@: My Pen Name Turns 20!

@nn or more commonly @ has been a good pen name. I started using it in the early 1990s and quickly marked it mine. Despite what the @ sign has come to signify, my use of it had no ties to technology, twitter, or web addresses. @nn was all in simple literary fun. I liked to call it my e. e. cummings move.

My association with @ shows up in the array of gifts that I’ve received over the years that use the sign. A few that come to mind--a mousepad, coffee cup, stationary, a paperweight, even a necklace among others. I’m forever @.