As I mentioned a few blog posts back, I was debating whether or not to give up the pen name and start writing under my real name. After receiving an email from my friend Mark, he reminded me that I have already been blog outed in cyberspace. A while back Mark referenced one of my posts on the David Iglesias firing case, where I asked where the piles of evidence that Republican operatives out here claimed Iglesias was ignoring.

Without rehashing my post or the Iglesias case right now (I’m swearing off politics for the summer, hopefully) I realized what Mark was saying. Why be worried now? Plus I’ve been referring to this blog from my Facebook and Twitter accounts for a while now, so quite a few of you already know who I am. So why not just rip the bandage off and get it over with?

Here goes…

Name: Benson Hendrix

Rank: Futurist, trend watcher (as much as one can be from Albuquerque), videographer, movie maker, public relations specialist, media relations pitcher (batter up!), former rugby great (in my own mind), jazz and electronic music aficionado, blogger, social media maven, king of my world and all around good guy.

Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Serial Number: 666 (or something around there…) 😉

I’m one of the PR guys for the University of New Mexico, a place that I’m proud to call my alma mater. I tend to focus more on social media/content creation, netcasting, crisis management assistance and media relations than traditional PR press release writing. Speaking of media relations, check here for one of my first press events after getting hired at the U of NM.

I’ll warn you now, although most of you who have been reading me for a while already know this, at times I’m snarky and sarcastic, with what I think is a heart of gold and a quickly developing BS detector. I wanted to come out from behind my pen name, because while I enjoy blogging it was getting harder and harder to blog in a stale, sterile voice and I wanted to put a little more of my passion and myself behind this blog, which I’m doing if I put my name on the line. And if I want to direct people about being true to themselves when engaging in social media, I should probably do this as well. 

What do I want to blog about? Well, some of the things that I’m passionate about:

The intersection of new media/social media and traditional communications, and how the Internet has impacted the media

Technology – I’m a geek at heart

Politics (although I’m trying to cut back on the political diet, because my blood pressure needs a break) – including a smackdown of both political parties, because both sides piss me off at times

The media

Public Relations and Advertising (it’s what I’ve made a career out of) and business

Albuquerque – home for my fiancée and myself for the foreseeable future

So what can I say?

I am Spartacus Benson.

P.S. To answer the question floating out there – Yes, I have a job. Yes, I have an opinion. One does not influence, nor should be connected to, the other.

P.P.S. It was pointed out that in my rush to get this up I had forgotten to include a photo credit, which I apologize for.  The pictures above were taken by my friend Mark Bralley at the 2007 New Mexico PRSA Fall Conference, which I co-chaired.