Getting to know me – at last, an intro
Around 2003, people still used Internet forums more than social networking sites. I decided to jump in to conversations on those fora without introducing myself. This was something of a mistake, especially in the Pagan neighborhoods. First, most people assume you an absolute newbie. Being new to a forum, with a name they did not recognize, meant that you had to be a twelve year old with no experience whatsoever.
Given my surprisingly young age when elevated to 3rd – and yes, there’s someone who can vouch for it – I expected some of the ageist insults. The elders I encountered were right. I couldn’t possibly have encountered life as they had experienced it. They were also dead wrong. They couldn’t possibly have encountered life as I have experienced. With newer folks, it was a combination of “where’s your book/who’s your coven/if you’re such a witch, why aren’t you wearing a pentacle or acting like a Pagan?”
I could answer to these – but I won’t.
What I will tell you is this:
I’m a writer. I’m a journalist. I’m unabashedly and without apology fat. Oh yeah, I’m a witch. I’ve gotten into fashion blogging almost by accident and it shapes the core of my career – I’m forever fighting off marketers that behave as though they are the ones that determine how it’s shaped. I’m also a feminist and while I identify as Wiccan I’ve drifted off from coven practice. Mostly, I’m interested in magical practice. I want to know there where of it, the why of it and what actually works best rather than what method a certain tradition prefers be used.
For the stats… I’ve practiced Wicca/identified as Wiccan for 18 years as of 2013. I have allergies – cats, dogs, trees, smoke. I do what suits a situation, not what freaks out the normals. Some decisions I make displease other Pagans – I believe that the greater good matters a great deal more than what might please the most people. Sometimes I do choose to do the easy path. Sometimes I choose the harder path.
I am married. I am not a mother. I bristle when someone refers to me as a “wife.” If you expect me to explain to you why I’m not a mother I will tell you, “I don’t owe you that.”
I have a bachelor’s degree in mass communications and speech communications. I fell short of finishing graduate school by roughly 12 credits. I love writers but lose patience fast with literature majors; they’re too busy pretending to ideas to have any of their own, and it’s irritating to listen to that sort of narcissistic twaddle. I’d rather be doing it than talking about it – no matter what “it” is.
I love to dance. I spend five hours a week at the gym. I once got thrown out of a porn store for arguing with the cashier about whether a ginseng drink might cause a heart attack instead of an erection.
I’m writing here because I like to write. Yes, I do have a book to promote but that’s not really the whole of why I’m doing this. I create a lot of essays and comment pieces that magazines don’t have space for. That stuff goes here. Sometimes I just don’t want to bother with finding a market. Some people might go with ff.net or deviant art. I just host my essays here.
So hello. Nice to meet you. I’m sure you’re quite the character.
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