When I was in high school, I took it on my own endeavor to read Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. I was fascinated with the story and other adventure tales of the time. Dumas’ Count of Monte Cristo, along with Les Miserables, still ranks as one of my favorite books of all time.
One thing I noticed about these tales was a grammatical device that I didn”t quite understand. Some characters in these books would be referred to as Henri N- or other such name where the last name was simply its first initial with a dash. My English teacher stated they were a device used to provide anonymity. This caused some additional confusion seeing as they were fictional tales, nonetheless the device for some reason rooted itslef in the confines of my memory.
Fast forward to today and this blog, I’ve been using that device in my blog. But in reflecting over the past years worth of text, I’ve come to realize that I exist in a close knit culture and those dashes do not amount to much. I resurrected the Euterpe Times at the museum in perfect acknowledgment of this isolated culture that exists on a ship. One half of me, as it turns, was in great conflict with the other, specifially in what I say on the blog.
Weeding through my texts I found myself sometimes critical of other crew, at other times simply exhibiting private matters, and in others reproducing occassion that should have simply been kept off the record. With a close crew, those dashes don’t mean anything.
It dawned on me that I might actually be alienating my friends. I have certainly never intended to paint anything nor anyone in a negative light, in fact its just the opposite. Not only do I consider them friends, I looked up to them immensely and that’s what I wanted to document.
Very few have ever mentioned the blog to me, so I never considered its affect on others. But it probably has.
My only regret in this is that no one has ever said anything if it is so. I take criticism well and vaule these friendship above anything else.
So now is time to hove to and reevaluate things. I plan to continue this blog, but it will certainly be filled more with “that guy” and “this guy.”
Or perhaps as should be, the more suitable nom de plume, Jack Tar.
