Everybody’s got one.
Once upon a time, I blogged elsewhere. My “self” didn’t really hide behind a persona there. If someone were to stumble across that blog, there were enough clues strewn about to add up to “Perpetua.” As a result, I was very “on,” all of the time–the more me I was, the less me I could be.
Follow?
I’ve just begun to work on my dissertation, and I’m not in the mood for self-censorship. With much less effort, I can be very much myself without being anyone in particular. This is partly important because academics (like all professionals…like EVERYONE over the age of 16) can do themselves more harm than good if a google of a name turns up past scandals.
Take Rachel Moss, for instance. She is an academic, and she did something very, very, stupid (and mean and cruel and etc.), and now her potential employers will find out about it via a simple search (partly because the people who found out about what she did lobbied to make it so by posting a lot of entries about her act and intentionally citing her full name). Will it keep her out of job if she is uber-brilliant and a search committee’s number one choice? Probably not. But would you really want to have to sit across a table from people you might very well respect and explain why you chose to broadcast your bigotry to the world? Probably not.
So. If I don’t say things of the Rachel Moss variety here or elsewhere, what am I hiding? Example: when my work goes badly, I will probably take a day off, watch a lot of reality tv, and eat cheetos till my hands turn orange (and if you reference the twitter widget to the right, you’ll notice I have just engaged in some hardcore cheeto-ing, which is indeed a sign that I’ve had a bad workday). Is this so terrible? No. Is this something I want a search committee to know? Also: no. It’s not as if they don’t suspect it, and it’s not as if they don’t do the same. But if it’s down to the line and they’ve got to pick me or the other guy…dear lord, what if the only thing that sets us apart is snackfood habits??? I won’t lose a job for the love of Chester Cheetah, man.
So. I’m going to play around some more with the widgetry and such. Maybe make a list of books to read. Yes…lists…
