I’m a product of the Midwest suburbs and was raised to think for myself.  I never realized how important this upbringing was until I was transplanted into the Wild West and the like-minded community I grew up with became a distant memory.  After a couple of years in the conservative west, I’ve developed a clearer idea of who I am, what I believe, and why I believe it.

feministhemes.com is the product of my desire to connect with a community of people who have similar values and interests, and share my thoughts with others.

You can find out more about me by visiting my blog!

Ms. Wizzle’s Top Threes

• Activities – reading, knitting, painting
• Music – Ani DiFranco, The Beatles, Damien Rice
• Movies – The Royal Tennenbaums, The Life Aquatic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Books – The Yellow Wallpaper, The Catcher in the Rye, The Virgin Suicides
• Television – Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lost, Six Feet Under

Why the weird pseudonym?

Wizzle was one of my high school nicknames, and I still like it.  Why do I use it here instead of my real name?  Politics, mostly.  I don’t want to jeopardize my position as a student if a faculty member stumbles across this, as an instructor if a student stumbles across this, as a professional helper if a client stumbles across this, or as an intern or an employee if a job site stumbles across this.

Isn’t that kind of hypocritical?

Maybe.  It definitely sucks.  I’ve given a lot of thought to whether or not to use my real name, even just my first name, although it’s not a very common name so I’d still hold all those worries I just listed.  There is a part of me that wants to stand by my words here.  There is a part of me that thinks “if someone doesn’t want to work with me as a student/teacher/helper/employee because I believe xyz, so be it – I’m glad we got that out in the open now.”  But there is also another part of me that thinks it’s still early in my career and I can work hard to incorporate these beliefs into my daily life without outing myself online to snoopy faculty/students/clients/employers.

So for now, Ms. Wizzle it is.  And you are?