“But there’s an awful lot of stuff in my head that never gets written because whatever anyone says, blogging isn’t about keepin’ it real — it’s about the meticulous preparation and presentation of an artful rhetoric of keepin’ it real. At one point in Nashville I ran in Jim Hepokoski, who expressed surprise that I would confide so much about myself to a bunch of perfect strangers. I replied that I wasn’t confiding anything; whatever I write about myself is exactly what suits me for people to know about me. I don’t lie or mislead; nothing I say about myself is false. But whatever I disclose is selective and calculated. This isn’t the “real me” here, it’s a version of the real me packaged for blog consumption. Come to think of it, is there a real me anywhere? Probably not. We all do the same thing, making strategic self-disclosures to manage the perceptions that our friends, family, colleagues, and students have of us. As Rameau’s nephew pointed out, even the King poses for God and his mistress.”