The M Family

I had a very interesting discussion with L today that is prompting me to rename their family for issues of privacy. I was telling her that last year when I blogged about our trip I had included her name and when I got a new webcounter on my page I found a really cool one that gave me tons of information including the source page that leads people to my blog. A lot of the hits either come from Facebook (when I’ve posted a link on my page) or “No Source” which I generally assume it means it came from someone’s bookmark or something. However, right after installing it I found out something interesting. A HUGE number of hits came from L’s name on Google. She thought that was pretty funny but also said that she has some light “cyber stalkers.” Nothing serious, but more people who are curious about who she is, what her story is, etc. After all she is an American woman married to one of the most respected men in the Benin community. So this got me thinking a little bit. It reminded me of when my sister put up her classroom blog. Trying to be supportive I “followed” it so it looked like she had some supporters (which of course she did). When she had it evaluated by the township they basically said “Who’s the sex freak who’s following you?” and expressed concern that people could follow the links back to my page which is generally not appropriate for people who would be looking at her page. She gently asked me to “unfollow” her which of course I was happy to oblige. Just because I enjoy my blog and work doesn’t mean everyone would. 
 

She didn’t ask me to do this and it’s not that I think this is a grave issue of security/privacy but because their family has been so wonderful and kind to me I feel like I should give them as much privacy as possible as well as the same issue of my sister’s blog…I didn’t want anyone looking for her to be unwillingly (sort of) subjected to my blog. You’ve all seen their names and/or have heard me talk about them, and if not, it doesn’t really matter what their actual name is all that matters is who they are and what role they are playing in my life. So henceforth I will be referring to their family as the “M Family” instead of by their real last name (which is quite unique). Why M? Well two reasons. When I was thinking of a pseudonym it popped into my head because tonally it is similar (lots of vowels, 4 syllables) and because it reminds me of home, specifically my sisters who love the movie “Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa” which has a character named M who sings a song that reminds them of me. So just so you are in the know and warned when you start seeing M you know what the heck I am talking about.