Do you remember that light-hearted classic, The Scarlet Letter? Naughty Hester wore a red “A” displayed on every piece of clothing she owned (roughly 3 garments) to broadcast to everyone in her village (roughly 30 people) that a married man lusted after her. His lapels were “A-less.” Stitchery and shame were quite popular among Puritan women. Lusting after women and passing judgement on lust-worthy women were manly pursuits. If you missed the book or the movie, I just saved you time and points in trivia games involving literature. (NOTE: I probably missed some important details and skewed a few plot lines, but so did the movie.)

The Scarlet Letter stood for “adulter” not “awesome.” It was a way of stigmatizing women in the hopes that they would stop teasing weak, married men who couldn’t control themselves around all those corsets and layers of heavy fabric covering women from neck to toe.

I’m feeling stigmatized by some people in my Village, but not for the reason Hester was. I should use my quilter’s skills and fashion a bright, bold “B” to pin on my garments. The “B” stands for Blogger and is the Scarlet Letter’s Kissing Cousin (being so close to “A”). My Village assumes I’ve gone to the “B” Dark Side along with legions of others who waste their time in front of a computer screen when they could be doing something productive like watching Reality TV or playing bingo.

Here’s how I know I was Hester’s cyber-hussy equivalent:

  • When I talk about writing, my Villagers lean in; when I talk about blogging, my Villagers slowly back away with worried expressions;
  • My Villagers express concern that I’m becoming one of “those people” who spend all their time on the computer, develop agoraphobia, and paste newspaper clippings of government conspiracies over my walls (which is totally unlikely because I don’t read the newspaper).
  • Regardless of my explanations about how blogging is an effective way to get my writing “out there,”  Villagers seem suspicious–like I’m justifying my obsession with World of Warcraft 4.2.

A few of my Villagers, like a few of Hester’s friends, support me. But, by and large, my Villagers think blogging is just like cruising online porn sites–a terrible waste of human potential and will ultimately lead to trouble.

Labels are dangerous. Once affixed (like the “A” or “B”) they are loaded with meaning that is impossible to sway. Perhaps I need another word for “blogging” that my Villagers would accept as productive and appropriate for a 53-year-old former sociology professor.

Technotyping (TTing)?  “I spent 4 hours ‘Ta-Tinging’ today. It was great!”

WebPublishing (WPing)?  “Wait just a minute, I have to finish ‘Wee-Pinging.'” “‘Wa-Pinging?'”

InteractiveWriting (IWing?) “If I care about it, I-Wing it!”

I don’t know, perhaps it’s time for my needle and thread …