I had a very unfortunate situation leading up to my last workshop. There was a writer who decided that she would “share” my content with her community, but never asked my permission or even contacted me beforehand. She took my blog posts, images, personal work biography with previous job titles and assignments, and patched it together to be printed out in her local newspaper that boasts a reach of 10,000 subscribers in Harlem and the Bronx. I found out from a friend who saw a copy of the paper in a lobby of a building she was working in. At first I was a bit flattered, but then I realized that she copied ALL of my content word for word from both my artist and personal websites and passed it off as an interview that she never conducted with me. As a result, I now have a whole bunch of very personal information literally floating around the neighborhood that I would have never disclosed.
I did receive an apology but it was more like a “sorry, but not sorry” type with an emphasis on “I was trying to get the word out for you”. I enjoy sharing what I’m doing with everyone, but this experience has been a real eye opener for me. As a result, I will be putting even more limitations on what I do share online. Be careful out there folks!
melandolly.com 
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