It's about the messages

Artists have been representing real life in symbolic ways for centuries, both in terms of paintings, sculptures and other art forms.  Similarly, I have chosen to represent my real life experiences by altering some aspects of the stories that I don't consider relevant to the higher level messages I think about and want to convey.  Therefore, I have changed some of the context - which sometimes includes changing the gender of the people involved, cities and other details.  In the case of some of my stories, what interests me are the ethics and humanity that people exhibit in carrying out their lives.  Those are the issues I focus on, not their gender.  There are many other things that interest me and that I will be writing about as time permits.

In addition to wanting to write about my interests, there are so many universal themes in people's lives that maybe people reading the posts will think about their own lives with a different lens.  While it's not the goal of the blog, that would be a great outcome!

In addition to wanting to focus on the higher level messages when I write, it's also a question of privacy.  I am glad to share as much as I want to share about my life in what is a public blog as long as it doesn't compromise my privacy.  If I was famous and writing my autobiography for publication, more attention to the truth would be desirable.  I don't want to be famous nor do I think that the nitty gritty details of my life are necessary or important in the bigger scheme of things.

Writing has always helped me get a different perspective on my own experiences.  By taking the role of  a reporter, I can more easily detach from the myriad of experiences that living in this world entails - and hopefully select to write about those things that are important to me for one reason or another.  Maybe it'll be a funny story every once in a while!

Just like Picasso painted women as colorful, one-dimensional, sets of lines and circles, I will continue to write stories that though may not be 100% aligned with the real details,  may spark the imagination and new ways of thinking in anyone that reads them.