WARTS and all

I like acronyms. Some people think they’re cutesy; I think they’re creative. Of course, I can’t think of any good ones right now, other than NEENER (National Endowment for Endless, Needless, and Everlasting Research, from Jim Rule’s Underwear Song). Oh wait—there’s SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus), NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Association), the does-not-rhyme-with-NASA PASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture), CAFO (confined animal feeding operation), PULSE (Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience), and lots, lots more. And while it’s not an acronym, I’ve loved the saying, “Don’t assume. It makes an ASS out of U and ME” since I first heard it. I like to think of it as a collaboration between Will Short and Steven Colbert. Back to acronyms--what’s your personal favorite?

I didn’t think too seriously about a name for a blog. Reinford Ramblings was my second choice, but it seemed a lame attempt to imitate/flatter the alliteration and theme of The Paris Project (the blog I read most often, http://www.jenellparis.blogspot.com/).

I don’t have any actual warts, but I still get acne, and I have large moles—ignoble bumps that beg to be worried, as if rubbing them will raise their status to something worthy of attention, or alternately, make them disappear altogether. I have mind warts, too—blips on the blank screen that I keep coming back to rub, analyze, press for meaning. Usually these random thoughts are just that, but every so often an irritating protrusion produces a pearl.

I don’t anticipate my blog to have mass appeal; those who already know and love me are my likely readers. They are the people I still try to impress, the ones whose approval I crave. Of course, they are also the ones who know the me behind the me I try to project, the ones who see me grouchy, self-absorbed, sputtering. Can I trust that they, and God, will love me warts and all?

What are WARTS? you decide.

• White Anabaptist Radical Thinker, Sometimes
• Weird angst, random terrors, stargazing
• Worldwide Advocates for the Reduction of Television Stations
• Whoops! Already read that story!
• Weather Activated Radar Tracking System
• Wonderings, Amusements, Reflections, Thoughts, Soliloquies