Review 2253

My initial impression was, “My goodness. Not another wordy what-is-life-about blog.” As I read on, I am glad to say that I was wrong. This is a group blog, where a team of 3 writers – Sam Kleinman, Chris Knittel and Peter McCabe, share their thoughts and individual lives with the readers (though the main contributors are Sam and Chris). The meticulously written entries, though not without the occasional spelling error, could get wordy at times but these entries brought me into the writers’ lives. While information on the writers is barely there, I learnt more about them as I continued to read the blog.

It’s quite a pain trying to find out more about this blog and its authors. The heading of the blog, “TealArt.com: Don’t worry, we don’t know either“, just gave me a bigger headache. However, a description of this site could be found on the sister site, www.collectivearts.net (which I only discovered through the email addresses listed), “TealArt is a site featuring a log of thoughts, reflections, and introspective essays relating to art, literature, writing, books, and the creative aspect of the world around us.”

The very first entry on the archives, Unsung Heroes, is a tribute to unjustified crimes committed on September 11. It’s a very poignant entry, which tells of Victor Jara, a Chilean man who was executed for singing and writing political songs and poems. Not all entries are of such serious content. Perfect Notebook Bliss is a humorous entry on Sam’s search for The Perfect Notebook, while Chris recounts his experience on being a teacher in a public school as part of a community service program in A View From On High.

The design of the blog is functional, practical and user-friendly. If you don’t like the current layout, you can easily change the skin (an extra which the creators added into the site). On the common blog, you usually only get archives for the posts, but on TealArt.com, you get archives to the quotes and links that were ever posted on the site. Another plus point is that, all the entries are categorised into sections, so you can choose what you want to read.

In conclusion, I really like this blog. It’s highly intellectual, professional and yet manages to remain personal. This is a blog that grows on you as you continue reading. I highly recommend it to readers who appreciate writing that has substance.
TealArt