Speaking of Wales
That's country Wales, not animal whales. I just wrote about Tom Jones...and now I've got something new to say that refers to the Welsh. Interestingly enough.
I realize that googling myself is an embarrassingly self-involved thing to do. But I am clearly nothing if not self-involved. I mean, look at this blog. So the other day, I googled myself for the first time since I got married and changed my name. Back in the day, when I googled Kit Waskom, I got all kinds of cool hits - stuff I'd written, articles that quoted me, even random press releases from forever ago. No longer, though.
Googling Kit Waskom Pollard brings up this blog and, way down the page, some of my old Kit Waskom pages. It was a small blow to my ego to see that I'm not as famous with my full new name, but not so bad. This blog comes up, too.
But just googling Kit Pollard. That is BAD. Nothing about me even comes up on the first page. But - and this brings me to Wales - I have a namesake in Wales. It is a boy. A Welsh boy in his teens who swims competitively. I can't read most of the site, but he gets higher billing than I do? Thanks, Google's algorithm.
When I got married, it never occured to me to keep my name. I didn't even have a middle name to begin with, so I didn't have to drop anything, I just kept Waskom as my maiden name. Now, though, after these disappointing Google results, I understand the women who complain about "losing their identity". Apparently I've lost mine. And on top of that, I'm not even unique anymore. I'm fairly certain I was the only Kit Waskom in the world. And I'm not sure how I feel about sharing, especially with a teenage boy.
I realize that googling myself is an embarrassingly self-involved thing to do. But I am clearly nothing if not self-involved. I mean, look at this blog. So the other day, I googled myself for the first time since I got married and changed my name. Back in the day, when I googled Kit Waskom, I got all kinds of cool hits - stuff I'd written, articles that quoted me, even random press releases from forever ago. No longer, though.
Googling Kit Waskom Pollard brings up this blog and, way down the page, some of my old Kit Waskom pages. It was a small blow to my ego to see that I'm not as famous with my full new name, but not so bad. This blog comes up, too.
But just googling Kit Pollard. That is BAD. Nothing about me even comes up on the first page. But - and this brings me to Wales - I have a namesake in Wales. It is a boy. A Welsh boy in his teens who swims competitively. I can't read most of the site, but he gets higher billing than I do? Thanks, Google's algorithm.
When I got married, it never occured to me to keep my name. I didn't even have a middle name to begin with, so I didn't have to drop anything, I just kept Waskom as my maiden name. Now, though, after these disappointing Google results, I understand the women who complain about "losing their identity". Apparently I've lost mine. And on top of that, I'm not even unique anymore. I'm fairly certain I was the only Kit Waskom in the world. And I'm not sure how I feel about sharing, especially with a teenage boy.
posted by Kit Pollard at
3:42 PM
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