Abigail Van Buren’s Photograph
Over on Starling Fitness, I talked about Dear Abby’s photograph:
The only problem is that Dear Abby wasn’t real. Sure, there was a real person, Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips, who was the writer until Alzheimer’s took her abilities away from her. But the woman behind that never-aging face wasn’t real.
I’m real. My face changes. When I’ve been bingeing, my face changes dramatically.
I started posting a self portrait on each entry. It actually gives me a reason to get up and get showered every morning.
Do I really need a reason to get up and get showered? Yeah…
I have that photo that I took in April and played with until it looks “cool,” but I really like posting a new photo every time I post. Even if I’m ugly or unhappy, I think it’s a good idea. It gives a face to what I’m talking about every day.
I realized that I really liked the idea when I saw my photo on some RSS aggregator today. It was an excerpt from my Starling Fitness entry and my photo. For some reason, I just liked seeing a face to go with what was being said. It was strange when I realized that it was MY face, but it showed me how important it is to have a face attached to my words.
I think I’ll post my byline photo for every entry here as well.
I think this is very brave. I would be terrified to post my photo every day because most days I think I look pretty awful. Perhaps, as you say, this is good incentive to get up and get showered. I shall contemplate this concept further.
Comment by Lillian — 11/21/2007 @ 8:26 am