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Recently in Salon People

People Feature
Confessions of an awards whore
I sneered at the whole cheesy routine until I was nominated for one. Was I thrilled? I was Sally Field squared.
By Steve Burgess
[03/25/00]

People Feature
The last Oscar speech
On the night of the Academy Awards one actress will have the courage to stand onstage, her statuette clutched to her bosom, and speak directly from her heart ...
By Deanne Stillman
[03/25/00]

People Feature
Where you find it
In a culture of detritus, "American Beauty" screenwriter Alan Ball discovers heartbreaking beauty in garbage.
By Russ Spencer
[03/25/00]

Nothing Personal
Thirsty heart
For The Boss, it's gotta be Hellmann's ... and orange bubbly. Plus: More mammarial madness from photogenic Scientologists! And: David Duchovny takes umbrage.
By Amy Reiter
[03/24/00]

People Feature
Henry Miller, hot pants and ants
You think you've got problems? The Geezer's gotta cope with the 3 a.m. blues and that dratted Bob Marley. But then there's Flor, the rose of Castille ...
By Carlos Amantea
[03/24/00]

Complete archives for People

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I gazed up at a tree that had been my favorite since I first visited the park a decade ago, back when it was a very different place: dirty, crime-infested and dangerous. Now, in the Giuliani era, it is merely odd. A group of Hare Krishnas -- maybe 50 of them -- were marching and singing at the perimeter of the park, beating their drums and dancing in some sort of joyous, delirious ecstasy. They bounced down the winding paths toward the main circle. I could not help but think to myself: Good lord, what a bunch of fruit loops.

They looked pretty happy though, in their flimsy pink pants layered over sweats and long underwear and athletic shoes (New Balance and Converse low-tops, no less!) They approached my favorite tree and circled around it, gently swaying and singing. None of the folks sitting in the park were paying much attention, except for some Latino men, their shiny mountain bikes leaning nearby on a fence, who were clapping along and singing, because, let's face it, that "Hare Hare" song is catchy.

Then an older gentleman, who wore a suit and reminded me of one of my high school teachers, announced on a microphone that the Hare Krishna movement had commenced in New York 30 years ago at that very tree. In fact, I was sitting in front of a religious landmark! So that's why I loved this tree so much. Maybe I had a little "Hare, Hare" in me?

I sat there, giggling and thinking: Well, all right, this is what I've been doing wrong all this time. I just need a cult, see, a cult to solve all my problems. Of course, it's not particularly clever to make fun of Hare Krishnas. It's not their fault that they're bald, favor pastels and can't think for themselves. After all, this is America and people can sing and dance wherever they want (except for certain towns in Texas).

And then I realized that this whole moment would make a great entry for my online journal, except it's gone. I had to take my journal down this week; it's dead, gone and over. But I'll get to that later.

The best thing about the Web is the sound of all the individual voices rising. I hear voices from independent zines and Web logs ("bloggers"), but for me, it's always been about the Web journals. I hear those voices loud and clear. They're not necessarily always interesting, or angry, or worth your time, but if you talk loud enough (in this instance, update regularly, send a flattering e-mail with your URL to a more popular journal writer who may then link back to you, and make yourself known on message boards), someone is going to listen. Unfortunately, all that talk can get you into trouble sometimes.

Diarist.net, which claims to be the "largest and most definitive resource for finding online journals and diaries," counts more than 2,000 sites in its registry. That's 2,000 exhibitionists clamoring to be heard; people seeking community, seeking an audience. And they're just the people who choose to index their sites. There are probably thousands more, all over the world, who detail the minutiae of their life for publication on the Web. And with the advent of do-it-yourself sites like Diaryland, you don't have to be Web-savvy to put your life online.

It's an interesting idea, creating a private space in a public arena. Some journal writers choose to password-protect their site, which is either an incredibly responsible act or a paranoid one. But the majority of writers display their emotional wares freely, even if they seek to maintain anonymity by inventing an alternate name or identity.

When some of the first journals appeared on the Web five years ago, not enough people were online for it to make an impact. But, as we all know, the Internet has exploded in the past few years, and if you don't have a computer at home, you at least have one at work. Many online journals get the most hits of the day during the lunch hour.

And now people are being held accountable for their words. Initially journals could get you in trouble with your friends, families and lovers. Now journals get you in trouble with your employers and, in some instances, incite legal action.

Take the case of Gus, who writes the Web journal Randomly Ever After, which gets about 400 visitors a day. Gus has been writing online for more than four years and has had three separate journals in that time. Among descriptions of his life with his girlfriend, his dog and his art lies a notoriously critical analysis of his job as a Web developer for an online portal (which he elected never to name specifically.)

In February, on his 32nd birthday, he was fired from his job. He claims on his home page, "They decided that the wild and crazy things said in this site are at odds with their corporate goal of global conquest."

Gus' documentation of his corporate existence rings true not only for those working in the world of technology, but for anyone who feels like a victim of a bait-and-switch by their employer: You signed on for one thing, and you got something completely different. Whether or not he was actually fired entirely because of his journal is unclear.

According to Gus, his employers cited three separate reasons for his "de-hiring," the third of which was his Web site. But it was cited in his exit interview; even if it wasn't the main reason, the fact that it was raised at all indicates that it was a contributing factor.

In an e-mail interview, Gus revealed the name of his former employer, CollegeClub.com, and commented on why he thought he was fired.

Next page | "I was sick of working for a well-funded Heaven's Gate"