Chanman gets a name change

In the almost five years I have been operating this blog, I have been posting under the name "Chanman" since day one. As much as it pains me to break tradition and also somewhat compromise my anonymity, I have found it necessary to begin posting under a new name.

This came about when I was recently invited by our local fishwrap, the Sacramento Bee, to become a partner in their new feature called Sacramento Connect. The Online department of the Bee was trying to think of new ways to connect their readers to further content on news stories and decided to enlist the help of local blogs to make it happen. Buckhorn Road was invited to be one of those initial blogs. The catch is that the Bee is uncomfortable with my posting under a completely anonymous name, especially since my content can be rather... controversial... at times.

After a little negotiation, we compromised that I don't have to use my full name, and I don't have to provide the name of the school at which I teach. I can live with that. My main concern is that I know my students Google me - they have told me as much. I figured that as long as I don't post under my full first and last name, then the chances of my students easily connecting me to this blog are much more slim. And if they do make the connection? What're ya gonna do? I never use the students' real names, I never mention the name of my school, and I have tenure.

Hence, Chanman is dead, long live W.R. Chandler.

This isn't unheard of. I remember when I first started reading Powerline blog (see blogroll on left), the posts were written by Big Trunk, Deacon, some other nonsensical nom de plume. Later, after these guys started becoming more well known and began guest hosting for Hugh Hewitt and what not, we learned that their names were John Hinderaker, Scott Johnson, and Paul Mirengoff. They have since dropped their old names entirely.

And while I'm at it, I figured that this would be a logical time to change my sign off as well. There is a quote from Thomas Jefferson that has always been a favorite of mine; I have it posted in my classroom. So from here on out, W.R. Chandler will sign off with:

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be. --Thomas Jefferson