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When I was first thinking about starting this blog, the editors at InsideHigherEd asked whether I intended it to be anonymous/pseudonymous. I hadn't really asked myself that question but, after some discussion, decided that doing so would probably make sense.
My reasons were two. First, I wanted to be as honest as I could about events at the real-life university which I refer to as Greenback U. Second, I wanted the thoughts and experiences I share here to be generalizable. Knowing that a writer is referring to a specific school makes it natural to think of the observation in reference to that school only; not knowing makes that impossible, and makes generalization easier. Or, at least, that was the theory.
What I've found over time is that pseudonymity is a two-edged sword. Some things that happen, I can write about in a simple straight-forward manner because they could -- and probably do -- happen on a large number of campuses. Other things I need to blur or obscure just a little bit, to make them less specific to Greenback and more readily generalizable.
And then there are the events and initiatives which are truly unique. Those, I haven't yet figured out how to discuss. I don't want to change the salient characteristics enough to render them anonymous, yet without major editorial surgery they could easily lead to an identification of Greenback and -- by extension -- me.
Now, in the realm of problems caused by a secret identity, I've got nothing on Peter Parker or Bruce Wayne. (On the other hand, the up-side of my dual identity is nowhere near as much fun, either!) But when, as has happened over the last several weeks, all my energy and attention gets wrapped around a project or two which are truly unique to Greenback, it does make blogging -- particularly pseudonymous blogging -- rather difficult.
Not to mention the weather.
