A Time of Privacy

Publication is a self-invasion of privacy. ~~ Marshall McLuhan ~~


I wrote this on the evening of August 21:
We have been in "private" mode since last Sunday. I am hopeful that, in the next few days, the fears that spurred us to that decision will subside and we'll be able to open the curtains and the doors and let our friends and followers back into our story.

I know, from my own experiences with blog friends over the years, that when blogs suddenly vanish or become "invitation only," there is a sense of loss and confusion.  Most often, when that happens suddenly, it causes me to wonder and worry.  "What must have happened?" is an entirely reasonable and understandable question...

In our situation, the decision to make this blog private was based in security fears, and was intended, from the beginning to be a temporary measure.  The suddenness of that decision was not optimal in terms of the anxiety likely to be felt by our readership, but it did feel necessary in terms of the situation we were faced with.

Without getting too explicit, the outline of what happened is this:  Shortly after I started back to school, during the week of preparatory meetings and events, and before the students returned, I received an email from a parent of one of my students.  She expressed unspecified concerns that she wanted to discuss with the school principal and me, and asked for a meeting.  Initially, I assumed it had to do with something school related, perhaps with something about the previous school year, or maybe something that happened during the summer.  I really had no idea what she wanted.  My principal told me that he would contact her and set up a meeting, and I went on about the business of preparing for the start of school.  Sometime in the middle of the night last Saturday, I began to fuss about the possibility that this mother had somehow stumbled onto this blog, connected it to me, and was about to expose the whole business, and end my career.  I worried for some long, dark hours, and by Sunday morning, I told the rest of the family that I thought it would be prudent to "hide" this blog until things got sorted out.  That would at least give me some degree of plausible deniability if the worst happened.  And so it was that I changed our settings so that no one could just call this blog up without my knowing about it.  The opening of school craziness has occupied both the principal and me until now.  We have not yetmanaged to meet with the concerned mother and -- her worries remain opaque to me.  The days tick by, and I am still quite worried, but then simultaneously mostly convinced that it will be alright in time.

So we will, hopefully, be back soon.  Thank you to all who wrote and expressed concern.  It is nice to know that people care.  We are all doing fine.  Just choosing to "hide" for a short while until all of the scary threats pass us by.

swan