Name: Tess
Home: St. Louis
Imaginary Tattoo
My brother Trey informs me that if you google "imaginary tattoo," the first hit is a blog post of mine from last December. I thought this news was hilarious, in part because he was googling that phrase in the first place. (His imaginary tattoo would be the square root of negative one.) What makes two siblings interested in such a topic? As my psychologist husband noted, "In this case, nature and nurture are almost entirely conflated."
It made me think about my blog, though. In general, I assume that the only people who read it are the ones who comment. (Yes, I know I should stop being so technologically backward and get a counter or something like that to monitor who's reading it, but I haven't yet gone to the trouble to learn how.) Recently, though, I've heard of people I know from various places who have been reading and not commenting. I'm sure it happens all the time; if you google my name, my blog comes up on the first page (along with a pair of sisters who have written a romance novel, and another Tess Thompson who loves basketball). When I started this blog, I had to decide whether to put my name on it. After some thought, I decided that, since I'm a writer, how could I not? I wanted to be able to link to other things I've published, or post pictures of my family. I'm not writing a shocking expose of suburban Midwestern life.
Anyone who knows how to google can find the student newspaper columns I wrote a decade ago, my senior thesis, a record of my Scottish dancing in grad school, or a poem about my grandmother. Search engines have made records of our lives public in a way they weren't a decade ago. And of course, in publishing a blog instead of just sticking to my paper journal, I was seeking public readers.
I am somewhat careful. I don't rant about family, or past employers. I swear less than I do in real life. After I chatted with my friend Karen on the phone recently, she said, "From reading your blog, I thought that motherhood had made you more serious. It's good to hear you're as sarcastic as ever." She's right--I tend to be more restrained in this space than I am in the company of good friends, just as sometimes in a personal setting I'll be silly or inappropriate in a way I would not be when standing in front of an audience. I try not to forget that the internet is a public space, and that I don't know who's looking over my shoulder.
At the same time, though, I am who I am. If a future employer wants to rule out left-leaning, pro-choice people who favor gay marriage and let their toddlers watch TV, I probably don't want that job anyway.
It made me think about my blog, though. In general, I assume that the only people who read it are the ones who comment. (Yes, I know I should stop being so technologically backward and get a counter or something like that to monitor who's reading it, but I haven't yet gone to the trouble to learn how.) Recently, though, I've heard of people I know from various places who have been reading and not commenting. I'm sure it happens all the time; if you google my name, my blog comes up on the first page (along with a pair of sisters who have written a romance novel, and another Tess Thompson who loves basketball). When I started this blog, I had to decide whether to put my name on it. After some thought, I decided that, since I'm a writer, how could I not? I wanted to be able to link to other things I've published, or post pictures of my family. I'm not writing a shocking expose of suburban Midwestern life.
Anyone who knows how to google can find the student newspaper columns I wrote a decade ago, my senior thesis, a record of my Scottish dancing in grad school, or a poem about my grandmother. Search engines have made records of our lives public in a way they weren't a decade ago. And of course, in publishing a blog instead of just sticking to my paper journal, I was seeking public readers.
I am somewhat careful. I don't rant about family, or past employers. I swear less than I do in real life. After I chatted with my friend Karen on the phone recently, she said, "From reading your blog, I thought that motherhood had made you more serious. It's good to hear you're as sarcastic as ever." She's right--I tend to be more restrained in this space than I am in the company of good friends, just as sometimes in a personal setting I'll be silly or inappropriate in a way I would not be when standing in front of an audience. I try not to forget that the internet is a public space, and that I don't know who's looking over my shoulder.
At the same time, though, I am who I am. If a future employer wants to rule out left-leaning, pro-choice people who favor gay marriage and let their toddlers watch TV, I probably don't want that job anyway.
posted by Tess | 1:41 PM
2 Comments:
You're absolutely right that you probably wouldn't want an employer who considered anything you say in your blog as a mark against you. I don't think this statement applies to all blogs, but it does to yours.
Your post reminds me of the reasons why my blogs aren't public. I mean, the people I've given the web address to can find them, but they're not in my profile, for instance. I'm not willing to share them with strangers.
So brava to a woman who speaks her mind to the world...and gets a top listing in google searches!
Checking my sitemeter has become a hobby. It's fascinating who reads, and from where. I get 200 hits a day on average and recently peaked at 600 during two times when my posts were more interesing I guess. (They were about the mix-up of a friend's daughter by the coroner--remember that?--and about the woman in our state who "kidnapped" her son.) I get 2-10 comments a day TOTAL. So people are really not commenting.
It's still fascinating!
Hh
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