Sharing a name with not one, not two, but tens, hundreds, perhaps thousands and more people is a singular experience. No, that's not true, even as a pun, it's anything but singular. It's odd, it's disturbing, it's perhaps even exhilarating if I allow myself to think so. When I registered the domain for my name some years ago, I had the idea that I would share it somehow with my namesakes. I titled the site at that time "Built for Craig Swansons Around the World", that was just an intitial expession of my intent, which was at the very least to have a section of the site where Craig Swansons could register themselves, to begin to get a glimpse of the depth and variety of genus Craig Swanson.
Some years before this, before the web, when I started to get an idea just how common, how absurdly, obscenely overused my EXACT name in fact was, I'd had an idea to research some specific iterations around the country and travel to meet them, write down the results, maybe even shoot some verité video of the lunacy. The Book of Craig Swansons is, alas, MIA at amazon.com. The DVD is missing too.
I haven't realized any of these projects. But it all continues to interest me. "Craig Swanson" is quite possibly the "John Smith" of the late 20th century. Few people (thank goodness) are naming their male child "Craig" anymore, its popularity has been falling precipitously since its height in 1969 (it was #44 on the most popular names list in the United States in the year of my birth, 1959; in 2004 it ranks #477). And of those millions, well, no not millions but thousands, thousands and thousands are named not just "Craig", but "Craig Swanson". To you, Craig Swanson: Let me hear you roar the simultaneity of the name. The common name. The absurd name. You shouldn't have to register craigswanson.gov or craigswanson.tv or some other bizarre shoehorn just to own your birthright piece of the web. No. Share the dotcom. Share the love. Share the absurdity. We'll find a way to make it work.
There are no new ideas in the world. But some folks realize the dream. Today, December 14, 2005, here's a rare example of one who's done it. Grace Lee and her "The Grace Lee Project". http://movies2.nytimes.com/2005/12/14/movies/14proj.html (New York Times, 12/14/2005, page E11.) Is there a web site? Yes by grabbity: http://www.gracelee.net/
Posted by: amosbray | 14 December 2005 at 08:28 PM