Out of a long standing habit, looking for an “about the author” section is the first thing I always do anytime I visit a weblog for the first time. I was so happy to find one here, and to find one that explained exactly who was writing this weblog and why they were writing it. Beyond Contestation is a weblog that belongs to Mizmo (the pseudonym she’s adopted for use on the internet), and through this weblog, she’s able to jot down her thoughts about her current diagnosis of breast cancer.
Mizmo starts journaling her experience with her recent diagnosis as soon as it happens. January 9th, 2004 is the first date in the archives, and it’s also the day that Mizmo initially found the lump in her breast that would eventually lead to a chemotherapy treatment. The site is updated very regularly, providing readers mainly with the status and details of what Mizmo is going through on a daily basis for the past three months.
The layout is very clean and crisp. It works well in three different browsers, and is never distracting from the actual content of the weblog. While pink is not my personal favorite color at all, the method in which it’s used at Beyond Contestation is a very calm, soothing manner. Of course, the use of pink is also very symbolic of breast cancer awareness, which is also represented by the pink ribbon in the top of the layout. Using pink as the color of the hyperlinks on the site was something that I found a tad hard on the eyes from time to time, but it was definitely something I overlooked once I became involved in Mizmo’s writing.
Dealing with the effects of finding the lump in her breasts and the trials and tribulations that come along with this type of a serious matter, Mizmo does her best to give just the basic facts of how she’s dealing with things. Of course, like with any person, this type of situation isn’t one that can be portrayed as happy or silly the majority of the time. However, when reading this weblog, I mainly felt the positive vibes that the author emanates, along with the positive comments from her regular visitors. While dealing with such a serious topic, the author does an excellent job not bringing down morale of people that might just happen to stop by for a quick read around her weblog.
Mizmo does a great job with Beyond Contestation. She updates when she can, and when she has more news or further developed feelings on the issues she’s dealing with right now. Readers will either find themselves drawn to Mizmo due to her dynamic writing style, or they just won’t find any interest in a weblog of this nature. Unfortunately, there’s probably no middle ground to that. Beyond Contestation is definitely worth a visit to see if Mizmo is someone you’ll enjoy reading about from day to day.