“You Can’t Combat Nothing”

Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half and Reframing Mental Illness Through Webcomics

In late October 2011, Allie Brosh disappeared. For nearly two years, the writer, blogger, and cartoonist enjoyed public recognition as the creator of the webcomic Hyperbole and a Half, which first appeared on Google’s free Blogspot platform in 2009. [1] Gaining cult-like status amongst young adults online, at the height of its popularity in 2010, the blog averaged 200,000 views and between 1,000 and 2,500 comments per post.

Blogging to Let Go

Life Writing, Maternal Cancer, and Death

Ideal mothers are not ill or dying. Yet, some mother children while being terminally ill. The dominant narrative of the ideal mother is one in which the mother is constructed as an ever-present figure who is never sick. Living in the nearness of death is incompatible with the expectation for the ever-present ideal mother. [1] Still, some mothers with stage IV cancer narrate their lives on blogs until they die. This article focuses on two blogs by mothers […]