In My Image

Alright. I have already wasted plenty of valuable cramming time fiddling with my blog. In the spirit of our focus on images and presentation, the best I could do without completely blowing off my homework was to change my self-portrait (see below). I wanted to blow the lid off it and change my entire template, customize it as much as I could, play with both form and style. But I will be utterly unprepared for class tomorrow if I do. Plus I spent so much time creating this template, I'm afraid to let it go.

Actually, that raises a question regarding permanence. I changed my blog template earlier this semester. It was a difficult thing to do, because I liked that blank, white slate template. I had always wanted a blank, white slate template. And there I went, jettisoning my dreams. There seems to be a need for great care in creating one's online identity. What will you say about yourself? If people get to know you as one presentation, how hard might it be to change that? Will people respond negatively to a new image? This may go deeper than just trying on a new outfit. It might go so far as to change people's perception of you. Gay folks often hear "I don't know you anymore" when they come out, particularly from their families. "I have to re-imagine everything about you. I have to go through our history together and reexamine everything. I have to re-think." If people got to know me as the blank, white slate, how will they relate to the new blue/green look with the customized headers and footers? If I say, "this is the real me," how will they categorize my past posts? And what if I change it again? Do I have any more or less responsibility to my casual readership than someone like Dooce or Daily Kos have to their sponsored audiences?