[JessFinds] Why I don't use my maiden name

In response as to why I don't use my maiden name (a Facebook inquiry from a High School friend):

When I was in college, I had a stalker. And yes, you know that stalker. I dated him my Jr & Sr years of high school. Name rhymes with Scary. We broke up the summer after high school. He apparently stalked me for a few years without me knowing. At least that is what the police indicated. I was pretty oblivious.

My Junior year of college I went out of town for a ski weekend with a friend. I came back to an apartment covered in crime tape. Dude broke in, stole half of my underwear and built a pyre on my bed with the other half. Set my bed on fire (using my perfume as fuel and rolled up copies of the paper I wrote for as logs). He did some other weird stuff. Some perverted, some just plain odd. Stole other stuff too, like the tape to my answering machine (this was before voicemail). Somewhere out there, he sits listening to: "Hey, I can't take your call right now. Leave your message at the beep."

He was a whack-job drug addict who apparently thought I was his one and only. Whoops. He was such a good Catholic Boy back in the day.

Long story (and trust me - it gets long and convoluted and includes tidbits like him running around campus with a shotgun threatening to kill me and all of my friends, the DA advising me to drop out of school, etc...) He went to jail. I went to therapy. I spent a few years keeping tabs on his whereabouts once he was released.. Eventually I stopped.

And that is why I don't use my maiden name on social networks like Facebook or get listed in alumni directories.