Our user names and avatars how did we choose them

Our user names and avatars how did we choose them
My username is a short version of a name bestowed upon me by an online friend nearly 20 years ago. Avatar is from a drawing made at an amusement park when I took Grandma and one of my Great Aunts on a weekend vacation.
 
My username is Harry because I'm Harry Potter.
That's not totally true. My real name is John.
But I was really into Harry Potter when I joined NOMSV, before it was malesurvivor.

My avatar is The Glaive, which is a mystical five-pointed weapon used by the character Colwyn in the movie Krull, a sci-fi/fantasy movie from 1983. It's a remarkable weapon; I wish it was real and mine.
 
My current avatar is a diptych of me and the person who brought me here. Both images were from photos taken at same time it all started. It's different - and perhaps a bit controversial. But the contrast is stunning to me and worth sharing. I see at once just how young and little I was - and yet at the same time how strong and positive I was. My dad - who never knew I was being abused - called me a little super ball. I think that spirit saved me from a darker fate.
 
My avatar is me, aged about eight or nine, right around when the elder son of friends of my parents raped me while babysitting me and my brother. Given the smile on my face and the playfulness I seem to be exhibiting in the photo, it must have been taken before the rape.
 
I don't change my avatar often, perhaps once in a blue moon, but I have changed it since this thread began. My current avatar is one of me drawn by a former coworker back in 1999. I asked her to draw me as a Bloom County character, and this is what came out of that request. Bloom County was one of my favorite comic strips through the 80s, even into today. In the full drawing, I'm looking down at Opus giving the camera a peace handsign.
 
Hi everybody, I love this thread, one of the first I read before I joined MS. It makes me sad but connected and hopeful about healing. I like the honesty, creativity, generosity, humor and humanity you all show here. I didn't want to identify at first but I do now. And I rely on you now, a risky but necessary thing.

MISSING: has anyone seen this boy? The avatar is me at 12, suicidal, disappearing. I kind of recognize him, but there are blank places in my memory. He shows up in flashbacks and dreams.

My username seachange is from The Tempest, a story of shipwreck, loss, oppression, and beautiful magical transformation.

with gratitude, seachange
 
Seachange,

I hope you find him. Mine was missing, too - same age. Finding him has turned out to be the adventure of my life.

As far as helping you find him, I can only share my own journey finding mine. In that spirit, I see that he is not afraid to look directly at you. Spend some time living in his eyes.
 
Thank you Chase Eric, I'll take that challenge on. This boy is a slippery fish. Looking at his reproach scares me. It was you who told me so wisely to turn toward him and ask him to guide me, and that's been the scariest & best advice, I've become a much more patient kind and open man toward myself and my past. Thank you. Care and encouragement come through in everything you write. seachange
 
I chose my user name to try and capture the essence of a caretaker part that developed in me a long time ago. I wanted to honor him.
When ever I really mess up and get myself in real trouble making poor choices or just reaching the end of my rope, he always came to my rescue and always manage to save me. He has delivered me out of some really tough situations and I would not have made it without his help.
 
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