Find me at: http://touchofbedlam.tumblr.com

Also, I’m beginning to realize that the types of things I want to write really aren’t very amenable to the whole blogging format, since most of them will end up as longer essays or articles, and not as short, snappy posts that are typical of blogs. This also means that I’ll be updating fairly rarely, and that this blog will function as a showcase or archive for things I write more than anything else.

In any case, here are some of the ideas I’ve been kicking around, and might end up on here at some point:

- The Preacher series and Learning How to be a Man

- Twilight: Eclipse and Bella’s Sexuality

- A Carnival of Kitsch: Lady Gaga’s Telephone video

- Why I don’t think Jennifer’s Body is Feminist

- How the Uke Simulates Prized, Passive Femininity in Junjou Romantica

- Being Lower-Middle Class at Dartmouth

- Criticism of Asian Culture in FFX

- Introduction to Queer Theory v.s. Pomosexuals

Hopefully I will actually get to some of these in the midst of looking for a job, moving around, working on other projects, etc.

At work, because of my non-existent background in advertising, I was given a how-to-be-a-copywriter guide. This guide put forward a supposed rule that, in this day and age (the guide was written in 2002 or so), I have been encouraged, by the very nature of things, to break. This rule stated, very simply, to Not Bring Your Personal Life to Work. To not get drunk and act like a jackass at the company New Year’s party. To not become the latest water-cooler gossip. To not bone your secretary. Basically, to keep your work personal as cool and detached as possible.

Now, during the age of the internet? Everything seems to be conspiring to make this more difficult. Most people succumb to the temptation to overshare; and those who still attempt to compartmentalize their lives find themselves getting shafted.

When I first attempted this blog, more than a year ago now, my first post was about how it was my first time blogging under my real name, and how anxiety-inducing it was. It hasn’t gotten any less anxiety-inducing, even though I’m straddling a line this time and only using my first initial and last name. I am not ashamed to admit that I’m prone to taking on a different persona with different groups of people. I think it’s a very natural thing to do. I mean, I have no desire to discuss last night’s debauchery with my boss, or my sex life with my mother, or the depressing goings-on with casual acquaintances. Online, I prefer to use different handles and forums for different things, similar to how I act in real life. This blog, for instance, has nothing to do with my jobsearch or practical career goals, so I prefer it not to be found through searching my real name. The readers of this blog have no need to now about my friends and such, hence my Facebook account isn’t linked to here. And so on. I prefer to have some semblance of control over who has access to what.

However, most technologies don’t really make this very easy. I’d very much like to keep all of my affairs under one name – I’d like to take credit for this blog – and yet, if everything I do has my name attached to it, then anyone who knows my name, and certain basic pieces of information, could access that information through a quick Google search. On Facebook, as well, there isn’t any sort of filtering of information. And it’s not like everyone you’re “friends” with on Facebook is uniform. You don’t just have friends on Facebook, you have grade school teachers, grandparents, siblings-in-law, elementary school classmates, co-workers, professors, bosses, and random people you met in passing who you have a hard time recognizing, let alone remembering. And yet all these people have access to the same information about you. Forget configuring privacy settings including “friends” or “friends-of-friends”, why not customize the entire platform so you can choose which groups of people can see what? (Clearly, I’m no programmer. I have no idea how complicated or difficult a process that might be.)

While certain topics used to be mostly gossip shared privately – verbally or through one-on-one or closed forums like email or text – now anything can be chronicled in semi-public forums, where they can be accessed by large groups of people. Even if you don’t intend on posting anything incriminating? Rest easy, someone you know may be thoughtless and do it for you. And tag you in it. Ironically, the more social media comes to the forefront, the more platforms are emerging to allow oversharing and the quick dissemination of information.

Individuals appear to have two extremes to choose from: allow themselves to be consolidated into one whole, and be fully “out” in every way; or to leave different aspects of themselves fragmented. Some have attempted transparency and consolidation, or who were out-ed by others, with disastrous results. Others have managed to use it to their advantage. And, obviously, there are grey areas in between. On the other hand, employers and institutions could either utilize this ease of dirt-digging to be more discerning, or, well, give less of a shit about anything besides professional performance and lawfulness.

Five or ten years ago I had an idea for a science-fiction story. It was about a futuristic society where anyone could learn anything about a person simply by knowing their name. Such a system was possible because of surveillance and machinations put in place by the government. In response, various black-listed services cropped up, that could disseminate “red herrings” of information, or censor patches of information from the authorities. Interestingly, these conditions are somewhat similar, with the difference that individuals are moving them along in lieu of institutional bodies.