Will The Real Carol Ross Please Stand Up?
Middle of the night web-surfing can be fun (no, I'm not talking about looking at pictures of naked people...)
I googled myself tonight. You know--putting my name into Google and seeing what comes up. I used to get annoyed when I saw all these other people named Carol Ross who came up before my listing. Who will ever find me if there are so many other women with the same name?
But tonight was different. Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to check out the other Carol Ross's.
What I found were alot of other women I'd love to meet. And in the process, I got to fantasize what it would be like to be a different Carol Ross.
There is Carol Ross in Bucks County, PA, a wonderful photographer. When I went to her website, I was greeted with beautiful pictures and music that made me think of rose gardens and blue skies. She specializes in weddings. Her photos are used in cards that you can buy at Barnes and Noble and April Cornell. She's even written a book, called Bride's Companion. Yes, I could see being this Carol Ross. (Although I could NOT write a book about brides unless it was about funny things that happened to real brides....)
Then there's Carol Ross in Chicago, principal of a major architectural firm. Actually her name is Carol Ross Barney but she comes up in Google alot anyway with MY name typed in. This Carol Ross has been quoted in Fast Company magazine (one of my all time dreams) because of her work as chief architect for the U.S. Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Her designs are sleek and fresh and her firm has a great website to boot. I've always had a respect for architects as they seem to easily combine the left brain and the right brain in their work. Yep, maybe I'll be an architect in the next life...
Another Carol Ross is a sculptor, whose work has been shown in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and who seems to regularly display at a fancy gallery on Madison Ave (her art that is, not Carol herself). I think of sculptors, especially one who works in steel and other modern media, as disconnected from everyday life and somewhat temperamental. But hey, I could be this Carol Ross for a day or two.
The most interesting Carol Ross is nothing like me. She's the head basketball coach at her alma mater, the University of Mississippi. She's a blond and probably with great coordination, a muscular build, and a Southern accent. The only thing that we have in common is that we both have the word "coach" in our title. No, I couldn't even fake being this Carol Ross.
There are a host of other Carol Ross's out there--one involved in a lawsuit (this would not be setting a good example for my clients), one a former producer of the Larry King Live show (hmm...one of my taglines used to be "Setting the Stage for Great Things to Happen" but I'm not sure how often this happens on Larry's show), another sculptor who is less well known (boy, it must get complicated for that woman), a water color artist (yes, my creative muse would like this one), and a middle school librarian (please, I can only stretch myself so far).
It's fun to think about having a completely different identity. (A friend of mine once told me he went to a weekend retreat and pretended with strangers that he had no past, only the present. But that's a whole other blog post.)
At the end of the day, or the end of a blog post, it's great to come back to who I am.
I googled myself tonight. You know--putting my name into Google and seeing what comes up. I used to get annoyed when I saw all these other people named Carol Ross who came up before my listing. Who will ever find me if there are so many other women with the same name?
But tonight was different. Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to check out the other Carol Ross's.
What I found were alot of other women I'd love to meet. And in the process, I got to fantasize what it would be like to be a different Carol Ross.
There is Carol Ross in Bucks County, PA, a wonderful photographer. When I went to her website, I was greeted with beautiful pictures and music that made me think of rose gardens and blue skies. She specializes in weddings. Her photos are used in cards that you can buy at Barnes and Noble and April Cornell. She's even written a book, called Bride's Companion. Yes, I could see being this Carol Ross. (Although I could NOT write a book about brides unless it was about funny things that happened to real brides....)
Then there's Carol Ross in Chicago, principal of a major architectural firm. Actually her name is Carol Ross Barney but she comes up in Google alot anyway with MY name typed in. This Carol Ross has been quoted in Fast Company magazine (one of my all time dreams) because of her work as chief architect for the U.S. Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Her designs are sleek and fresh and her firm has a great website to boot. I've always had a respect for architects as they seem to easily combine the left brain and the right brain in their work. Yep, maybe I'll be an architect in the next life...
Another Carol Ross is a sculptor, whose work has been shown in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and who seems to regularly display at a fancy gallery on Madison Ave (her art that is, not Carol herself). I think of sculptors, especially one who works in steel and other modern media, as disconnected from everyday life and somewhat temperamental. But hey, I could be this Carol Ross for a day or two.
The most interesting Carol Ross is nothing like me. She's the head basketball coach at her alma mater, the University of Mississippi. She's a blond and probably with great coordination, a muscular build, and a Southern accent. The only thing that we have in common is that we both have the word "coach" in our title. No, I couldn't even fake being this Carol Ross.
There are a host of other Carol Ross's out there--one involved in a lawsuit (this would not be setting a good example for my clients), one a former producer of the Larry King Live show (hmm...one of my taglines used to be "Setting the Stage for Great Things to Happen" but I'm not sure how often this happens on Larry's show), another sculptor who is less well known (boy, it must get complicated for that woman), a water color artist (yes, my creative muse would like this one), and a middle school librarian (please, I can only stretch myself so far).
It's fun to think about having a completely different identity. (A friend of mine once told me he went to a weekend retreat and pretended with strangers that he had no past, only the present. But that's a whole other blog post.)
At the end of the day, or the end of a blog post, it's great to come back to who I am.
3 Comments:
Carol,
This was a fun exercise! Since my name is sort of unique, I really was most of the "Hanna Cooper"s I found - but the rest of them seemed to be current high school track stars. One recently won a dance competition. Fun to try on a different identity for just a few minutes!
I found your blog through the World WIT newsletter and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it. This entry sort of spoke to me because I have an unusual first and last name which means when you google me you get just me. I always feel like it's left me more exposed to the world. I can't claim that it was another Alyssa _ out there who did that. No, just me. Yes, I really am the one who did x, y or z.
This takes on an especially fun twist because for years I disliked my name and now that I've come to terms with it I'm getting married next fall and planning on changing it. Which is fun because I get to be anonymous again for a little while (and have considered using my maiden name at work to continue so) but also feels a little like I'm giving up that identity I worked so long to accept.
Thanks, Alyssa for stopping by and posting a comment. It's fun to hear how people think of their names and how that links to their identity. I love that you are seeing the beauty of your unique name as well as recognizing the work that you've done to accept it fully. I have a feeling that accepting your name is just one step on the larger journey of discovering who you are....
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