This blog is about my life, and my story, in a world of seven billion people, seven billion ongoing stories. But I can’t pretend that it’s only about my story, because my story intersects with dozens or hundreds or other stories every day. This is where I tell you how I’m going to treat those intersections, whether my actions are mandated by policy, law, honour, or just common decency.
I don’t get my ideas in a vacuum. If I pick up an idea from the internet or some other public source, I will always note the source and provide a link if I can. I am not interested in taking credit for anybody else’s ideas.
Any photographs attached to my blog pieces are ones that I have taken, or ones that I now own the copyright to by virtue of being the last person standing. Any photos not falling into one of these two categories will be attributed to their photographers.
If I pick up an idea in a private conversation, I may allude to the participant(s) in that conversation. However, I will mention those people by name or by pseudonym only if I have their permission. There are two special exceptions to this rule:
- A few years before his death, my father told me that I was free to write anything that I needed to about him. It seems entirely possible that he knew this day was coming.
- I sometimes take part in group therapy. In these situations, it is my responsibility not to record any detail about any person I encounter in that group: not their story, not their gender, hair colour, eye colour, nothing that could allow someone to identify those people by implication, or by their relationship to me. I may write about any techniques that I learn, but only as they apply to my own experience.
For my own protection, I will not tell you where I work. Furthermore, I am legally bound not to tell you anything that happens at work that is related to the job itself. Don’t worry; I’m not a spook.
So, these are my ground rules. Do they seem fair to you?