I am several people. I use several names. I seek to divide my life between the professional, the personal, and possibly several sub-categories of the personal. This site belongs to my personal self. This name is one of my chosen pseudonyms. The first name is a linguistic cousin of my legal name. The surname is one I've chosen, Latin for "of the Shadow". With this name, I am Gwen of the Shadow, or Fair One of the Shadow. I am a young adult. I am from the US, but I strive to escape the stereotypes that brings to mind. My greatest values are knowledge and respect.
What do I do?
Under this name, I write and I draw. This is my artistic name. Under my legal name, I am a student. I will be a professor. I'm studying primarily linguistics and languages, but I also study mythology and culture. I seek to know everything. Knowledge is my foremost god. Under my forum name, I play games of logic and human nature. That makes it sound pretentious, but what it means is I do logic puzzles and I play text-based RPGs.
What is this site?
This is the home for my writings and my art. Over time, I'll publish my stories here. I'll publish my paintings, my sketches, possibly some of my photos. This will also serve as my personal blog. I won't update regularly; this won't be a true diary. However, when I have something to say, this will be where I say it. I'll link to other sites of interest to me; to the sites where I play games, to webcomics, to news articles or stories, to my friends' sites, to my extracurricular studies.
Why?
Because I want a place to express myself, less linked to my legal identity. Because building an identity matters, whether that online identity can be easily tracked to the legal identity or not. Because I need to express myself, even the self that is both fully distinct and necessarily separate from my professional identity.