Be Gentle, This is My First Time

Hello, All! After being on the 'net for more than ten years, I've decided to dip my toe into the not-too safe world of blogging and see what, if anything happens.
I suppose I should introduce myself, my name is Anne, and for those of you who are reading and say, "Gee, is that Alton Brown in those pictures?" The short answer is 'yes'. I'm also there, along with a glamourous shot of the back of my head, but that's not quite as interesting, is it? :)
I think I'm starting this blog for a number of reasons. To vent--I know all my friends are sick of hearing me, and this way I can annoy strangers with impunity :). To share my writing, and my poetry, in the hopes that someone, somewhere will see it, like it, and just maybe want to be my agent.
More importantly though, I would like to use it as a forum to talk about the issues that are dear to me, my faith and my struggles to stay true to it in this world, the pros and cons of being single in a world that tells you you are NOTHING without a partner, my struggle to find gainful employment, and most importantly, living with Clinical Depression, a disease that still, too many people in this day and age think can just be 'gotten over'.
I was going to say that I've suffered with CD and anxiety for 33 years, but I think it sounds better to say that I've SURVIVED with it. Yeah, I like that better. I will talk about it a lot, share my good and bad days, but I also want to, if I can, help people understand that Depression, along with other mental illnesses, and the people who survive with them, deserve the same kind of understanding and compassion that a person suffering with Cancer, or (dare I say it AIDS) do.
It borders on the obscene that in 2010, people still view the mentally ill as shuffling droolers who push people off subway platforms, or lurk in dark alleys, waiting to strike.
It hurts me deeply that we are judged according to the labels our diagnoses give us, rather than for who we are as individuals. If, by writing here, I can change anyone's mind, well, then, my work is done--sort of.
There are plenty of things that help- my relationship with God and my prayer life, my therapist, my wonderful friends, who have become my TRUE family, my writing, my music, cooking, and every now and then, the man in those pictures.
Ok, off the soapbox--there's plenty of time for that later.
I welcome all who stop here, whether it's once, or frequently. I hope that I can provide you with something to think about, or at least some form of entertainment.
I don't trash talk, I will blog with integrity, and, I LIVE for feedback. However, if all you want to do is make fun of, ridicule, or critcize so you can feel better about yourself, please go elsewhere--you can find plenty of those places on (said in a broad Southern drawl) The World Wide Web.
Ciao for niao!