A Thousand Words Plus
In case you missed it, below is my new profile picture for this blog’s front page.
I took it just a few days ago, backstage at the Black Box Arts Center, where I am currently appearing in a production of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People.
It earned first the honor of being my Facebook profile pic, for all my friends to admire. But then I made it public as my Twitter profile, and now here on my own website. It’s not only well-composed for a selfie, but it represents several things about me all at once.
You see me off stage here. I am in my costume, but I am not yet “in character,” because the rehearsal had not yet begun. That is to say, here, it’s still just me being me. But the costume, and the location represent of course the actor side of myself.
The typewriter is a prop I use in the show. It too is part of the theatre aspect of me, but of course is a well-established symbol of the writing profession, even if I don’t, and never have used one for my work.
And yes, I play a writer/editor in the play, by the name of Hovstad.
And I am off by myself in the shot, of course. Theatre is rarely a 100% solitary activity, but I make sure to take time to myself while doing it, just as with anything else. So my introverted nature is also reflected here. As a bonus, I’m not even making eye-contact with the viewer…a nod perhaps to both my introversion and my place on the Autism Spectrum.
It’s important to note that I planned none of this deeper imagery when I took the shot; I just thought me standing next to an old school typewriter would look cool. But it captured so much more than I planned, I couldn’t keep it totally to myself. That happens once in a while. Intriguing that it happened at nearly the exact same time last year.
And if all of this talk of pictures and imagery didn’t have enough levels to it already, I’ll mention one more metaphor that is less obvious when looking. I hope the entire idea of creating something just because I thought it would be fun, only to have it transcend all my plans and radiate unplanned positive effects will occur in my writing as well.
Ty Unglebower 
Very cool photo, Ty. And congrats on appearing in an Ibsen play. Personally, I’d be way too full of stage fright to enjoy doing something like that.