Jeg Er Alan (or, “What’s in a Name?”)

Over a month ago I had a very depressing call with a Christian minister who asked me to remove all references and links to his church from this Traditores web site and my personal Twitter account? Why?

Because both the name Traditores and my Twitter handle (AlanCult) could be misunderstood. He suggested I consider changing my Twitter handle.

I mournfully expunged all references and links and still hope his assurances that there was nothing else behind the requests are true. Hard to shake off, if you know what I mean.

Now, even though I would suggest that someone truly in a cult wouldn’t advertise it by working it into their handle, “AlanCult” has been misunderstood before. It (and “AlCult”) were created many, many years ago (before Twitter) by combining my name with that of my then favorite band, The Cult. However, at this point it is not worth further misunderstandings, and I have changed my Twitter and Facebook handles from AlanCult to JegErAlan…

Which means “I am Alan” in Norwegian.

And that, really, is all I am.

P.S. When using Google Translate to double/triple/quadruple check I had it right…it kept wanting to change “jeg er Alan” to “jeg er alene,” which means “I am alone.” Kind of apropos given how this situation makes me feel…