nomenclature

I'm thinking of naming next year's walk something simple:

Kevin's Walk.

Disappointed? Bear with me. As a title, it's brief, it's to the point, it specifies the who and the what, and it leaves room for the imagination. As a search phrase, it also has the advantage of having (as of right before I wrote this post) only 69 listings* on Google, most of which are devoted to a video about some dude's walk to work. No other "Kevin's Walk"s listed on Google are about the kind of walk I'm planning, so I'm thinking I should take this phrase and run with it. Later on, I imagine that references to my walk will rise in the ranks as more people begin reading the blog devoted to it.

And yes, I've decided I will, at the very least, be blogging this walk. I've already staked out "kevinswalk.blogspot.com," so you can see I'm leaning heavily toward this moniker. I'm probably going to have to buy a PDA or something so I can blog en route; hauling around a laptop is an unsavory proposition.

One potential objection to "Kevin's Walk" is that the title features my name. Some might think it ironic that a religion-themed walk should have such an ego-filled title. I thought about that for a bit and ultimately decided that people who walk across America-- and expect to garner some attention for it-- will inevitably be accused of seeking the limelight, of engaging in self-indulgence, etc. Whether I plan to document the walk on film/video or write a book about it (or both), the walk will have an unavoidable "me" component to it. But is this label really as vain as all that? If anything, I find "Kevin's Walk" less pretentious than some of the other, more cosmic names I had been contemplating.

Another issue is whether "Kevin's Walk" is too vague a designation. "A walk for what?" someone might ask. I think this objection has some merit, but from a marketing standpoint, there's also the chance that it might tweak people's curiosity. Think about the title "Fat Man Walking," which is also blessedly simple. Walking where? Walking why? The only way to find out is to visit the site and get sucked into the adventure. So while vagueness might be a problem, I think it can also be an asset.

Lastly: I'm just about ready to articulate the walk's concept. That, along with a self-intro, will constitute the inaugural post of the new blog (whose template will need extensive cosmetic surgery, by the way). If you have objections to the walk's tentative name, now's the time to voice them. I'm hoping to settle on a name before the new semester starts; I can change the walk's (and the blog's) name with almost no effort. If you've got a name idea that'll blow me away, please float it to me ASAP.

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*This assumes you are doing a search for the exact phrase by putting quotation marks around it.


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