{"id":70218,"date":"2014-04-23T19:31:42","date_gmt":"2014-04-23T23:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=70218"},"modified":"2014-04-24T12:11:35","modified_gmt":"2014-04-24T16:11:35","slug":"down-to-the-wireless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/23\/down-to-the-wireless\/","title":{"rendered":"Down to the Wireless"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mike<\/a>

Mike Licht, Women of Wi-Fi, after Caillebotte<\/i>. Image via Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

Someone in my building\u2014or maybe two different people, I don\u2019t know\u2014rejoices in cruel, taunting names for his wireless networks: \u201cMineNotYours\u201d and \u201cNoFreeLunch.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m just going to go out on a limb here,\u201d my old boyfriend once said, \u201cand speculate that this person is an asshole.\u201d<\/p>\n

But is he? Riding in the elevator or passing neighbors in the hall, I often wonder who it might be\u2014the retired nurse upstairs? The mild-mannered gentleman with the rescue dogs? The 103-year-old who sits with her nurse in the lobby? Does someone have a small, secret life as a righteous, anonymous enforcer? <\/p>\n

A few are more transparent. \u201cMiguel21\u201d is not hard to guess; \u201cAngieandTommyWirelss\u201d too. I\u2019m assuming \u201cYankees\u201d belongs to the guy who\u2019s always duded up in Bombers regalia. And presumably, anyone who cared could guess that \u201cPymsCup\u201d was mine.<\/p>\n

Others have a whiff of intrigue. Who is \u201cStinkyTofu\u201d? Wherefore \u201cChouChou\u201d? And is \u201cCaliforniaDreamin\u201d really so unhappy living here in New York? I hope not.<\/p>\n

Such is city living: anonymity and proximity and small, petty mysteries and the occasional reminder of another\u2019s tastes and likes and feelings. It is half misconceptions, of course. Back when I lived in Greenpoint, we just assumed that the hulking retired paratrooper with the penchant for Final Fantasy had the network called \u201cBonecrusher.\u201d We referred to him this way as a matter of course, and without mockery. We had lived there for a year before we learned that, in fact, he was \u201cMondayImInLove\u201d\u2014and, incidentally, that he loved the Cure.<\/p>\n

This is not a decision one ponders much\u2014at least, I didn\u2019t. You choose it in a moment, try to think of something you\u2019ll remember, perhaps. Some are happy to live with a string of numbers. And yet it is how you are known\u2014or not known\u2014by many of those physically closest. Or perhaps it takes on a life of its own. I know \u201cNoFreeLunch\u201d and \u201cMineNotYours\u201d is unnecessarily confrontational, unpleasant, even. I mean, we all have locks on our networks\u2014no need to belabor the point, or engage in such gratuitous chest-beating. And yet, there is something I like about it. Every time I log on, there it is: an assertion of personality\u2014that which is, or could be, or maybe only exists in this small, insignificant domain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Someone in my building\u2014or maybe two different people, I don\u2019t know\u2014rejoices in cruel, taunting names for his wireless networks: \u201cMineNotYours\u201d and \u201cNoFreeLunch.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m just going to go out on a limb here,\u201d my old boyfriend once said, \u201cand speculate that this person is an asshole.\u201d But is he? Riding in the elevator or passing neighbors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[13661,9295,125,13662,13514,10148,13660],"class_list":["post-70218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-apartment-buildings","tag-names","tag-new-york-city","tag-people","tag-personalities","tag-titles","tag-wireless-networks"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Does Your Wireless Network Name Say About You?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sadie Stein on the assertion of personality when choosing a wireless network name.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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