I made a decision recently that coincided with the “relaunch”^[1] of this website that I would stop posting things under a pseudonym. Over the last few days I have added my full name to my twitter page, imported all of my posts from my previous site^[2], and decided that even though I was only superficially trying to be harder to find, that I’m not going to be doing that anymore. I’m also glad I never got a tattoo because every time I pick something like a website name to identify myself with I tend to think it’s stupid only a few years later^[3].

I still think most of the things I wrote in this post^[4], but recently I had the realization that it’s silly to hide behind a not very effective barrier. I’m comfortable being in full view attempting to do a decent job at being a human being complete with opinions, with varying levels of success in that endeavor. I’m now convinced that there’s no good reason for me to try and keep some alternate friends only online persona, and that being fully up front and genuine should actually be an asset to one’s professional life, not just one’s personal life. And if at some point it isn’t an asset, then maybe that’s not a situation one should be in professionally. Unless you’re a jerk I suppose, but don’t be the kind of jerk that tries to hide it.

I plan to expand on this idea in a post related to politics soon, but one of the things that has become central to my personal philosophy over the past couple of years is that people are going to have different ideas and it is OK to disagree. It’s also possible to discuss these disagreements without getting angry or shutting down, even if it’s not possible to settle on a solution- not just with politics, but with any topic.

So here I am- to expand on the tag line of the site, I’m Craig Sturgis and this is a web site where I write the things I think at the time they are posted. It also links to social media pages where I post things I think and experience. Engage away.