A little letter to…. the Irish Blog Awards Committee

Dear Committee,

I would like to begin this letter by saying it’s not an attack on you.
I’m well aware of the fact that you probably get a number of sad people who love to criticise your efforts, but I assure you I’m not one of them.
I’ve said on a number of occasions how great I think you are for all your hard work and I genuinely do look forward to the Awards, enjoy being involved in the judging process and love the opportunity to discover new blogs.

Early today I asked you via Twitter if there were going to be separate categories for Fashion and Beauty blogs.
The lovely Blau also posed this question.
This was the response we got:

I didn’t realise Fashion and Beauty bloggers were second class blogosphere citizens that had to hold their own measly awards for recognition.

Now I understand that fashion and beauty seem shallow, trivial and superficial to some people.
Well plenty of people feel that way about sports.
Others may think those topics are mindnumbing.
Again, plenty of people feel the same about politics.

As I pointed out to The Boy in a rant earlier on – a point that Blau later raised on Twitter – if you’re not going to separate Fashion and Beauty, then why would you separate Politics from News and Current Affairs?
The Political Blog category could even be combined with Blog by a Politician in to one shiny Politics category.

Photography is separated from Arts and Culture, but Fashion and Beauty are still lumped together.

When this issue is raised, there are remarks along the lines of “they just want categories designed for only them”.
Well I’m not a fashion OR a beauty blogger, so this isn’t a personal issue.
I’m not asking for an obscure category such as Extreme Ironing Blogs.
I’m asking for Fashion and Beauty to be acknowledged as different topics -something many other bloggers have also called for, only to be fobbed off.

If money is the issue, I would be more than happy to pay for the award that is handed out on the night.
If there are other monetary costs that I’m not aware of, well I’ll say here and now that A Chick Named Hermia will sponsor the Fashion category if you, the committee, will listen to bloggers’ suggestions and separate the topics.
….I should add that I’m obviously not rich, but once the sponsor fee is reasonable and not a couple of grand, I’d be more than happy to pay up.

I am asking you guys now not to get defensive or feel like you’re being attacked and instead listen to what I am saying and take it on board .
I am not criticising your hard work, your efforts or the ceremony itself.
What I am criticising is your failure to listen to what bloggers are asking you and for making Fashion and Beauty Bloggers feel less significant than ‘heavy topic’ writers.

I hope you’ll do the right thing.
Hermia
oxox

 

A little letter to …The Kristen Stewart Enthusiasts on Lovelyish

Dear All-the-Kristen-Supporters-who-commented-on-my-post-here,

Wow, you guys have opened my eyes.

I am such a hater. I really need to stop writing things that I feel and have researched very well just because I’m soooo unbelievably jealous of the people I criticise.

I mean if I don’t like something, I shouldn’t bother thinking about it or writing about it, because that’s how problems are solved.

I’m also so grateful that you pointed out that if I was to attempt to play Bella in Twilight, I would probably be terrible. I’m just so lucky that I was never so blind as to attempt to forge a career as an actor when I can’t act and hate crowds.

I just feel so guilty about pointing out Kristen’s bad attitude when she’s obviously so misunderstood. I mean, forget the fact that I had actually watched a vast number of interviews before writing the post, in which she rolled her eyes everytime she was asked a question that wasn’t “serious enough” for her and complained about all the Twilight fans. She’s so right: what right have they got to love Twilight and the actors, even if they are the ones currently funding her career.

 I really am just so horrible and shallow. Everybody knows that girls who criticise other girls just do it because they hate themselves and are jealous of the success of others. It’s nothing to do with the fact that the girl might actually have those faults.

I should just sit back from now on and say nothing when people act as though they’re the greatest thing on earth and teach people that you don’t have to be polite or nice as long as you get what you want.

And I also love you guys for making really intelligent suggestions for me to just not watch anything that might have Kristen Stewart in it if she bothers me. I mean so what if I liked the Twilight books or think Adventureland looks like a good flick: I should just boycott them.

I’m really going to try hard from now on not to be trashy and critical of people who haven’t done anything to me personally: that worked really well with Hitler.

Also you guys hit the nail on the head when you said Lovelylish were so wrong for posting my piece on their site; a site which is about beauty and fashion. Beauty is so only on the outside, and they really shouldn’t feature anything that criticises a lack of good manners or the absence of  inner-beauty in a person acting as a role-model to young girls.

I am forever in your debt, Kristen-Defenders,

Catherine.

PS: Thanks to the guy who said I obviously don’t know what a person looks like when they’re high, even though I said that other people had questioned her lucidity:  I’ll now make it my mission to experience what getting high is actually like so I’ll never make a mistake like that again.

Flicking through the Past

I quite liked this On Beauty editorial from November’s edition of British Vogue….just because….