How many roles do you play in your life?
A friend just came back from a business trip to Spain and Portugal obsessing over Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa. Or was it Bernardo Soares? Or maybe it was Alvaro de Campos? It was all of them…in one! It seems that Pessoa created work under some seventy-six names. He called them heteronyms, as opposed to pseudonyms, because each held such distinct views.
One heteronym, Ricardo Reis, was even known for his critical writing about the texts of one of his other identities, Alberto Caiero. That’s funny!
Being authentically you…just not all at the same time.
We all play different roles throughout our lives, even at different times on a single day. We can be a different person when we are with different people. We, ourselves, change over time, continually learning and evolving. Is there one true you? They are all you. And that’s okay.
Speaking of wearing a new hat…
In the spirit of multiple identities, writer/show host Deanna is stepping back for a bit to make way for the newest Deanna, (as of November 1) the new Director of Communications and Outreach for Chicago’s Office of the Inspector General. That means this newsletter and my show, Intercultural Spark, will be on hiatus, at least for a while, as I settle into my new role serving the people of Chicago.
Would you share what’s been most valuable to you, please?
Thank you for letting me share over 100 shows and newsletters over the past two years with you. And thank you to so many amazing guests and others who have made introductions and joined in lively conversations.
I’ve written and talked about intercultural connections, marketing insights; how tech is intersecting with communications, the (micro) entrepreneur mindset, and about amazing and interesting entrepreneurs, and more.
What topics have resonated most with you? What has most benefited you or got you to think more deeply about a subject? Pessoa may have managed 76 heteronyms at one time, but for me, for now, I need to focus on one at a time.