Hello world, I am Jennifer LaSuprema Hecker.
Let me explain.
In the pre-&-proto-internet days, having a separate identity helped keep my personal and professional lives separate. The government knows me as Jennifer Rae Hecker, the name on my birth certificate, but back in the 1990s, when I was more involved in Austin’s punk/DIY/”alt-rock” scene, I decided it would be good punk rock form to take the pseudonym Jennifer LaSuprema, a name I used primarily in the publication of my fanzine. And that worked then. Now the internet (with it’s huge volume of searchable data, and it’s ever-changing gauntlet of privacy settings and relationship definititions) has made it easier to find links between my two names. Also, with the launch of the Austin Fanzine Project (a major reason for the lapse in my blogging here), I’ve essentially come out to my professional community as a participant in a culture that I previously was hesitant to be identified with in professional situations. Luckily, things are changing and my profession is becoming more and more inclusive. Where I used to see the value in keeping parts of my identity to myself, I now recognize that I have both a right and an obligation to represent all of the cultures I identify with.