiting Web.

By Matthew Zeidman

Blissqueen, proprieter of "Sounding, speaking, shining, burning...."
Used with permission of Blissqueen

"I don't know what led up to it exactly," she says, "but I had my arm in the mouth of a lion."

"Well, a statue of a lion," she elaborates. "My arm was in there and I was going 'GRRRRRR, GRRRRRR.' I guess I was playing or something."

Out of context, this quote might seem a little strange, but those familiar with the weblog Sounding, speaking, shining, burning.... know that it's typical of the whimsical individual, known to her readers as Blissqueen.

In her seven-month-old weblog, or blog --- a website consisting of diary-like entries, usually enhanced with links to other websites --- the anonymous Blissqueen chronicles her bicoastal life in Manhattan and Los Angeles, focusing on dating, loss, and the all-important lobster roll.

Asked what prompted her to create Sounding, speaking, shining, burning..., she says via e-mail, "I had no goal in mind, except for a yearning for community and a more poetic sense of my life. In all the seriousness of my life, I had lost a certain playful, creative part of myself and I wanted to explore that."

And explore she does. Far from staid and boring, Blissqueen embodies the qualities that make a true blogger and her blog great.

"A huge part of blogs' appeal lies in their unmediated quality," writes J. D. Lasica, editor of the University of Southern California at Annenberg's Online Journalism Review in his 2001 article "Weblogs: A New Source of News." According to Lasica, the best blogs "tend to be impressionistic, telegraphic, raw, honest, individualistic, highly opinionated and passionate, often striking an emotional chord."

Whereas some blogs consist mainly of navel-gazing musings and jokey weblinks, Blissqueen's bares her soul for all the Internet to see. In an entry made on September 28, she describes a painful reunion with an ex-boyfriend. "He asked me how my mother was and it floored me. So much flashed through me. There was a time when she was alive and he remembered it. It didn't even occur to him that she wasn't fine. I wanted his reality and this made me unbearably sad. My eyes welled up and spilled and I couldn't stop them."

Asked about sharing such sorrowful parts of her life, she says "I tend to write what I am thinking about at the moment. Sometimes it is painful. I think writing in general helps to work through difficult things. I am not sure yet how the posting of the entries affects me."

Blissqueen's entries definitely have an effect on her readers, however. Her emphasis on the delights of everyday life is what makes her blog truly unique and charming. In an October 1 entry she speaks about an experience at the DMV. "He takes down the hood and has his picture taken, then he strolls up to me, and takes my hand and kisses it. He looks at me still holding it and says 'Señorita, you are very beautiful.' I say 'thank you' and he turns and sort of curtsies to all the people sitting and watching because there is nothing better to watch. When he leaves, I look out at a bunch of people smiling back at me and it is kinda sweet."

"My journal, among other things, is a celebration of happiness and wholesome pleasures," explains Blissqueen. "Some people, though, miss the wholesomeness."

Matthew Zeidman is an undergraduate student at New York University, majoring in journalism.

Launched: 12.12.01. Reproduction of material from any ReadMe pages without written permission strictly prohibited. ReadMe © 2002 New York University, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, 10 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003-6636, (212) 998-7912, e-mail: readme@journalism.fas.nyu.edu