Michele K. Jones

Having a generic last name can be a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, I can be just as anonymous as I want to be. Flying under the radar has its perks. On the other hand, I am often confused with other people named Michele Jones, Michelle Jones, Michael Jones, etc. Last spring, a Michelle C. Jones skipped out on the rent on an apartment in the same complex in which I lived 8 years ago. The apartment company mixed up our records, turned over my (clean, debt-free) file to the collections agency and I got the harassing phone calls telling me that my credit is tied up in debtor’s hell. This was an unpleasant experience.

Last week, in a less annoying situation (for me), this blog began receiving traffic from people searching for Michele S. Jones, the special assistant to the defense secretary who is a figure in the White House party crasher story. This gave me a bit of a chuckle, except that my blog stats showed that someone was searching for “should Michele Jones be fired.” I’m currently a graduate student assistant, so it is very difficult for me to get fired, and I know this search referred to the other Michele Jones, but still…  I’ve never been fired from a job and I’d rather people not speculate about doing it in the future.

So for the record, I am NOT:

- The first female command sergeant major of the Army Reserves who is also the newsworthy Michele Jones,

- A talented California artist who makes really cool jewelry ,

-  A family practice physician in Allentown, Pennsylvania,

- A woman holding a fish

- A British wedding photographer

- A mixer of wine and cold medication

- A Canadian project manager

Not that I’m opposed to making cool jewelry, photographing weddings, or holding fish. I just want to clear up any confusion that might drive people to my little corner of the Internetz.

So, please don’t fire me.