But I could not help but notice that all my readers seemed to assume I was a man. I’m not sure why that was. Perhaps “male” was the default sex for a political blogger, since the majority are male. Perhaps the name of the blog didn’t conjure up a feminine vibe. Perhaps it was my writing style. Perhaps it was my subject matter, which at the very beginning didn’t include anything about dance or fashion or even food.

So I put up the shot of me with the apple, and the rest is history. Minor history, but history nevertheless.

Recently I’ve noticed a dribble of people coming here and calling me “he” again. It didn’t take long for me to hatch a theory as to why. I think it has to do with the way the blog displays on cell phones.

Until I did the redesign over a year ago, my old blog template wasn’t what you’d call mobile-friendly. It used the same format on phones and devices as on desktops, and that meant sometimes that people had to fiddle with it to make it fit, but at least it displayed in exactly the same format as on desktops, the way I wanted it to.

Now with the new template there’s an automatic adjustment that happens when a person views the site on a phone. That’s mostly a good thing. But part of that adjustment is something I don’t like that changes the design: all the extra stuff – the archives and the categories and the search box, as well as my photo – drop down to the bottom of the site. You have to scroll down to find them in the first place, and I doubt most people, especially newcomers, scroll down that far. So for them, my photo is out of sight.

And once again they think I’m a man.

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I, too, am anonymous, not to mention obscure—a great deal more obscure than The Anchoress. It seems that, for the time being, I intend to remain anonymous, although lately I’ve been trying to do a thing or two to make the obscurity a little less profound. At one point I had an offer to be quoted by one of the rather well-known blogs, but the blogger told me he didn’t link to anonymous bloggers, and so I’d have to reveal my true identity before I’d get the spotlight. Although his link wasn’t quite up there with the BBC gig The Anchoress was offered, still, for me, it was a relatively Biggish Deal. So I thought long and hard about whether to reveal my identity for a chance at my 1.5 seconds of blogger fame.

But I declined. Overall, I’ve found that the whole idea of celebrity, however fleeting, has never seemed attractive to me. I’m interested in trying to achieve something–communicating ideas, or trying to perform work I can be proud of. I’m not a social recluse, but I have never wanted to be well-known to a large community of people I’ve never met—although, honestly, at this point, it’s not as though I’m in any grave danger of that.

I don’t know how commonplace such a feeling is, but I see from her post that The Anchoress appears to share it. I have always preferred to be behind the scenes, and in fact, as a therapist-in-training, my very favorite place to be was always behind the two-way mirror, making suggestions to another therapist who was the one actually working with the clients. And one of the reasons I like to write is an attraction to the anonymity of it, the once-removed quality. I think many writers are drawn to this paradoxical element of writing—of allowing them to reveal themselves while simultaneously not really revealing themselves at all, or at least controlling the revelations. Of course, some writers are hams, and feed on celebrity, and many love to do readings in front of an actual public of living and breathing people. But others like to stay far away from that sort of thing.

In the blogosphere, I have nothing but admiration for those who use their names and jump unveiled right into the very thick of it. But some of us—including even such blogger luminaries as Wretchard—prefer, for a multiplicity of reasons, to proffer observations from behind the shelter of a nom de plume. Nom de plumes have an old and illustrious history, and are really nothing to be ashamed of, although there are those in the somewhat macho atmosphere of the blogosphere who probably think they are evidence of cowardice, and are somehow less-than-honorable.

In addition to these already-discussed matters of temperament (not as simple as, although related to, introversion vs. extraversion), I think that many of us who choose to remain anonymous are interested in setting boundaries between the different aspects of our lives. My other activities (“real work”?) are totally apolitical and done under my real name, and I’ve decided I want to keep those worlds very separate from my blogging.

So, call us cowardly, call us shy, call us macaroni—we anonymous bloggers have rights, too. I hereby invite all other anonymous bloggers to assemble as a new support group: Anonymities Anonymous (AA). Shout it loud: we’re anonymous, and we’re proud!

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Well, maybe not so “frequently.” And maybe not “asked,” exactly. But they are questions.

1) Why do you call yourself “neo-neocon?”

See here.

2) Why are you anonymous?

See here.

3) What’s up with that green Granny Smith apple you’re holding in front of your face in your photo?

The apple is meant to be a reference to this painting by Rene Magritte. According to UCSF, the painting was “the closest he was willing to come to answer a request for a self portrait. That tells us how little this marvelous artist cared for self-promotion and publicity, even though he was delighted to sell his work widely.” Well, I may not be a “marvelous artist,” but I share the desire to maintain my privacy while simultaneously wishing to have my work read. I also happen to like the color of the apple, although I couldn’t find one with a similar stem and leaves, and I couldn’t get it to float in front of my face the way his does. Bummer. I also decided to dispense with the bowler hat and the overcoat.

4) Are you a practicing therapist?

As I wrote in my profile, I have a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. In the interests of clarity, I want to add that I am not at present practicing as a therapist. When I began this blog I had tentative plans to open a private practice, but I’ve been concentrating on my writing and free-lance editing instead.

5) What is your e-mail address?

It’s also in my blogger profile: jaybean33@yahoo.com.

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