If you blog, it’s a fair bet that you know about memes - those viral efforts that spread through social networks like chain letters. Today, I got “tagged” in a blog meme, by none other than Will Sullivan. I won’t pretend to be put off by it, since I’m sort of geeked to have gotten tagged (especially since others who’ve participated include Jeff Jarvis, Howard Owens and Amanda Congdon, among others).
So without further adieu, 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Me (But Were Afraid To Ask):

1. I failed the first journalistic writing assignment I ever took, but Culture Club saved the day.
   I was to write a journalistic story about a cat who somehow got caught in a clothes dryer for Mrs. Janice Ryan’s newswriting class in 10th grade. Having no concept of a lede, I wrote the story like an English paper, and promptly received a big, fat, red “F” at the top of the page. But Mrs. Ryan was nothing if not forgiving, and so she explained the concept of the lede and catching the reader’s interest, and allowed me to re-write the story. “Yesterday, Fluffy the cat put new meaning to the words of the Culture Club’s ‘I’ll Tumble For Ya,’” is a close approximation of the new lead. So, yeah, you can blame Mrs. Ryan for the rest.
2. I do a wicked impression of Garrison Keillor. Not that it’s ever been called for at a party, or anything.
3. I have this logo tattooed on my right shoulder (from a shop on Westheimer in Houston, Texas). Bonus points for anyone who knows what it’s from.
4. Shane McGowan of the Pogues once stole my hat.
5. I have exactly 1/2 of a Master of Divinity degree - and they’d probably never give me the rest of it.

At this point, tradition mandates that I pass this chain letter on to some other folks - five, to be exact. Given that most of the blogs I regularly read have been tagged, I’ll have to stretch a bit. I hope these folks are still near a computer now that the break is upon us. I’m tagging: Doug Fisher, Mindy McAdams, Len Witt, and Angela Grant. And for a little across-the-Atlantic spice, I am going to throw in Martin Stabe.

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