Duchess Jane

. . . and old pseudonyms.

BLC sent me a text this weekend of a photo of things he found while cleaning out his office.  Hotel info from the weekend we met.  My old business card, featuring the photo of me, cut close to my eyes, looking out over the top of my sunglasses, my most recognizable avatar on racing message boards. 

It was discomfiting.  And yet so familiar that I felt a pang of longing.

Some things were easier as Jane.  It was nice having a personality to slip into that wasn't exactly me.  Sometimes I miss the old old days when I didn't even have a photo here, just a string of text rants. 

There are pieces of Jane that I need to reclaim.

If you're seeing this in your RSS reader, you probably need to do some cleaning.  But I'm touched to still be there.

I am sitting in a Starbucks, which is appropriate, as much of the content of this website in 2010 was composed in a Starbucks.  This, my friends, is the last post of DuchessJane.com.

I am not leaving you, intentionally, I am not running away.  You're all free to follow me.  I'll be writing from this point forward at a place I've named Lambic Pentameter.  I will never deny Jane, she will always be a part of me, a big part, but I will no longer be writing under a pseudonym and an online identity that I created when I was a teenager.

Dano and I have had many conversations about how to wrap things up here, how to "kill" Jane, more or less.  He originally wanted me to post a part 4 of the Empires series with the outline of Jane on the railroad tracks.  We have discussed gentle ways of ending things, and pulling the plug completely without warning.  BLC and Amy both weighed in last weekend with ideas and stories too.  Of those who know, the news has been met with equal parts shock and excitement.  It is as bittersweet for me as it is for them/you.

I will always treasure my time here, under this name, for the relationships it created and nourished.  Thank you all for reading, for coming back again and again, for contacting me, for meeting me in person, for providing your feedback, and for giving me this home on your screens for so long.  The most important people in my life today trace back to DuchessJane.com.  I'm so happy to have you all in my life, and I'm excited to take you with me for this next part.

I can't point to one reason or one motivation for why I'm making this change.  It has built slowly over months.  Some of my favorite photographers create photoblogs for specific projects - moments in time that have a start date and an end date, rather than trying to contain their entire life's work in one place.  It makes sense to me, it feels natural.  Our lives have chapters.  The chapter of my life that fits under the DuchessJane heading came to an end a long time ago, and I'm ready to move on.  LamPen, as I've started to call the new space, is not me, it is not a new identity.  It is the place that I write, for the indefinite future, as myself. 

I'm not from here.  I just live here.

Thank you all, again and forever, from the bottom of my heart. 

Love,

Jane