I'm Sorry Walt Whitman

Today marks the one year anniversary since I returned to the land of the blogging!  It is what I consider my blogiversery and I am so grateful for anyone who reads and for the new connections I have around the world due to blogging. Even though today comes with a big milestone it also comes with some news.  Today I am bidding adieu to So Much Sunshine.  No no, not the whole blog thing just to the title of my blog.  I really loved the title of my blog and why I used it.  I love the quote from Walt Whitman that says "Some people are so much sunshine to the square inch."  A friend told me that she thought it was a good quote for me and it made me so happy when she said that.  I also love American Literature and taught it for a few years so it felt like the right title for me and my blog.Unfortunately, I am not the only person in the world with a blog who liked the title.  While looking around the internet and reading some blogs I came across another blog that had based their whole theme around that quote, the second half of the quote, and in many ways reflected my words and my work.  Similar posts were posted weeks after my original was posted and it all felt extremely creepy.  I do not want to say who it is or go and make this person feel bad.  I hope it is a huge coincidence.  My first reaction was to over react and considered leaving blogging altogether.  I really take internet safety very seriously and if someone was using my blog for their inspiration I was worried. My next thought was that I should be flattered, because of that saying giving plagiarizers the best out when they get caught, "copying is the highest form of flattery."I then felt kind of bad about using the name and quote for myself.  I mean when I think about it I sort of stole it from my boy Walt.  I did not come up with something creative or novel.  Rather I took his words and tried to make it my own.  Which I never really liked and the English teacher in me did not like it either.  I mean Walt wrote during the mid 1800s.  He wrote during the Civil War and during Transcendentalism.  the rugged individual was highly important to what made an American. It seems to me that people were far more "with the words" than we are now.  So then it was clear I had to revamp my blog and come up with something creative that no one could steal, or if the did steal it, it would be a clear violation of everything good in the world.  Today I sat around and tried to brainstorm some great new blog titles and themes.  I was going to go with Grown Sexy, but Catherine beat that one to death with her wedding.  And then I realized what I needed to do.  I asked myself WWJPD?  What Would John Proctor Do?  Don't know who John Proctor is?  Well he is the hero (?) anti-hero (?) main character of Arthur Miller's The Crucible.  John Proctor refused to sign his name to a document admitting to being a witch because his name was all he had.  If he signed the paper his name, his reputation would forever forward be a lie.  So John P. what do I have that no one can take away from me?  My Name.  Good Lord I am such a nerd.  Thank you for putting up with this! Here is the great thing my name is somewhat unique, well my middle name is.  My grandfather's name was Jack and my mom was then going to have his name for her middle name if she was a boy.  Well she was a girl so they gave her the middle name Jacqueline.  The only problem is they spelled her name wrong on her birth certificate so it is Jacquline.  My mom then kept the tradition with my middle name.  I love my middle name and the little bit of family tradition that comes with it. So Welcome to Erica Jacquline, don't even try to copy it, ya posers!  I actually want to thank the person that had a similar blog to mine for pushing me to think of something new.  I really think that this could be the beginning of something even better for me and my blog and I am excited to see what the future holds. Also bear with me as I need to redesign and realign all my social media.  I am in the process of it all, but dang it I am not a website designer, I am waiting for the lovely Sarah to finish making other blogs pretty!Welcome to Erica Jacquline: simple, classic, and one of a kind…. me!