E-homies?
February 17, 2006 | techmology
What do you call your internet peeps? Like, in conversation? Do you ever find yourself telling a story that starts out with ‘My friend, well an internet person, actually a blogger I’ve never met…’ and suddenly you are afraid that you sound like a hopelessly lame computer geek who considers strangers on the internet their ‘friends’?
I used to be a frequent poster at Mothering.com. I mostly lurked and learned about attachment parenting and natural family living (I am clearly a hippie) until the 2004 elections came around. They used to have a forum called ‘War and Politics’ that got really heated around that time. It was an interesting group of people to discuss politics with because everyone came from an AP/NFL background. You would think that would be mostly granola-types but there are an awful lot of fundies with similar parenting styles. You know the type, defending the back forty with their home arsenal, etc.
We had just gotten home from living in England for a year and I didn’t have a job and my normal obsession with politics was in high gear. After being away, I just wanted to come home and fix my country. So, if it’s not clear already, I was one of the loud liberal posters, frequently being warned or ordered to edit when things got too personal. (I am sorry but if you are a fundie republican asshat who wants to police my uterus, the world, and homos in love, your opinion is no longer just your opinion. It is INSULTING to me.) By the election, a tight little group of us had formed that kept each other sane in the trenches. When things didn’t go our way, we all kind of went down in a blaze of snark and our little sanity thread was closed down. We all missed each other, though, so we formed our own little board and I have talked to these lovely ladies every day since. There are 10 of us, scattered all over the world, really. Canada, Australia, and all across the US. It’s funny. I talk to these women I have never met more often than I talk to my ‘IRL’ friends. They have become my best friends, actually. Which leaves me struggling with what to call them. They are more than just ‘internet people’ to me.
I bring all of this up because tomorrow I am going to meet one off them in the flesh! Her name is Vicki and she lives in Portland, about 2 hours south of me. She has invited me to her kickass company party that will be at an historic mansion (with tours!*) and includes food, drinks, music, and fire dancing. Isn’t that cool? I can’t wait. Stay tuned for a full report. I will definitely tell you if she is actually a 14 year old boy or an old pervy dude who likes to lure women with cool haircuts to Portland** with promises of history and booze.
*Perhaps when I am trying to convince you I am NOT a dork, I should quell my excitement for guided tours.
** Sin City of the Northwest, baby! Smoking is still allowed there, as well as drinking in stripclubs! YeeeeeeeHAW!
RSS feed for comments on this post.
TrackBack URI
