As has already been recapped by just about everyone that was there already, the third Newsvine Vinemeet, hosted by Adam Hobson in Philadelphia, was a blast.

Much like the first Vinemeet in Ohio it was great (and sometimes surprising) meeting people Ive interacted with digitally for up to two years. Fun times were had by all, hilarity ensued, drinks were drank, chili was made and eaten, blah blah blah, all of this has been summed up sufficiently by others before me.

In this column I'd like to focus on one particular aspect of the weekend that really struck me. Upon arriving at Adam's house on Saturday evening my long time friend, Ms. stolte-sawa, took a look at the pins on the hat I was wearing (see Fig 1.1) and delightfully squealed "That's so emo!"

Further, the next morning while waiting for breakfast I happened to mention that I disliked her pointy-toed shoes to which she replied "What do you know about fashion, you're emo."

This has so far led to Scott remarking:

Hey, what happened to that great shot of me doing the 'no papparizi please?" protest? Though Eric - mr. Emo himself - did me one better.

and to Calvin pondering:

the Eric/Emo duality

I was wiling to let S-S's initial comment slide (because when she said it, it was pretty disarmingly cute) but now that it's beginning to spread I feel I have to set this straight this gross mischaracterization.

I don't have long, stringy, unwashed hair that covers my eyes, I don't carry around a copy of Catcher in the Rye (nor do I think it's even Salinger's best book), I don't know all the words to a single song by the Cure and I don't look anything like Mike V.

Need more proof? I have (when I want to) social skills beyond the Internet, I currently maintain neither a Livejournal nor a Xanga, I didn't cry at the Texas is the Reason reunion show (in fact, I rarely ever cry due to my heart of stone), I have no piercings, I don't take pictures of myself with sad faces, I don't look up at the stars and I have a reasonable relationship with my parents.

I eat meat, I buy clothes new and when I was 16 I taped over a dub of Sunny Day Real Estate's Diary with the first New Found Glory album.

So, kind reader, the next time you see a comment on this site (or elsewhere) propagating the aforementioned falsehood kindly think of this article and remember:

I am not emo.