Lindsay, Bonnie, and Vicky I know this seems odd!

Okay this is one of the oddest things I have ever had to do for a class.  My assignment for my communication in the electronic age class was to follow three "blogs" for five days and write an analysis of:

• What is main reason this person keeps a blog?
• What kind of identity is the person who maintains this blog trying to project?
• How truthfully does the blogger represent himself/herself?
• How important is the blog to the author?
• Who is reading the blog?
• How does your opinion/reaction to blog change during the period of observation? Why?
• Does the blog make an impact?

I picked three diaries at random and read at least five of their entries.  I thought it would be kind of cool to copy and paste my rough draft from the assignment (I still need to edit it) and share it with the three girls I wrote about.  It seems so strange, and almost wrong, to write about other peoples diaries for a college class.  This is a new age of technology though!  Maybe the three girls Bonnie (*Bons*), Lindsay (PlainJane94), and Vicky (BreakUpBabe) will get to know and support one another (and maybe me too!)  So here is the product of the oddest assignment I have ever had!

            Bonnie[1], Lindsay[2], and Vicky[3] don’t know one another and they live a great distance from one another (Bonnie lives in Colorado, Vicky lives in New York City, and Lindsay lives in Georgia) but all three girls live among over 476,000 people sharing an online community at http://www.opendiary.com.  Bonnie is a 24 year old girl struggling to find love and make her path in life.  She is finishing school and stressed by the adult issues in her life such as money, careers, and her relationship.  Like Bonnie, Lindsey is struggling to figure out her relationship, what she wants and what it means by what she doesn’t want out of it.  Vicky is 31 and started her blog only a week ago to help her through the trials and tribulations of her break-up.  All three girls appear to be young women trying to figure out the secret to life and living.

            Bonnie describes herself on her homepage as;

I am Strong, Soft, Kind, Quiet, Blunt and Honest, Moody, Stubborn, Loving, Passionate, Independant, a Dreamer, a Believer, a Lover, A Fighter. I am the Best Friend you will ever have, and the worst enemy you will ever know. I stand up for what I believe in and I see the good in everyone. I am forgiving of those who have wronged me and I will never hold a grudge. I am self-concious, intelligent and funny. I am afraid of falling and death. This is me, take it or leave it, love me or hate me, but be forewarned that if you walk away you may be missing out on something great.  I tell it like it is, there is no sugar coated candy in my entries. This is the real deal.

After reading some of her entries I have to say she is pretty accurate at describing herself.  Bonnie is dating someone who seems to be taking her on an emotional rollercoaster.<span sty

le=”mso-spacerun: yes”>  If you pick one of her entries at random, there is no guarantee as to whether her boyfriend, Chris, has treated her well by telling her how he wants a future and a family with her or if he has completely confused and frustrated her by pointing out all of her shortcomings.  I have been where Bonnie is, and I am currently still there is some aspects and can empathize with her daily rollercoaster.  Bonnie has been a member of the open diary community for about a year and a half.  During this time she has made some friends within the community who leave her notes of support and encouragement.  Bonnie writes as an outlet to her busy and emotional life.  She has started a weight loss plan recently and is using her blog as a way to document her great progress.  The friends she has on open diary are supportive of her weight loss and I think they give her an added incentive to keep up the hard work.  Bonnie is an average 24 year old girl finding humor in the last ten cents in her bank account, thankful that she has a wonderful mother to fall back on when that ten cents won’t fill her gas tank, and working her way through the relationship jungle that so many women find themselves in.

            Lindsay is a former cutter who has been blogging in her “PlainJane94” blog for a year and a half.  She had another blog on open diary previous to this one, but had decided to delete it.  It took her a week before she realized she missed the open diary community and started a new blog.  Lindsay is a student majoring in early childhood education/special education.  She just received a placement into a fifth grade classroom to do her first internship.  She was very frustrated with her assignment because she had been under the impression she would end up in a kindergarten or first grade class room.  Her school frustrations are easily summed up by a quote she has on her homepage, “School is like a lollipop.  It sucks until it is gone.”  I work full time, go to school full time, travel a lot for my job, and have to make time for an endless list of other things in my life.  I can completely relate to her school is a lollipop analogy!  Lindsay is on a personal emotional rollercoaster trying to find her way through school and dodge the crazy obstacles of everyday life.  She has a great support group of friends from the open diary community and acknowledges how wonderful it is to have them in her life, “thanks so much for all of your notes. i really don’t know what i would do without my OD friends. you guys are awesome people.”  She is in a relationship that confuses her.  She doesn’t have a burning desire to call him or see him all the time and realizes how odd this is when she discusses with a co-worker, Alisa, how much Alisa looks forward to talking to her boyfriend.  As Lindsay’s blog name “PlainJane94” suggests she is struggling and fighting the same issues that all the other girls her age are experiencing. 

            Vicky just celebrated her one year anniversary at her firm and is in the early stages of making a clean break from her boyfriend of six years.  She uses her blog as an outlet for her emotions and is hopeful that she will be able to track her healing process as time progresses.  Vicky writes mainly for herself, but makes a few references to her sister who lives across the Atlantic in England.  Her sister is a fellow OD’er (blogger on http://www.opendiary.com) and encouraged her to join the community.  Vicky hopes she can find a support network to help her as she moves throughout her newly (first time in 15 years!) single life.  She writes as an introduction on her homepage; “On-line, Off-line, Speed dating, Blind dating, Dinner dating – I’m going to try it all!…but maybe not for a few weeks.”  As she rates her days on a scale of one to ten she provides insight to life after a relationship.  She includes a comprehensive list of what she can now do if she wants to.  I think highlights off of her list are:

·         sleep on the easy side of the bed so I don’t bang my ankles when I get up to pee

·         explore New York. Really explore New York.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in”>·         Date in Manhattan. Let someone else pay for a date once or twice.

·         Do adventurous real TRAVEL again. Hike the inca trail in Peru. Learn to Samba and go to Brazil for Carnevale.

·         Be selfish.

·         Never date a man again for six years. (More than 1 year, then get out the bling, baby)

 

            I think that Vicky will find open diary very therapeutic and it will become an intricate part of her healing process.  I can relate to some of Vicky’s pain and admire her innovativeness like her breakup-survival kit that includes items ranging from self help books to self help toys.  She could market her concept and probably make a lot of money!  I enjoyed reading Vicky’s blog and may even continue to check in with her from time to time.  Vicky is new to the open diary world, but I think she will quickly find her way among many of the brilliant and fun people living in the community.  Maybe she will even meet Bonnie or Lindsay along her way.

            It was interesting to follow these three girls throughout their day to day lives.  All three girls are similar in their struggles, but come from very different places and families and are joined together with hundreds of thousands of other people in one online community.  They all seem to need the open diary community as a safe place to unwind and connect with other people.

[1] http://opendiary.com/entrylist.asp?authorcode=D532331

[2] http://opendiary.com/entrylist.asp?authorcode=D548363&mode=chapter

[3] http://opendiary.com/entrylist.asp?authorcode=D681335