Vera Konigin
Webmaster
Hello! Call me Vera; it's not my name, but it also is. I've had many names over the years - nicknames, usernames, handles, titles, identifiers. Some of them were my choice, others prescribed, but all gesture through various lenses and perspectives at the same basic concept. Vera is one of my chosen names - an aspect of myself that I choose to primarily present in online spaces. It holds a special significance to me, and is in some ways more meaningful than the names I use formally.
Character
Vera Konigin is a Dungeons and Dragons character. She was created by the dungeon master as a Non-Player Character to serve an expository role in the narrative arc of the moment. When my Player Character was killed, Vera was repurposed into his role and remained with me for the duration of the game, which was many years.
I've used the medium of roleplay to express and ruminate on aspects of my personality I don't generally front, and Vera has been perhaps the most pointed instance.
I am not Vera. She is jealous, aloof, arrogant, and demeaning. I am not Vera. She is determined, corageous, defiant, and just. I am not Vera. She is frightened, insecure, avoidant, and suspicious. I am not Vera. She is idealistic, unrealistic, and rigid. I am not Vera. She believes in people. I am not Vera. She disbelieves in herself. I am not Vera. She bullies. I am not Vera. She cares deeply.
I am not Vera. But she is me.
Pseudonym
Vera Konigin is a name I give when I wish to remain (pseudo-)anonymous. It's the mechanism by which I keep my physical self insulated from my online exposure. It is a barrier I place between myself and systems I must engage with that wish to know me. It is distance between my professional self and my prototypal, hobbyist work.
I've also found that doing work under a pen name enables me to trick my brain into not tying my ego into things quite so much. This helps me receive criticism without taking it as personally as I otherwise tend to and helps me avoid the non-starting variety of procrastination.
Human
Vera is what some of my friends actually call me. There are times and contexts where my formal names, and even their informal variants, simply feel incorrect. If all you've known me as is Vera, then I am Vera. I respond to Vera. I think of myself as Vera. You can call me Vera.
Vera is a midwestern American woman nearing her thirties. She's a programmer by day trying to lean into the accessibility side of things. She likes a bunch of things including folk music, cooking, card games, and (wouldn't you know it) making websites.
If you want to get in touch, you may do so via vera@groundedwren.com
or reach out on discord to groundedwren
. Note: it is currently where I live.
