That was then...
In honor of the exchanging of the Speaker of the House gavel (insert gavel size joke here) that took place yesterday, I thought this would be a perfect time to introduce you to DCup. DCup was my alter ego for a couple of years in the blogosphere. Sometimes I really miss her. When you blog under a pseudonym, there's a certain fearlessness based on some illusion of anonymity. She was necessary. I wouldn't have developed as a writer without her as a crutch.
I spent some time thinking about DCup as a result of this post at amyg's. Amy blogs and is a columnist for a regional newspaper somewhere near where I grew up. This fascinates me. Could I have ever been so brave to write with Amy's honesty were I still living in Rising Sun? Ooooh...I doubt it. Everything would pass through the filter of what kind of face my mother would make as she read my columns. So not pretty. So I look at Amy with awe and respect.
When Amy wrote yesterday about her reaction to negative comments to her columns, I was reminded of how DCup got a boost by some negative attention in 2006. You might say the negative attention played a large role in DCup getting readers. You can read the progression here. DCup has her own page now. Note: there is a photo that isn't 100% work or kid friendly.
Over time and after some funny conversations with my therapist, I decided to lay DCup to rest in late 2008, but there are moments when I wish I could be her again if only so that I could look that good in a lacy black bra.
This is now...
DCup's blog PoliTits is gone, but I still have access to the posts in my google reader. I trolled through them yesterday to see if I could find my response to the post written about DCup in 2006. (I found it.) In the process of scrolling through old posts, I was struck by how little has actually changed politically since 2006. Some of the names are different, but the problems have actually grown worse. It's so disheartening.
Looking ahead, I decided to back up this blog at Wordpress and then took the additional step of buying my own domain name. I'll eventually move operations there, but I'll continue to blog here for a couple more weeks. lisahgolden.com is live, but still a work in progress. You're free to check it out and offer feedback. I'll let you know here when I'll write new posts there in case you want to change rss feeds or bookmarks.
If you're still wondering how this relates to the exchange of the Speaker gavel, here's the answer. PoliTits, aside from the charming, subtle name, had its largest number of concentrated hits from people who searched the internet for photos of now former Speaker Pelosi's breasts. Yes. A woman achieves a historical milestone and people all over the globe turn to Google with some hope of finding photos of her breasts.
How do you feel about blogging anonymity? How much do you self-censor? Can you believe the size of Speaker Boehner's gavel? Should we google pictures of his "gavel?"
I'd probably say more if I was under cover - I think I do self-censor, but this MAY be a good thing...
ReplyDeleteWhenever I hear the word gavel, the next thing I hear in my head is "All rise." But that's just me.
Number one - I self-censor a lot. But that's ME. I'm not that forthcoming with what's going in inside and, as a matter of fact, I originally started "blogging" (before I ever heard the term "blogging") to address this, er, abberation.
ReplyDeleteI have also thought about blogging anonymously - and may yet some day because here, all these years later I'm still self-censoring. One of my longest blogland friendships is with someone who blogs anonymously. While my focus has changed over the years, I do admire those who come here and put it all out there.
Funny - I censor myself much less in other peoples' comment sections... but then again my parents aren't likely to read other bloggers' comment sections.
Did I ever tell you the story about when I wrote a letter to a newspaper's
ReplyDelete"Letter to The Editor" and the letter was printed and in the letter I said the local congressman was another "sweaty handed politician" and a few days later I was called to the college president's office and, he along with the congressman's attorney, told me I needed to retract the letter or I might not graduate?
Someday I will tell you this true story.
thank you for the way too kind words! i'm all aflutter with the compliments and links.
ReplyDeletemy relationship with my parents is somewhat complicated (but mostly loving after years of therapy). because our roles have switched back and forth through the years, it has made it easier for me not to think about what they will think of me. i am who i am; they are who they are. good or bad, i have a certain amount of detachment from them that gives me more room to write.
we have a new saying around my house when my 2-year old starts crying because he doesn't get something he wants. in my most gentle mommy voice, i say, "babydoll, stop being such a boehner. you're a handsome boy but all this crying is getting you nowhere!"
I had an alter-ego and published an e.zine for 13 years that was scandelous. I loved it until I became real friends with a lot of my followers. Then I self-censored. In my current blog I censor but I also reveal.
ReplyDeleteIt all comes down to your not remaining truly anonymous once you make friends with your readers.
I got a recommendation for Politits, and without even visiting, quipped, "two great tastes that taste great together", a horribly sexist, demeaning joke I still find funny. I have to say I miss that photo . . .
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, I never once thought about Speaker Pelosi's breasts. I don't think about Hillary Clinton's breasts either. Indeed, I cannot name a politician of either party whose private parts attracts my attention. That there are those on the right who reduce a woman to her secondary sexual characteristics says so much.
As for you doing all that grabbing for readers, how dare you have a blog and then want people to read it. Slut.
Sex sells so well that even if you're not selling it, you could sell it.
ReplyDeleteFantastic, a lot, and it's orange!, sweet lord no.
Ah, I remember DCup well.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who probably wouldn't have blogged at all sans anonymity, I'm all for it - not as a spider hole from which to heap abuse upon the unwary, but to protect oneself in an age where having an opinion contrary to those found permissible by power has become dangerous to have and express.
That said, I could lift the veil at any time and risk very little overall, other than the damage to any naughty preconceptions that others may have regarding myself.
Still, for individuals wishing to challenge authoritarian structures, anonymity isn't a luxury - it's a necessity.
;>)
I very rarely get too serious on my blog. I probably need an alter-ego, but I have not taken the time to conjur her up.
ReplyDeleteI do self-censor a bit, because so many friends and family read my blog and I don't want to air family laundry that other family members might not want aired. But I've been thinking about setting up an anonymous blog so that I can bitch about my husband without worrying about what his friends (or my friends), or write about things that I might not want my mother to know about. I go back and forth about it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't want to think about Boehner's gavel. *shudder*
I know my blogging life was a lot more fun (and prolific) when I was anonymous.
ReplyDelete"Am I too much for you to tame?"
ReplyDeleteNo, but when something or somebody is tamed, usually their spirit is broken!!
Being anonymous by blogging under a name other than my real name did enter into the equation a little. Altho my real name is in the URL for the blog, just posting under an assumed name. But mostly it was taking the name back from my oldest brother who on seeing the name on my vehicle many years ago put it on his leviathon of a motorhome and started using it for things like e-mail.
I really liked being anonymous as a blogger and am still anonymous in some ways as many people I now know in the f2f world do not know I blogged and will never know that I blogged.
ReplyDeleteI have thought about starting to blog again and of course anonymously, but I just can't get into the groove. Maybe this should be my New Year's Resolution.
Boxer Rebel
I have two blog names for the sole purpose of keeping some relatives off my back. My fill stupidly still reads my halfassedly anonymous blog, even though I am not always kind about the dumber things he has done. The only people whose names I really disguise online are the children. They are too young to know that someone who knows their names is not necessarily a friend.
ReplyDeleteBlogging anonymous for me is just because the blog "persona" is really only one aspect of the whole person I am. That aspect is mostly my inner world and it's just more fun to re-create it that way; with a touch of fantasy. I have very few needs or desires from blogging other than to express that piece of who I am.
ReplyDeleteDoes that make sense?
Will have to check out your new domain but I'll wait until it's fully fired up. Give me a nudge if I forget. :-)
PS
Self-censoring? You mean we can do that?
ReplyDeleteOf course, I do write under a pseudonym, but really that's more about keeping my business clients from stumbling upon my blog. I really don't worry about it too much. I'm not doing anything THAT bad.
I am *work censored*.... my workplace sends memos reminding us that it is against corporate policy to say anything negative about the company on your own personal social networking (ie facebook, twitter, blogging) while on your own personal time & you could be fired for it.
ReplyDeleteIn a sense we are all censored... I remember hearing a story about a middle school kid posting something to the effect of "I wish (the president) George Bush were dead" (end quote), referring to his torturous & warring policies.
Shortly thereafter, Federal agents went to both her home & school to interrogate her & the threat. The kid did not even live near the White House & the then president was not visiting her state-- but the big brother threat lingered.
I think there was more of that Big Brother watching feeling under the Bush admin... but I am under no illusion that the blogosphere is not being monitored.
I agree w darkblack's comments.
As for the gavel, it must have taken everything Pelosi had, to not bonk Boehner on the head with it.
The ridiculous size of the gavel reminds me of Shrek, making remarks about how he must be "compensating for something".
Instead, he should have a giant box of kleenex!
Pelosi's breasts? Really? Maybe because I'm a California Boy, that's feels like Goggling for my best friend's Mom's boobs. Cahreepy!
ReplyDeleteJan loved PoliTits. Now she loves "That's Why"!
Are you just starting out with WP on your new domain? If so, I'd love to compare notes. I owe our little Progressive group in town a web presence and I have been doing the Mother of all crappy webmastering jobs for Jan's website.
I do self censor more than I used to. One fellow student at school found my blog and someone at work, from another branch that is, found it too. I thought I should probably start over but I don't cuz I'm just too lazy.
ReplyDeleteWhen people ask me for my blog title I tell them I do it anonymously, for myself to let off steam more than anything and while I have no trouble sharing with strangers I will probably never meet, it's another thing to have people who know you read what is basically a diary.
The concept I've chosen for blogging (really pretentious ... the "Essay" as writing form :-)) is a kind of in-between thing. Self-revelation is definitely part of it and, looking back over the almost year for which I've been writing recently, I was interested to discover how much autobiographical information has managed to creep in there. On the other hand, it's not really a daily diary thing, although occasionally this kind of post also happens.
ReplyDeleteI think anonymity on-line is overrated, if someone is really out to get you it's not that hard to discover your identity (unless you're a really professional paranoid nerd). Somewhere in the back of my mind there's the realisation that anything you put on-line is potentially there forever for the whole world to see.
There's sometimes an almost peek-show kind of frisson about the whole thing; to how much honesty do I really trust myself, how much of myself do I really want to show publicly?
* How do you feel about blogging anonymity?
ReplyDeleteI think it's great for people who wouldn't otherwise be able to express themselves.
* How much do you self-censor?
Not very much! In fact, I think I say TOO much.
Jee-zhus, I still have to go to PoliTits to find my way here, and you're moving again???
ReplyDeletePlease, Oh Fair Maiden, comment over at my place often so I can follow the link back to you!