My Favorite Poem

I have one tattoo, which I got when I was nineteen years old. It’s on my hip, it’s hidden, and to be quite honest has been ripped apart by my two pregnancies. It took me a long time to decide what to imprint on myself and where. We don’t need to get into my tattoo or what it means or whatever, but I will tell you that the runner up was a poem by Emily Dickinson, which I wanted tattooed on my shoulder blade.

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What’s My Age Again? (and Other References that Prove I’m Old)

Usually, when I write fiction, I try to avoid too much reference to pop culture. I don’t like to date my work and I don’t want readers to have to look anything up if they aren’t familiar. I also tend to avoid references to technology. But lately I’ve been writing a young adult novel featuring a character who is really into music and another who is a little computer-addicted. I’m loving these characters, but the technical side of it is making me feel so incredibly old. Every few paragraphs, I have to put a note in the margin to remind myself of something to fact check. For example:

Do people use iPods?

That iPod speaker thing–what is it called?

Is Taylor Swift still popular? Will she be in five years?

Are teenagers still on Facebook?

Do people play minesweeper?

and my personal favorite:

Justin Bieber???