Please allow me to humbly introduce myself unto you:
My name is Rivalie Bettelheim. I am 21 years-old. I was born in Paris, NY. Which is to say, I was ushered into life in New York City, but conceived in Paris. I prefer to fancy myself more of a Pariesienne, like my mother. My father, as I am sure you have surmised from my last name, is German, but the history of his side of the family is somewhat cloudy and distasteful, and so I prefer not to over-identify myself with that portion of my heritage. I used to hate the sound of my surname, but I rather like it now. And in case you are not aware of it, there is a marvelous book written by a Bettelheim. I could tell you all about it, but I will let you search it out for yourself. The search is half the fun. In general, and for most things.
Currently, I am residing in Los Angeles, CA, which constantly baffles me as I really should be taking advantage of my duel citizenship. (I am ever so lucky, I know, and because of this I try to keep all complaining about my life to a minimum.) At any rate, here I am. Los Angeles is rather a magical place, despite what you may hear, as long as one is open to the magic of it. It can also be a very sad place. Personally, I believe that in any location, it is the people, and not the actual place itself, that make a place what it is. I am surrounded by remarkable women, women that I have carefully plucked from out of the metaphorical forrest of this city. My collection of remarkable women, whom I hold close to my heart and never leave to sit on a shelf collecting dust, is my most prized accomplishment.
I am a visual artist, a not-so-modest philanthropist, and a supplier of vintage clothing to the naked masses. As you can see to your left, I work with a couple dear friends of mine on an online vintage shoppe called Rococo Vintage. I spend my days rifling through treasures, drawing, making dolls and puppets out of paper clay and found materials, and mostly, reading by a window with a cup of tea in my lap (hence, the url.) And whoamikidding, sometimes a cup of something a tad bit stronger.
This is mostly irrelevant information. I did not decide to start this blog (my first) in order to go on about myself, it just occurred to me that perhaps you would be interested to know who is writing it. One likes to know a bit about the person whose words one is reading, I think. Take Oscar Wilde, for example. I feel that it is much more fascinating to know enough about Oscar Wilde to understand that he has based the character of Lord Henry in The Picture of Dorian Grey upon himself. Which is interesting when you consider that Lord Henry takes the place of Mephistopheles in Wilde's own version of the Faust tale. Very interesting indeed. Self-perception is a phenomenally complex thing.
At any rate, here is my (disorganized) Mission Statement, of sorts: Having long been baffled by the concept of The Blog, by its mass popularity and everyjoehasoneness, I have decided to start one myself to suss it all out. A blog. About blogs. If you will. Inevitably, I am sure I will end up blathering about other topics, probably more frequently than even I foresee, but I suppose that this is a part of the whole experiment. I am already finding something rather thrilling about writing this, knowing that invisible strangers will be reading. Will perhaps even find it interesting, perhaps addictive, even, as people do find so many other online environments.
At the moment I am particularly fascinated with a very specific kind of blog, a blog that dots the web in scores. A type of blog which I have christened The Whimsical Young Lady Blog. My exploration of this female cyberculture will include numerous links and interviews to support my general thesis, the statement of which I shall reserve for my next post.
My next post. An interesting turn of phrase. My my, it appears that Rivalie Bettelheim has found her way into the blogosphere at last.
