Betcha Didn't Miss Me
I'm back. From the flaming pits of hell otherwise known as annotated bibliography, which, by the way, I believe to be more difficult to produce than the actual critical essay. The process is intense: read as much material as humanly possible relating to your essay, discern what is useful and what is not, re-read the useful ones, succinctly summarize each of them and finally, bring it all together by relating each piece to your thesis. Oh, and do it in an orderly fashion. Or else!
Moving, er, blogging on, pseudonyms are kind of interesting in themselves, without considering the anonymity of them. What I mean is, the pseudonyms people choose are often revealing, just not revealing of identity. Think of Caffeinated Geek Girl, Bitch PhD (which was listed somewhere in the reading for tonight's class and which I like), Whiskey Bar, Spazeboy. They all hint at certain qualities of the blogger, either real or desired. So I think that pseudonyms, though commonly used to maintain anonymity, are chosen as a sort of mark or brand. A "hey, this is me" kind of thing. Of course, there are probably many instances where this is not true, but I think that because there's always some desire to personalize what you write and what you create, to mark it in some unique way, to own it or at least attach yourself to it, pseudonyms represent the blogger, if not identify them.
I chose to be known as Sara, my real name, when I post, but I put considerable thought into my site name and my url. Why? Because I wanted this blog to represent me in some way.
Also, the nutsy boltsy link about how to post anonymously is sort of strange. Solid advice, but it has me thinking about how I generally avoid blogging about work, about specific people or revealing events. It always seems like the "right" thing to do, but it would be such fun to let loose and blog the way that I journal. Maybe I should?
Moving, er, blogging on, pseudonyms are kind of interesting in themselves, without considering the anonymity of them. What I mean is, the pseudonyms people choose are often revealing, just not revealing of identity. Think of Caffeinated Geek Girl, Bitch PhD (which was listed somewhere in the reading for tonight's class and which I like), Whiskey Bar, Spazeboy. They all hint at certain qualities of the blogger, either real or desired. So I think that pseudonyms, though commonly used to maintain anonymity, are chosen as a sort of mark or brand. A "hey, this is me" kind of thing. Of course, there are probably many instances where this is not true, but I think that because there's always some desire to personalize what you write and what you create, to mark it in some unique way, to own it or at least attach yourself to it, pseudonyms represent the blogger, if not identify them.
I chose to be known as Sara, my real name, when I post, but I put considerable thought into my site name and my url. Why? Because I wanted this blog to represent me in some way.
Also, the nutsy boltsy link about how to post anonymously is sort of strange. Solid advice, but it has me thinking about how I generally avoid blogging about work, about specific people or revealing events. It always seems like the "right" thing to do, but it would be such fun to let loose and blog the way that I journal. Maybe I should?
I always assumed Sara was your name, not sure why. Just didn't seem like the kind of pseudonym you might make up. But I'll admit to curiosity about the distinct difference between your title and your URL. And the entire concept of writing as an alter-ego is an interesting part of the whole blogging thing. It lets us expand and express ourselves perhaps more freely than if we were tagging our posts with our full names and addresses. Is that freeing? Or just giving us free reign with no sense of responsibility? I want to believe the environment itself provides us with parameters. We drift too far and our writing loses interest and impact. But I've not thought about this as deeply as many, I'm sure.
Congratulations on the completed annotated bibliography!
Posted by
Em |
7:41 PM
Thanks for the congratulations!
My URL is a reference to The X-Files, and since I think my love for the show says something about me (I'm not sure what, perhaps sci-fi geekiness or maybe paranoia?), I wanted to include it in my blog name.
"Decisions and Revisions" is a nod to TS Eliot's "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock," probably my favorite poem of all time.
I, too, want to believe that the environment itself provide parameters. Though bloggers can remain anonymous, I think there's always some accountability for what you record, for what you write. It's really interesting to think about they ways in which blogging frees us, but also raises questions of accountability, honesty, etc...
Posted by
Sara |
11:15 PM