My Avatar: Pictures are worth a million (assumed) words.

I didn’t put an extreme amount of thought into choosing my avatar. Not because I don’t care, but because I don’t believe that a picture can fully capture a person.  A picture can only show what is on the exterior of the body and the emotions at the specific time the photo is taken. For example, my avatar is a picture that was taken in high school for the local newspaper. The photo only shows a cute puppy and a dorky smile, it does not show that I was grumpy prior to the photo or that Lane, my dog, was parched from playing fetch.  I also just really love my dog and like showing her off. From the photo you can assume a lot of things such as my gender, sexual orientation, age or that I like dogs. Those are only assumptions based on predisposed theories of what gender, sexual orientation and age look like. This photo only allows people on the internet to assume who I am by my appearance and by the props that are in the photo.  I could have easily dressed up as a ballet dancer and based on the picture no one would be able to accurately assume that I am not anything but a ballet dancer.