Dear Diary...

I'm back to the blog after a small vacay to Vancouver Island for a friend's wedding, so I've been out of the blog and media loop for - gasp! - four whole days! I'm actually kind of glad to be back at it...

Write, write, write

While I was catching up on some of my fav blogs today I came across "the amy diary" via the Shameless blog. So what's the amy diary? It's a pretty basic concept - fellow Vancouverite Amy has scanned her childhood diary (from grade five I believe) and posted it online. Reading it totally takes you back to elementary school life and the daily dramas that accompany it... It's pretty cool to check out and remember what a sacred space diary writing was - and still is I hope - in the lives of girls.

A bit of history: Diary writing has long been an important part of girl bedroom culture, a space where girls were permitted to express their innermost feelings and reflections about everything from their changing bodies to boys to family life. Prior to the 20th century girls were encouraged to use their diaries to document their social and religious lives, and were often subjected to parental inspection. However, as social norms began to change at the turn of the 20th century girls began to use diaries to express their feelings and personal desires. I wonder if the changing media landscape of the past decade has altered girls' diary practices? While there are plenty of online diary spaces, they are obviously missing the crucial element of secrecy (remember the little lock and key that secured childhood diaries?), plus it seems as though there is something special about keeping a diary under your pillow or in some other top secret hiding spot. (For more history read the chapter "Delightful Employments" in Girls Make Media by Mary Celeste Kearney).

A bit of online research also unearthed an interesting academic study from the University of Victoria called the Girls' Diary Project. The reserachers have been looking at girls' diaries for the past five years and are in the process of documenting thier findings in a book called Writing Ourselves Into Being: The Girls' Diary Project, which will soon be released. Until then check out their site to read a sample of the book and to participate in a future web forum on diaries. And for those that might want some insight into their childhood thoughts you can still send in your diary and be a subject in the study!

xo, jessalynn