FANCY SCHMANCY ANXIETY MAVEN, or ‘the Maven’ as she is affectionately known to her online readership, is self-described in her online profile as an Orthodox Jewish woman living outside Brooklyn, ‘helping to bring Moshiach [the messiah] in her own special way’. A mother of five children, all under the age of 10, she is a ba'alat teshuvah who embraced Orthodoxy as a young adult. She left college to attend yeshiva when she became observant. Since 2005 she has maintained an anonymous online diary, a web log or blog, where she chronicles the daily joys and frustrations of her life. At times the Maven writes self-consciously about Jewish values and the expectations of her community; at others she reflects deeply on the range of feelings she struggles with as a young woman, wife, and mother. Most of the time, however, the Maven's readers will find her writing about the most mundane aspects of daily life:

6.59 a.m. Monday 29 Oct. 2007

Fancy Schmancy Complaining Maven

I haven't been writing so much because I'm so overwhelmed with my life. Sometimes, I feel like a hamster on a wheel. I'm running and running, yet not accomplishing anything.

Mornings are insane. Everybody needs everything all at the same time. Yaakov is daavening [praying], so it's my show. Mommy, I want a vitamin. Mommy, help me get dressed. Mommy, help me make my hair. Mommy, put my tzitsis [garment with ritual fringes] on for me. Mommy, breakfast! When Yaakov takes them to school, it's like this huge burden is lifted. The house becomes quiet.

And the house—gevalt! It's basically wrecked. It's a mess. It's dirty. And I have no cleaning help. And I try and try every day, but I can't seem to get it all together. It's like that old joke: Cleaning the house while the children are young is like shoveling the walkway while it's still snowing. And by me, it's hailing.

In many respects, the Maven's blog is just another ‘mommy blog’, a blogging sub-genre used by thousands of mothers who blog daily about parenting issues (Newman 2008). But certain features mark her writing as explicitly Jewish and specifically Orthodox.