Introductory Blog Salad

No respectable blog can open its doors without a confession, so here goes my first: I really hate the Harvard Voice. Or at least I did so before checking it out online.

The whole experiment has that unfortunate yet inevitable air of pretentiousness that anything that dares explore mass representation needs to have. Intrinsic in claiming to represent the voice of a large constituency is the belief that these people cannot represent themselves. To a writer like me, this is akin to inappropriate assertions about my parents' sex life or acclamations of the glories of communism.

"Who do these people think they are, claiming to be my voice! I'm capable of raising my own voice, thank you very much! The reason I write for six blogs is precisely because I'm capable of using my own voice to express what I feel!"

Well, now I have seven.

Most of you will dismiss my foray into this endeavor as yet another unfortunate side effect of my already chronic blogging addiction. However, even I must admit that this is something more. When the opportunity to blog for this publication first arose, and I finally made my way to the website, I realized why it's called The Harvard Voice. Because those who don't want to represent themselves don't have to, but people like me- easily offended when others try to stand up for them- don't have to sit by the sidelines, either.

Who knows what the censorship is like around here, but from the marketing I sure hope that it is not too much. I'll be sure to test the boundaries. Editing someone's writing is slightly more offensive than raping their child, because writing and polishing a work of art is more painful than childbirth. And yet I keep rearing them every week.

I apologize to those (most of you) who have no clue who I am or what my deal is- The basics you can get from clicking on my ridiculous profile picture (I insist on being photographed with the kazoo campus news comedy program On Harvard Time graciously provided me for a piece. Its story I will tell sometime soon). But as for the writing, here is a sample platter of what I do on my spare time:

• Boxing is my sport of choice. I have been a correspondent for Ringtalk.com, an online boxing journal, for the better of two years. Here's one of my favorites from my work at Ringtalk. Due to the predictable scarcity of females in the genre, some would argue I am the preeminent young female boxing journalist in America. 1 of 1 is still #1!

• I write for the Harvard Independent Blog sometimes about things like my crazy plans to take over the UC.

• RedIvy is the official blog of the Harvard Republicans. I am editor-in-chief emeritus there, and it is the blog that has most gotten me in trouble. Especially at home.

• The good folks at On Harvard Time sometimes let me rant about communism, because it's funny, and I'm ok with that.

• I also blog for my dad, at RafaelMartel.com. That sometimes gets me in with the big stars.

• My sixth blog is a secret. Shh.

So that's the Frances Martel blog crash course that I'm sure you were all excited to take. Expect plenty more where that came from, about anything and everything, but particularly: boxing, 80s music, my Harvard pet peeves, et al. I may occasionally fail to blog in English. Oops.

Oh, and to clarify, I still hate The Voice, in print. Print media died with the dinosaurs and Hillary Clinton's political career.