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Dear Diva:
Why did you name your site "dearkandb?" Does that mean "Dear Something (?) and Bush"? I cant figure it out…
Confused in Cyberland
Dear Confused:
The name has an interesting origin. But first, let me tell you what it means. It (dearkandb) means "Dear Katarina and Bianca." Katarina and Bianca were two sisters, total opposites, in Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." I, as you shall see, used to be "Katarina."
THE BACK STORY
I attended Texas A&M University WAY back in the 80's. Texas A&M is one of those conservative universities that makes you despair for the soul of American politics. Real John-Bircher territory. George the Elder built his Presidential Library there. Not a pretty picture.
I met a girl there, we'll call her "Bianca." Anyway, Bianca lived two doors down from me in the dorm my first year, and was my next-door-neighbor in an apartment complex the next. Bianca was worldly. She had already lost her virginity when we met, and I hadn't. Bianca was a joiner and loved the whole "Aggie" experience, and I couldn't possibly have cared less. Bianca dressed like a soccer mom, and I dressed like a party girl. Bianca, I found out much later, disapproved of my "wild" ways, though I was the unsullied maid at that time, not Bianca…
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
Years later, after seeing me on television, Bianca found me online. We renewed our acquaintance via e-mail and a couple of phone calls. Bianca had a personal problem, which I tried to help her overcome. Bianca thought I gave her good advice, so asked me to develop an advice website with her (I had already made websites for her three children). I agreed.
We decided to offer advice from our two very different perspectives, hers conservative and mine liberal, her a married mom and me a single-childless-chick living in sin, her a football fan and me a raunch-rock addict, her a conservative christian and me NOT. Total opposites, like Katarina and Bianca. I designed the site, worked hard on it, and onto the web it went.
Then the election came.
Bianca knew that I had volunteered to work on a local campaign, and had a "horse in the race" so to speak. As the election debacle began to unfold, I suggested that we should place that topic off-limits. She insisted we should not. We corresponded and things got heated.
Now, I don't mind a strongly-worded political debate. I live for that stuff -- my idea of a good time. But Bianca couldn't win that kind of argument, so she decided to attack me personally. She, remembering confidences I had shared with her, basically said that I deserved every bad thing that anyone ever did to me. The christian in her talking, I guess.
Anyway, that was that for me. I blocked her e-mails and IM's, deleted the site I created for her, and uploaded the site you see before you now. She noticed. She sent me a package of goodies, with a letter apologizing for political statements she had made, but saying nothing about the personal attack. I gave the goodies to my boyfriend and threw the letter away.
You see, almost a year ago I made a "Resolution," and Bianca knew it, because I told her:
"This year, when someone says something totally out of line to me, I'm not going to roll over and take it. People act badly because they know they can get away with it. Not with me. Not anymore. This is the year I start standing up for myself."
Congratulate The Diva!
She kept her 2000 New Year's Resolution!
NEXT: BARTCOP KILLS LIBERAL MEDIA MYTH
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