Rachel Hermans of the World, Unite and Take Over

Being a Rachel Herman is boring. When I was in school, there was another girl named Rachel Herman in my Sociology of Marriage class. Once I received a scathing email from her roommate telling her to pick up her dirty underwear from the middle of the floor...I replied timidly, "maybe you have the wrong Rachel Herman? p.s. sorry about the underwear." Thus, when I searched the 'net for myself, I was not surprised to find out that the boringness of the Rachel Herman legacy lives on.

Searching for my name wielded a photographer (http://www.rachelherman.net/), and a fabrician (go ahead, treat yourself to a new duvet http://www.rachelherman.com/products/duvets/index.html), but nothing of yours truly. Searching for the email address I use in the professional/educational realm produced no results; searching for the email address I use with my friends conjured a mostly-defunct MySpace page that is not accessible unless viewed by a "friend." So Cyndi Lauper and a person posing as Blanche from "the Golden Girls" can view all of my pictures, but no potential employers.

Searching for the "handle" formed by the first part of the email address I use with my friends elicited slightly more interesting results. I found that my Photobucket account was public, and the photo used as the "thumbnail" was the photo most recently added: a picture I stole from my friend's Facebook account in which she is making the "who farted?" face. I don't think that she would care that I borrowed her picture (because it makes me laugh until tears stream down my face), but it did make me realize that deleting pictures from the past and making my account private was a very important leap toward my future in the education biz'. I also found an archaic account I opened on another photo hosting site, and promptly tried to delete it; unfortunately, profiles can't be manually deleted, so the best I could do was delete all of my pictures and email the website ITs asking them to delete my profile. My YouTube account has no videos or personal information, and my Ebay site is devoid of potential smear campaigns. Thus, this assignment has been a catalyst for an important event: leading an increasingly boring life. Yessssss.

Teachers are held to higher standards, and rightly so. Being a teacher is a 24-hours-per-day gig, insinuating that professionals within the teaching domain should have the cognizance to realize that they are setting an example for their students at all times. I don't personally condemn the actions of other people, but I am not the person making the decisions; I will forever conduct myself as if a person at TSPC is reading every word I publish in cyberspace. I will not let myself become a victim of context or misunderstanding.

Fueling my neurosis: "Recent reports in the media have shown teachers being reprimanded for what school districts consider 'inappropriate activity.' The
content on these questionable pages includes candid photos, racy or suggestive song lyrics, and references to sex or to alcohol or drug use. Venting about personal
frustrations at work has also caused problems. While completely banning teachers from having social networking profiles seems downright draconian, some school districts have taken a range of disciplinary actions, including dismissal, against what they consider to be questionable uses of social networking sites by teachers." (Carter et. al, 2008) As a person who came of age in the Facebook generation, I see the benefits of social networking, but I also see the potential for out-of-context, that's-not-what-I-meant, I-can't-believe-my-friend-posted-that disasters. No, thanks.

Before I begin interviewing to become a teacher, I will definitely delete my MySpace page, and maybe my Facebook page. Social networking is not a priority in my life, so I will have no qualms about parting ways with it. Call me paranoid, call me boring, but hopefully, call me employed.