The Other Me

"Will the real Carolyn Soling please stand up?"













Around the time of the Gore-Bush election in 2000 a photo came out on the front page of newspapers across the country. The picture featured a woman protesting the election results with the byline 'Carolyn Soling protests Bush in Austin, Texas.'

I was a student at University of Wisconsin - Madison at the time and had definitely never been to Texas. And the woman in the picture looked nothing like me. So who was this woman in the picture?

If you Google search "Carolyn Soling" all the links are me, except the links to this one picture. I've got links to me from my last job, my website, linked in, my photography portfolio, organizations I've belonged to, a xanga profile (that i don't remember ever creating), lots and lots of sailing links, and the list goes on.

So again, who is this woman? Was the byline just incorrect? Was this woman stealing my identity and using it to protest Bush? Could there really be another Carolyn Soling? Why is she using my name?

Apparently she is using it because it is her name too. Yes, it was confirmed last week. There is another Carolyn Soling. And, apparently she is the original because she is 20 years older than me (though i know she doesn't look it in that picture). My new trainer at work informed me of this, as he worked with her when he lived in Austin 15 years ago. What are the chances of that? One guy working with two Carolyn Solings (the only two Carolyn Solings) in his lifetime?

So, will the real Carolyn Soling please stand up? Actually, sit down, because with all the protesting, the other one is probably standing up a lot more. I like to sit.