On Public Personas

Ani DiFranco sings "32 Flavors"

Lately I've been thinking about the way we present ourselves to the blogosphere, after have a bit of an identity crisis over my writing voice, the direction of this blog, and life in general.

Long story short: there is a very real girl, or young woman, behind the blog. I turned 23 a few weeks ago, and in another couple of weeks I'll be starting my second semester of grad school. Like many book bloggers, I am joining the esteemed path of professional librarianship; despite a lousy job market, I've never found a field that suited me better. Books are love. When I find a particularly good one, I'll hug it till I get to the cash register, because some combinations of art and words and presentation are just magic, and thrill me into tiny bits. I do, occasionally, wear purple and shiny bits. I intermittently keep a very pretty journal, and write one poem per affair of the heart and no more.

On the other hand...

I love dirty jokes. Photostories about dolls with filthy mouths or censored Muppets make me laugh until I cry. I don't wear heels for political reasons, and cut my hair short for practical ones. I really like red lipstick and ties on girls, and my dream career is librarian by day, drag king/faux queen by night. I like hiking in the Greenbelt. I've kissed somebody whose name I never learned. I used to not shave if I was feeling cranky at my internship, until I learned one of my supervisors did the same thing. (<3 her!). Gender commodification at the local Toys'R'Us is enough to send me into a nasty 3rd wave ranting fit. I think fashion magazines are irrelevant and that Web 2.0 may save the world. Sometimes I make up really horrible songs about people who have wronged me in the past, and sing them in my head to make the day just a little bit brighter.

I am 32 flavors and then some, and some of those flavors want their chance to speak up. If the thought of your local Rie going a little bolder and less sunshiney in general freaks you out, then you may skip out with no hard feelings. If not, welcome to the show.