Well, I have returned to Seattle. Portland was not the place it used to be, and I find I much prefer Seattle. In my absence, I was asked to do an interview by the Seattle Times. Unfortunately, I received the email after the interview deadline was over. It was for an article about ‘controversial blogging’. Who, me? Controversial?

I also received my review, from The Weblog Review. It seems the reviewer was unable to access all of my archives, so I assume this was why the review seems rather slanted. I know some of my content is about myself, but I was a little stunned, when they recategorized my blog to ‘personal’. Also, there was nothing mentioned regarding my political or paranormal content.

I was complimented though when reviewer Amusings stated:

“I wish there was a hybrid category for this site.”

Along the same lines they also stated:

‘The content of the blog is really random… In the month of June, we move from Firefox Extensions to Insomnia help to our author leaving home at 15 to find The Meaning of Life, to Open Source and Fashion, to tips on how to be a real friend, and a really fun sounding apple to oranges practical joke.”

I suppose the focus on my blog being ‘personal, was partly due to the reviewer’s own personal tastes:

“My favorite Shadowmyth entries are the very personal ones, like all the creeps who hit on her when she’s dancing, the how to be a friend lesson, how she has no morals, what she thinks of her kids’ experience in the public schools, and glimpses into her past. “Life has branded me with a wandering soul,” she writes. And it seems that for the past several years she has wandered, adventured, seen, existed, and now has settled down to writing about it and the tools she uses to interface with the rest of the sphere in this stage of her multiverse. “

All in all, I was given a rating of 3.75:

“I found the writing to be really interesting but didn’t like the navigation of the archives. Overall the look and feel to the site is incredibly simple. The main pages are a gradient purple with two column layout, and clicking on an entry title opens it up in a paler blue setting. It would be nice to walk through the entries in a link to “next” or “previous” fashion, but for the most part getting back to the main page is easy.

I give this blog a 3.75 rating and change the category to personal. There is more content, and far BETTER content, within the pages that is personal instead of the computer category. And I wish her luck with her move and in her new city.”

I will never forget the first time I stuck my writing into a computer analysis program. It analyzed your writing quality, style, etc. It stated my writing was of a ‘mechanical text book style, not intended for your average reader’. I was honestly crushed. It took me years to learn a more communicative style of writing, that was not boring, or overly technical.

I still write in my technical style, when I write in my journals, but I find I care for it less and less. Years later, and here is another review of my writing. This one is by a flesh and blood person, with their own opinions and thoughts. This time there is no cold computational assessment, but thoughts coming from one individual. Which is more valid? The rational assessment of a computer? The slanted opinions of people?

I suppose they are all valid in their own way. The computer understands rhythms and patterns, it is not opinionated, and only sees what ‘is’ on a logical level. The emotional and thinking biped, s/he sees through the eyes of their experience. Since the reviewer is also a reader, I can more greatly understand how one portion of my demographic, views my writing. People are what matter in the long run, so I suppose the latter has more weight.

Thank you Amusings for your musings on ShadowMyth’s Multiverse, you do me a kindness.