Diluting my person brand

I interviewed Michael Ian Black a few weeks ago for Paper Thin Walls. A few weeks later, my friend Phil sent me a link to Black’s blog. He had written a post about our conversation, during which I had taught him to post images on his website:

To thank her, I wanted to put her picture up, but when I Googled “Jessica Suarez,” I got over four thousand hits. I would not have thought so many people with the surname “Suarez” would have thought to name their daughter “Jessica.” I wouldn’t have thought that at all. With so many Jessica Suarez’s to choose from, I had to narrow my favorites down to three. It’s possible – nay, likely – that none of these are MY Jessica Suarez. If not, I apologize. But not really.

He’s exaggerating, I think. I’m the highest Google result for my name, and because I decided years ago that silly forum/website/commenter names were just that, most of my accounts are under my real name and appear high in my search results. But he’s also right in that I’ve kept photos of myself off my Flickr and Myspace. This is partially because of Pitchfork, where people who were mad at my reviews tended to Google me, find my personal sites, and then make fun of the way I look. Once, I made fun of We Are Scientists on this site, and a response called me a tree monkey (I’m Filipino). When I worked for Forkcast I remember comments on Gorilla Vs. Bear that said I had slept with Ryan to get my job. I’m still surprised that the audience I write for (or, that I think I write for), skews liberal and educated, yet are so free and easy with racist and sexist comments. “That’s the internet,” etc., etc.

I am bringing this up now because I just bought another digital camera to replace my stolen one, updated my WordPress account, and renewed Flickr.