Meet Monkeyshine!

Monkeyshine is the nickname my Papa Emmett gave me in childhood. About a month ago, I realized I didn't know the meaning of the word. Today I looked it up (sometimes it takes awhile to put thought into action)...

definition:

mon·key·shine (mŭng'kē-shīn')
n. Slang
A mischievous or playful trick; a prank.

synonyms:

antic, caper, frolic, joke, lark, prank, trick. Informal: shenanigan.

Thanks, Papa? So...I've decided to adopt Monkeyshine as my web log pen name. Think of it as a kind of homage to childhood and the risk-taking and creative license that accompanies that time in our lives. As I navigate adulthood, I find that taking risks gets increasingly more difficult, and imagination and creativity often lose out to "falling in line."

I've thought about starting a web log in the past, but, as my soul sister Audrey recently blogged, "I guess writing something down gives it more weight, or at least packages it in a way that can be shared or held" (Check out http://colormeaudrey.blogspot.com for lots of beauty and witticisms). Audrey meant that in the good way, but I think it is precisely that idea of the permanence of one's ideas or ownership of one's words that has kept me from blogging in the past. If someone is going to "hold" my ideas close, I don't want them to stink, ya dig? However, this logic has not served me well--basically, it's paralyzing. So, in the name of Monkeyshine, I hope to shuck off the self-consciousness that has stunted my writing in the past, in favor of mischief and exploration. And if my writing sometimes sounds like a joke, that's because, in a sense, it is. Let the shenanigans begin!