Tuesday, November 15, 2011

On Blogging in Anonymity

I feel a little guilty for not revealing my identity.  It is actually uncharacteristic of me to be secretive.  My life has always been an open book.  I will tell you just about anything about my life as long as it doesn't compromise somebody else.  It is because of my desire to protect others that I have made the decision to keep my identity secret.

The ballet world is a small world and sometimes in it we behave badly.  I choose to believe that people's character should not be defined by their worst decisions and weakest moments, but instead by the sum of their actions.  Because of this, I believe that most ballet moms are good people, perhaps at times misguided, but in their entirety, they are good people.

If I put my name on my blog, you would not only know my name, but you would also know the name of the studio that my children attend, the names of my children and additionally, the families that attend our studio.  Some of the stories I share are from conversations that I have and hear in our studio, other stories are from studios that we have been to before, and some are stories from friends whose children go to other studios. Other stories come from characters that I meet along the way.  I believe that by preserving my anonymity, I also protect my friends and their children.

In addition to this concern, I want to protect my own children.  I believe their identity is irrelevant to my opinions and my identity is irrelevant to their training.  I am uncertain though that their school would agree and this is a chance I am unwilling to take.

Lastly, in order to make this blog a success, it is imperative that I am completely honest.  Not only honest in my observations, but also, honest in my own shortcomings and failures.  If I reveal my identity, I fear that I will try to be politically correct.   There is too much political correctness in the ballet world, we tend to sugarcoat things when honesty is needed. It is my experience that not all ballet moms are honest about things concerning their children.  They tend to overstate their children's talents, or understate their goals, they will exaggerate to put their children in the best possible light.  Sometimes it's exaggeration, sometimes it's a lie, and sometimes it's just distorted vision.  Most of the time, it is not malicious but it is detrimental.   If we are to learn from one another, honesty is warranted, but, it is hard to do so when it comes to our children; so, I will stay anonymous, so I can be honest.  I feel like it is a small price to pay.

2 comments:

  1. I enjoy your blog and find it very resourceful and insightful. Thank you for sharing your experiences.

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  2. Please keep writing! I'm the mom to two young ballet dancers (one boy, one girl) and I love your writing and perspective!

    Funny thing... I found your blog after typing "ballet moms suck" into google. It's been a long year of pushy, catty moms at our prepro school and I'm over it. Thanks for making me smile! :)

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