tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48263972820492842202023-11-16T09:44:58.658-08:00You JenniferDo you or someone you love bear the name "Jennifer"? Are you tired of celebrities and other famous people sharing YOUR name and making it their own? Do you roll your eyes when YOUR name, and its various spellings, are associated with unsavory ads? If so, this blog and sister "You Jennifer" forum (http://groups.google.com/group/you-jennifer) is for YOU, Jennifer.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4826397282049284220.post-52595478506454589022008-02-20T02:52:00.000-08:002008-02-23T14:25:02.498-08:00Introducing Body Memoir Politic: Looking (A Play)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcgar3KrH1QdVVUOjdVxX1znRlNWbvZZJjIcLA7rrfCBArN59ZSH5MxucMxVsiJQyMvMs5ViYkq5JtY9R_r7thh5-bcKCkhVhrg469uaiseh6p3REugBZsxCFsqXo_9YccmzV9BoqJvfY/s1600-h/Jennifer+1969--LiquifyAccentLens3.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168961027232797202" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcgar3KrH1QdVVUOjdVxX1znRlNWbvZZJjIcLA7rrfCBArN59ZSH5MxucMxVsiJQyMvMs5ViYkq5JtY9R_r7thh5-bcKCkhVhrg469uaiseh6p3REugBZsxCFsqXo_9YccmzV9BoqJvfY/s400/Jennifer+1969--LiquifyAccentLens3.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="color:#990000;">Body Memoir Politic:<br /><br />Looking</span><br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">A Play in Ten Scenes<br /><br />by<br /><br />Jennifer Semple Siegel</span><br /></strong><br /><br />© 2008<br /><br /></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">______________________</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><br /><br /><br /><em><strong><span style="color:#006600;">One pill makes you larger<br /><br />And one pill makes you small<br /><br />And the ones that Mother gives you<br /><br />Don’t do anything at all.<br /><br />Go ask Alice<br /><br />When she’s 10 feet tall.</span></strong></em></div><p align="right"><br />–Grace Slick, “White Rabbit”<br /></p><br /><br />Go to the <a href="http://www.looking.biz/"><strong><span style="color:#000099;">website</span></strong></a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4826397282049284220.post-85814260032505494252007-09-11T15:24:00.000-07:002007-09-11T15:27:09.881-07:002001-2007<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiblRnKrtNGs4T-l-xhyh2gB1lwHn7AF8hWPI-e9zj8-Bn2JEohcVD3EWynThrF4BNfneswtb_flJsWAYUtp25iuKoeHoYmsdKnK4WowzosSYrJoR3aJJYuMgO0lNwgM81tK_ECcckZOP0/s1600-h/911photo+small.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5109076689250966530" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiblRnKrtNGs4T-l-xhyh2gB1lwHn7AF8hWPI-e9zj8-Bn2JEohcVD3EWynThrF4BNfneswtb_flJsWAYUtp25iuKoeHoYmsdKnK4WowzosSYrJoR3aJJYuMgO0lNwgM81tK_ECcckZOP0/s400/911photo+small.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD9iQTRqwrUQAt3hrA-RX-gHL7vilbog16nvGhpCx2eQirtu0IvGtZJNhveTkD_HoMsrMaOVZaiaTJKElEH35GB46WCSKKfHVBu31nE0SqfZ82HMs1YWy3EQli8ZwJeXFSZGxiHjCy2o8/s1600-h/911photo+small.jpg"></a><br /><br /><div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4826397282049284220.post-54571778582666720312007-09-10T20:06:00.000-07:002007-09-10T21:17:03.616-07:00The Jennifer Project<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibY3DCk-MIGTvCWaGfm81TlPgpg4avFlSGoP1hGNFAXWSSThIfdzX7eHUf6zjJhQaXeDqF0p0vFQSWEzJImbf7_eBqBuhFB5U6ZxCzVGbx4Za5emhj3__oNqIBXdD_vfJ7USPTYvKXIeA/s1600-h/Jennifer_Fall+2005_Watercolor+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5108782900603018210" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 248px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 252px" height="304" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibY3DCk-MIGTvCWaGfm81TlPgpg4avFlSGoP1hGNFAXWSSThIfdzX7eHUf6zjJhQaXeDqF0p0vFQSWEzJImbf7_eBqBuhFB5U6ZxCzVGbx4Za5emhj3__oNqIBXdD_vfJ7USPTYvKXIeA/s400/Jennifer_Fall+2005_Watercolor+2.jpg" width="294" border="0" /></a><br /><div>In the next few weeks, I'll be searching the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">internet</span> for interesting ordinary people named Jennifer. </div><div><span style="color:#ffcccc;">-</span></div><div>I already have one woman in mind; I don't know her, but when I was doing a search for my <a href="http://www.famousjennifers.blogspot.com/"><strong>Famous <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Jennifers</span></strong></a> blog, I ran across her website, and my first thought was, "Dang, I'd rather feature someone like her than a famous Jennifer." I'll be emailing her soon because I absolutely do not want to post anything about a stranger without her permission. </div><div><span style="color:#ffcccc;">-</span></div><div>By the way, I don't have anything against celebrities, but their lives have already been thoroughly dissected, so it's difficult to add anything new to the pool of knowledge.</div><div><span style="color:#ffcccc;">-</span></div><div>If you happen to find this blog, and your name is Jennifer (or you know a Jennifer), <a href="mailto:Bugzita@gmail.com"><strong>email me</strong></a> and tell me a little about yourself or your Jennifer (with her permission, of course). A <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">url</span> to your website and attached photo would be good (but nothing x-rated, please). You can also add a comment here.</div><div><span style="color:#ffcccc;">-</span></div><div>I'm particularly interested in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Jennifers</span>, of any age, who are doing or have done extraordinary deeds and making a positive difference in this world. It doesn't matter if you're a janitor or CEO of a Fortune 500 company.</div><div><span style="color:#ffcccc;">-</span></div><div>Yes, the photo in this post is me; I tried searching the web for a photo of an ordinary-looking woman, but it felt funny to snatch something off the web and fob it off as a Jennifer.</div><div><span style="color:#ffcccc;">-</span></div><div>The only thing extraordinary about my photograph (other than its obvious Adobe manipulation): I took the picture of myself. I needed a photograph of myself fast--I no longer remember why--and I was home alone.</div><div><span style="color:#ffcccc;">-</span></div><div>I like the original version because it <em>looks</em> like me.</div><div><span style="color:#ffcccc;">-</span></div><div>If you want to know a little about me (before committing yourself to this project), check out my home page <a href="http://www.jennifersemplesiegel.com/"><strong>Jennifer <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Semple</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Siegel</span></strong></a>.</div><div><span style="color:#ffcccc;">-</span></div><div>Jennifer</div><div></div><div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4826397282049284220.post-28663377413226920292007-08-04T13:42:00.000-07:002007-08-04T14:18:48.244-07:00My New Memoir<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Nv29M2ANY6m-yU2CxpHvWpSR6Jc3XDSYMmoydL9X0YJP_eyUKuH6fmcUkfzw3BDPdNu8jH_2SflfI4qkpm5zmv8Jsht5APnFmhAw-FjW7oj-3Pyu1s3lYQGIPS-w5Hd0jOLyjuhCz3M/s1600-h/Cherokee_Building_Spires_3by5.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094951803002347602" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 197px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 126px" height="222" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Nv29M2ANY6m-yU2CxpHvWpSR6Jc3XDSYMmoydL9X0YJP_eyUKuH6fmcUkfzw3BDPdNu8jH_2SflfI4qkpm5zmv8Jsht5APnFmhAw-FjW7oj-3Pyu1s3lYQGIPS-w5Hd0jOLyjuhCz3M/s400/Cherokee_Building_Spires_3by5.jpg" width="308" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br />I may be a Jennifer, but I'm also a writer who has just completed a memoir titled <em>I, Driven: memoir of a teen's involuntary commitment</em>. When I was 18, I was committed, against my will, to a mental institution, The Cherokee Mental Health Institute in Cherokee, Iowa, pictured in this post (I snapped this photo in 2004). </div><div><br /></div><div>The institution is still in business, but has added a new twist to its business: incarcerating sex offenders.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm in the process of shopping the memoir around to agents and editors. For those of you who are writers, you know how difficult it is these days to gain the attention of the powers who decide what gets published. So I have decided to try something a bit different:</div><div><br /></div><div>I have set up a web page with an open letter to agents and publishers regarding my memoir. I'm also going to try the old fashioned way, but the other night, as I was checking out a domaining blog, I got this brainstorm: why not find a generic domain name and put my promotional information on it?</div><div><br /></div><div>Amazingly, some great generics having to do with memoir were available and just ready for the plucking (for cheap), so I grabbed several variations. For now, you can see how I have used one of them (I'm still a bit slow with creating web pages):</div><div><br /><a href="http://www.newmemoir.com/"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>www.NewMemoir.com</strong></span></a></div><div><br />This domain name was parked on Sedo for less than 24 hours and received three browser type-in hits, so I decided to pull it and DO something with it--that's my goal for all my parked pages; I just need to find the time without devoting my entire life to creating web pages. But this one felt important (at least personally).</div><div><br /></div><div>Don't be afraid to promote yourself and your artistic endeavors on your own blogs and web pages; it may be the only free advertising you will ever get.</div><div></div><div><br />Best,</div><div><br /></div><div>Jennifer</div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4826397282049284220.post-59719193356378926902007-07-31T11:30:00.000-07:002007-07-31T14:49:31.992-07:00On Being a Jennifer<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikNi6WjNgb6xuvKmBEYdyoQpNr-VqM-QxN749sOz84s0HctASjlXlB72AqfTuFQYAnJuXZEWwcRe8WQH_Fb_Bl7m4PVU9AJrX4m4Sf4qdWcYgII5dZ4n-A87cBp0o3rOz8Nck7DgRb5rQ/s1600-h/Jennifer+Jones+Cover+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5093442615919042530" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 91px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 104px" height="295" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikNi6WjNgb6xuvKmBEYdyoQpNr-VqM-QxN749sOz84s0HctASjlXlB72AqfTuFQYAnJuXZEWwcRe8WQH_Fb_Bl7m4PVU9AJrX4m4Sf4qdWcYgII5dZ4n-A87cBp0o3rOz8Nck7DgRb5rQ/s400/Jennifer+Jones+Cover+2.jpg" width="301" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">I was named after a celebrity, the actress </span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0428354/"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Jennifer Jones</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">.<br /><br />If you are in your 20's or 30's, you may not have heard of Jones, but when I was born in 1950, she was wildly popular and considered to be one of the most beautiful women in the world. The above photo says it all, I believe.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">In the 1950's and 1960's, the name "Jennifer," for a kid, was considered to be an oddity, one that set its bearers apart from the other kids. In 1950 only 750 per 1,000,000 babies were given the name </span><a href="http://www.thenamemachine.com/baby-names-girls/Jennifer.html"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Jennifer</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">.<br /><br />As a kid, I hated my name; I might as well been named Brunhilda or some other unlikely name, and set out to be known as someone else. My names of choice: "Jenni" and "Mary" (my confirmation name).<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Various relatives got around the Jennifer conundrum by calling me Jeff, Jeffer, Lee, Lee-Lee, Jennilee, Bugs, Bugsy, and Bugzita.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">If you call me "Jeff" or "Jeffer," I'll answer you. But then I'll know that you're a long, lost relative, even if I don't recognize you, because no one else calls me that, including my husband Jerry (who has his own identity problem; he shares the same name as one of the Superman creators).<br /><br />I have re-assumed "Bugzita" as an online user ID, which I used at </span><a href="http://foetry.com/wp/?page_id=80"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Foetry</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"> and currently use at </span><a href="http://www.postfoetry.com/"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Post Foetry</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">, a blog I created after Foetry closed, and other sites. I even own the Bugzita dot-com domain.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">I spent my childhood and my teen years loathing and dodging the moniker "Jennifer." My Aunt Hazel must have felt the same because she lobbied (nearly successfully) to have my name legally changed to Candace.<br /><br />At the time, my last name was Carson, so one can only imagine the profoundly negative effects of being known as "Candy Carson." Fortunately, my mother had the foresight to refuse my aunt, a formidable presence in our family.<br /><br />I have been told that I did answer to "Candy." Blissfully, I do not remember this.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Still hiding behind nicknames and diminutives, I graduated from high school. I moved out to Hollywood, California, to hang out with my mother and aunt and, perhaps, get a job. Instead, I discovered the pharmaceutical delights of the time and started hanging out on the Strip and started introducing myself as "Jeff."<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Then I met my first husband Jeff. "Jeff Loves Jeff" wasn't quite working out, and I felt I had outgrown "Jenni," so, reluctantly, I called an uneasy truce with Jennifer. Besides, Jeff, tired of a female upstart hijacking <em>his</em> name, started calling me Jennifer.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">I was introduced to my new Pennsylvania in-laws and friends as Jennifer.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Over time, I not only accepted my name, but I also started loving it, both for its beauty--both aural and visual--and its rarity. Being a Jennifer was a special privilege, bestowed upon a very few young women.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">And then the 70's hit; the peers who once teased me about my name started naming their baby girls "Jennifer."<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">According to </span><a href="http://www.thenamemachine.com/baby-names-girls/Jennifer.html"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">The Name Machine</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">, 1970, the same year my son Eric was born, was the most popular year for naming girl babies Jennifer: 35,350 per 1,000,000 births.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">I didn't notice this trend until about three or four years later when I started overhearing young mothers shouting "Jennifer" to their misbehaving progeny. At first, I thought they were yelling at <em>me</em> because who else would be named Jennifer?<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Only I wasn't misbehaving, just trying to keep my <em>own</em> child in line.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Suddenly, Jennifers seemed to be springing up all over the place; at first, I was flattered because, finally, others were beginning to see what I had always known, at least on some level: that being a Jennifer was not only okay, but awesome!<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">But then it became annoying: how dare <em>they</em> hijack <em>my</em> name? Why did every other girl have to be named Jennifer? Did the baby girl name machine run out of other lovely names? Enough, already!</span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">In my sixth decade of life, I have called a truce with the Jennifer craze and have come to view us as belonging to a special club: </span><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">You Jennifer!<br /></span></strong><br />I invite all Jennifers, even Jennifers with variant spellings (Jenifer, Jennyfer, Jenniffer, etc.), and those who love their Jennifers, to check out the </span></span><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/you-jennifer/"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">You Jennifer</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"> forum, where you can post your thoughts and stories about being a Jennifer or loving a Jennifer.<br /><br />Best,<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Jennifer (who else?)</span></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4