Behavioral pshycoholgists, I am told, have already taken an interest in blogging as both a regulating valve and a security blanket. The vast majority of personal blogs falls within either of these categories or both. Broad at Bat, run by Mrs. Broad as our “host/teacher,” is introduced as WOMAN 101, a freshman course, I suppose, flying the standard of a black bat. Right off the bat, with Mrs. Broad swinging, I’d classify this blog as both a regulating valve and a security blanket.
You could, I guess, see Broad at Bat as a mildly funny, whimsical kind of blog where Mrs. Broad communicates her accumulated wisdom on womanhood in general. She gives us only a hint as to how much time she has already spent reading the innards of a woman’s operating instructions:
(On 10/30/02) How old am I? I’m old enough that I’ve done the silly things youth do trying to find their own boundaries. I’m at that place in life where priorities are clear, comfort zones are huge, and I’m more apt to explore depths rather than just breadths. I’ve learned the big, important and expensive lessons. I’ve found myself.
That’s grand… But what does Broad at Bad exactly offer?
I’d suspect that its primary objective is analysis of women’s daily “life strategies” in this harsh, unruly world. Look, for example, at a lengthy post on flirting and teasing that attempts to define the differences between “flirting,” “teasing,” “fooling around,” and “coming on to.” Fine detail here and the audience should be of both sexes, frustrated or not, successful or not. The entire blog (and it’s a relatively young one) is in this exact same tone of “voice” — mildly didactic, sober. Mrs. Broad is really making an effort to sound cool and collected, and she probably is.
I read the following excerpt as Broad at Bat’s cross between a mission statement and a core kernel:
Women are also wonderfully brave and charitable when it comes to imparting their insecurities, their beliefs, and their opinions – like ones on my hairstyle, or how I raise my children – often within hours or days of first meeting me. You just don’t find many men willing to extend themselves like that to a stranger (on 10/15/02).
Powered by Blogger, Broad at Bat has the simplest possible layout. There are only four links of suggested reading and the archive. Writing is straightforward, plain. Mrs. Broad hasn’t any earth-shaking announcements to make. She slowly ploughs through the days, one post at a time.
I felt Broad at Bat was pop soda without the fizz.
But some people adore flat soda.Broad At Bat