… is a pen name.
A nom de plume. A pseudonym. A character, tho one as much me personally as I can possibly be outside of simply not using my real name.
An honest moment follows as I explain that I have had some bad lived experiences in the past with the clashing of personal identity and me being too transparent online.
Nothing illegal, immoral, or really all that offensive. Honest.
Continuing here in that tradition I am deliberately posting content that I hope will not be too controversial or overtly offensive.
I am a writer nonetheless, and writing is this delicate act of laying bare the soul and opening the heart to truths, and so one can never be certain about what inside ones heart or soul might offend another. And of course as the Cast Iron Guy blog is as much a personal writing exercise as it is anything else, vulnerability touches reality in chaotic ways.
Writing pseudo-anonymously is a way for me both to write and share and project a positive vibe to the universe and also to avoid stumbling over my own feet.
Offense is a tricky thing. In saying that I am keenly aware that I have people in my life both personally and professionally who live at a different level of power and privilege than I, are of a different political mindset, or just take a different philosophical perspective of the universe. Any of these people may take offense at my thoughts or notions, or even the very idea of me simply having the space to post anything at all.
Some already have. And I don’t want a basic Google search for my real name by one of those folks to derail this project.