Presence

I've always been interested in how blogs can be used as a medium for artistic expression. I am sure there are a few good examples out there. The best example I know of is Unbroken Glass. Unbroken Glass is a blog that chronicled the ups and downs (mostly downs) of an Orthodox Jewish ba'alat teshuvah's dating life (the name comes from the custom at a Jewish wedding for the groom to break a glass immiedietly after the ceremony, symbolizing that our happiness can never be complete without the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash/Temple in Jerusalem). She (as She is known; I thought this play on words was brilliant) would post story after heart-breaking story of how she was mistreated and how she mistreated. Each story was written with a gut-wrenching honesty and candor, in a expository style that I thought heart-felt and evocative (and quite impressive for an Israeli and non-English speaker). I read the site regularly, and the sense of despair and loneliness created by the weblog-style postings, along with the cryptic ruminations from She on her personal blog, clearly conveyed the pain and angst experienced by the author.

And then, a few weeks, perhaps a month, of nothing from She. No posts, no comments, no updates. I began to suspect, I began to hope, perhaps things have changed. And sure enough, after several posts from readers, the good news was announced.

And of course, the site would not be complete without the piece d'resistance, the broken glass. With that post, we get a sense that She is no longer alone; with the breaking of the glass, She becomes complete.

I'm interested in other ways that blogs can be used to convey artistic expression. Peninah mentions my suggestion for a blog that summarizes or links to inspirational stories of those that have recently died. Something about the temporal nature of the blog post (and really all journalism), contrasted with the conclusion of a life, strikes me as meaningful and artistic. Each day another life ends, and as time moves on, that person's life moves off the home page, into the archives...

If you have any thoughts, let me know, and if you know of any other sites that use blogs as means of artistic expression, leave them in the comments.