self creation
My fascination with the constant creation and re-creation of self probably begins in highschool. I went to a small school and ran on the cross country team. I considered my idenity as a runner, among other things, a huge part of who I was. When I had some repeated injuries and stopped competing, I still considered myself, as did my peers, a runner. After high school, I went to a college where I knew noone. Suddenly, my identity as runner was totally lost. I was just talking to someone who was a competitive skiier in highschool, and though she hasn't skiied in 4 years, still considers herself as such. The activities that we participate in are a huge part of who we are, what happens when we stop participating in a particular activity? When does it cease to play a role on our identity? How do we decide when we're not that person anymore? When you're proud of a particular activity, you might be likely to keep it as an idealized part of self. On the other hand, if it's something you'd rather people no know about, like previous drug habits when you're trying to start a new life, how does that continue to inform self, while still keeping that on the low down? I haven't run with any sort of regularity since 1994, my connection to that lifestyle is very far removed. But it's still a part of my past, 5 formative years of running, that still inform a small part of self. There are countless other activities I participated in that at the time defined who I was, especially within the context of certain communities. It's this constant metamorphasizing process.
I also had a conversation today about how handwriting is a huge self identifying aspect. I am constantly trying to perfect my own personal 'font,' so that I exude some subtle characteristic of myself. It's not only about my signature to prove who I am when I sign a credit card slip, it's a larger message about what it says about myself when I script a lower case g is a particular style...