When looking through the parenting blogs, I stumbled across one of extraordinary uniqueness. Seeing Barb’s “Cigarette’s and Coffee†reminded me of an angst ridden song where the mainstays were caffeine and nicotine. For the life of me, I can not recall what song that is, but I do know the emotion behind the song is about angst and the pain’s of day to day life. So appropriate then a title for Barb’s blog which is about the adventures of a birth mother in open adoption. While the posts are not all that regular, her most recent ones include “the dangling conversation†which is a relation of a conversation had with her husband on the “when†they will start the trying to conceive process. Other posts include “sing a long†and then a small tribute to a personal favorite of mine, “GPS and Nick Drakeâ€. The purpose behind the blog is to serve as an outlet for Barb and her quest for motherhood, and given by the regular amount of comments she receives on it, she has a tremendous support group that is sharing her pain and using the blog to Barb’s intended purpose.
Navigation on this site is very straightforward. The opening page is standard blog format with the most recent posts listed from most current and on. The layout is a black background with white text and the posts appear on the right side of the site. On the left you will find a picture of Barb and her profile and contact information as well as a list of her favorite links. These include “33 Writes 25â€, “Colorâ€, “Great Dorito Analogyâ€, “He Tells Me a Joke†and many other eclectic all about something blogs. You can also subscribe to her blog and view other blogging birthmothers in the blog ring she has on her site.
This blog scores an overall 2.8 from me and with a little work this could become an outstanding representation of a young woman’s plight to motherhood. I find the white text/black background very difficult to read and think some softer colors may make this a little easier on the eyes. While I get the need for a black undertone in this blog, I think the same effect could be created in a different manner. I also find the posts extremely sporadic with only 3 posts being entered for the month of April. I would like to see some more pictures on the site, and some additions to the right sided navigation bar as there is a bit of empty space underneath the standard blog links on the right sided bar. Barb clearly has a devoted following to her blog and I think some advertising may monetize it a little bit for her at the same time. Content however scores above average, as Barb’s writing is outstanding. I think anyone reading this would literally feel her pain as she so relates it in writing just beautifully
-Chrissie
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