I am Time's Person of Year!
Thanks to the editors at Time Magazine, I am in league with U.S. presidents, Nobel laureates, and (rather regrettably) Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin. That's right. I'm Time's Person of the Year!Thank you, Time Magazine, for the honor, and for recognizing my hard work creating content on the Internet. My citizen journalism has brought me much joy and has been a source of therapy while I was driving around Greater Boston.
For anyone who hasn't heard yet, Time chose "You" as its Persona of the Year (Persona is correct, more later). The "You" is anyone who is creating content on the Internet. Well, heck, I fall into the category.
I write Persona because, quite honestly, the editors' choice of "You" implies anyone who looks at the cover. But anyone in at South Station or Out of Town News or Roche Bros. looking at the cover might find themselves excluded after further inspection. The explanation is somewhat limiting. Only people creating Internet content are included. Excluded, for example, is the tireless mom who only checks e-mail in between working 45 hours, managing the schedules of three school-aged children and being socially or politically active.
Taking that limitation into consideration, I also use the term Persona because it is actually very fitting of almost anyone creating content on the Internet. My blog, for example, has its own persona. I don't post with my own name, but a compound abbreviation of my first and last names. And although the opinions herein are truthful, there is a certain amount of internal monologue that got posted here that wouldn't otherwise have an outlet.
I'm not alone by any means. There's my blogging patron AdamG at Universal Hub, and my fellow new Bostonian-turned-Raleighan, Abby, aka Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker. There's the Back Bay government lawyer, former state cop, father, conservative, car lover: Carpundit. Not to be forgotten is blogging friend, Eeka, whose online companionship I have enjoyed for the better part of two years. And, finally, my favorite blog discovered by way of Blogger's "Blogs of Note" section: WaiterRant, whose author has turned his blog into a book deal. All are personas.
While some might argue that Time copped out with its Person of the Year, I would say that it was pretty bold and astute. Although I really would have liked to have seen them choose someone more along the lines of their traditional selection criteria (such as who was grabbing the most prominent headlines across the nation or world), but I can understand why they chose "You." Never before in human history has information sharing been so easy and cheap. For the price of a beat-up old computer and a dial-up connection -- or the cost of an hour at an Internet cafe -- people have the power to report their observations on any topic any time of day. When we look at the pantheon of human history, one has to ask "How amazing is that?"
I must go now and figure out how I can justify adding this honor to my resume. |
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