Identity Crisis

Disclaimer: Throughout this post, I talk about blog “categories.” Although I may categorize your blog into some vague topic or subject area, I am not categorizing you. Please do not hate me if I have “miscategorized” you. I realize that we’re all complex and most blogs don’t really fit into one single category. I just plunked you into the first category that popped into my head. I also apologize if you take offense to being “categorized” period, but please don’t take it personally. After all, this is my identity crisis, not yours. My apologies in advance if I my disclaimer does not soothe and you are still offended. If I link to you within a particular category, know that it’s only because I worship you. Seriously. Would I link to someone who makes me puke? End Disclaimer.

The blogosphere is an interesting place. Much like high school, people tend to categorize themselves and each other. Although I don’t think this is bad, it does make those of us who no longer fit in around the blogosphere feel like we’re right back in high school where we (oh, sweet Jeebus) never fit in. High school had the jocks, the cheerleaders, the homecoming queens, the overachievers, the band geeks, the math nerds, the stoners, tech school kids who weren’t going to college but were going straight into heating and cooling repair upon graduation, the scary-slutty girls and any other category of poor unfortunate teenager you can think of.

When I first arrived in the blogosphere a year and a half ago, I found the categorizations comforting. They helped me understand where I fit in – and where everyone else fit in, too. I found folks who “fit” into these categories, fell in love with them and decided that in some form or another, I too “fit” into their categories. In no particular order, I decided that these were the kids who would let me sit with them in the cafeteria:

Grad school bloggers
Professor-type bloggers
K-12 teacher bloggers
Mommy bloggers (No, I don’t have children, but those mommy bloggers are a riot!)

Infertility bloggers (Also not applicable to me, but oh, how I miss Karen at Naked Ovary. I’m glad she and her husband became parents, but man, do I miss her snark!)

Feminist bloggers

Hollywood gossip blogs (guilty pleasure and now that I have a subscription to People magazine, I really don’t need them so much anymore.) And TMZ used to be a blog but now it’s really more just . . . something other than a blog.

Advice blogs
Political blogs

Mad grammarians, book worms and other intellectual (and often neurotic) types

But no matter whose table I chose to sit at, everyone knew - and I knew - that I was Teacher Lady. However, like the high school cheerleader who goes off to college and has no idea of where she sits or who she is now that she's not a cheerleader, do I know who am I now in the blogosphere if I can't be (or I'm just plain not) Teacher Lady anymore?

I guess the answer is, “I don’t know.”

Since this pointless rambling identity crisis has really gone nowhere, I will now try to redirect your attention to a picture of Minnie (appropos of nothing), post-much needed bath. Ta-da!!