Ground Rules
Entonces. If you know me, you know what I do professionally. I’ve been doing it for over 9 years now and over that time I’ve been back and forth about how public I should make it. At first, back in 2000, I had no fears about being as open as I wanted about it. Blogs were random things that you had to know about to find and I figured only my family and friends would read it. Then two things happened that changed my mind: 9/11 and Google. 9/11 made it clear that an American overseas, particularly an American doing what I do, needs to be more circumspect in what he/she tells the world about themselves. Google (and the interweb in general) made it so that the world could indeed find out all they wanted about anyone who wasn’t being careful. A more recent problem is that I must keep my personal thoughts/feelings about what’s happening in the world very separate from the positions taken by my employer. While they oftentimes overlap and mesh very well, the times they don’t could cause big problems. Even a “these are my personal opinions, they in no way represent those of my employer” disclaimer really isn’t good enough in my situation, the world media being what it is.
Consequently, I made the decision for this blog to be more about me and the crazy things I run into around the world and much less about what I do for a living. Sadly, I have to accept the blow to my pride that I’m not going to be able to loudly proclaim that I was the first blogger of my professional group, though I’m pretty certain I was. If I got an official title or prize money, I might change my mind.
So, more succinctly: I don’t mention by name my employer or place of work. I don’t delve too deeply into US or international politics (though I may lose my temper occasionally and forget that one).