Clever Title

After a few people have inquired about the title of my blog, I decided I would explain. During my sophomore year of college, I was enrolled in Penny Bird’s writing course. I read Jane Austen’s Persuasion, and I wrote a research paper about how the conflict between old money and new money drove the characters’ actions. During a lesson about titles, Penny informed the class that the title of a paper should be telling yet catchy—it should be clever. She also mentioned that sometimes it’s easier to name a paper when it’s finished, or nearly finished, when the author understands the paper more holistically. While I didn’t know what to call my paper, I went home and took her advice, however misconstrued: I named my paper “Clever Title.” I had a thesis and I knew where my paper was headed, but I still didn’t know where my paper would end up. When it was finally finished, however, I came up with a proper name. Since then, I always titled all my papers “Clever Title” (until I came up with a better name, at least). My teachers quietly laughed whenever I handed them a draft and they read my proxy title, noting my unfinished work and half-baked thoughts.

Two years ago when I started this blog, I called it “Clever Title.” Looking over my posts, I find a common theme that unites my writings—my negotiating of the demands of both family and school life. You might even say my blog has a thesis: navigating these separate-but-interconnected worlds is difficult. I feel like my blog has a direction and I know where it’s headed, but I don’t really know where it will end up. Whenever I decide what my blog is about, and I probably never will, I’ll give it a real title. Until then, “Clever Title” will have to do.