[Heads Up: B. McLeod]

Remember the weird ABA comment I mentioned a couple of posts ago? I admit to laziness, freinds. Even the tiniest gesture toward Googling would have revealed that author B. McLeod was a devoted Ellen supporter/follower during her early career. (Thank you once again, Francie Nolan.) Henceforth I will be using male pronouns for McLeod because all dialogue around him, and no protests from him, indicate this is a man.

McLeod defended Ellen vigorously on the ABA site, as he recalled in his comment last month, and then became a prolific contributor to the ELLEN BARSHEVSKY BLAWG once it launched. Perhaps most importantly, McLeod had the distinction of being one of the only commenters whom Ellen ever acknowledged or responded to. As fans today can still attest, this is no small achievement. But if loyalty to Ellen has its rewards, I feel mine are LONG OVERDOO since I have been writing a blog all about her for almost half a year now, and she still does NOT even give me the time of day on Corporette!

ANYWAY...

For further B. McLeod readings, go on over to the ORIGINEAL blog, linked on your right as always, and search for his name. In comments on this post, he reaffirmed that he is not Ellen in his forlorn resignation that she seemed not to be blawgging anymore:

B. McLeodFebruary 13, 2009 5:10 PM

Rest assured, I am not she, and she is not me. Like you, I still periodically check to see if Ellen has posted, but after this interval, it seems most likely she has moved on.

But the real gem is below, perhaps the only Ellen poetry known in English letters. The pathos intensify with retrospect, given that here (and elsewhere) McLeod speculated that Ellen had run off to marry Alan. By spring 2011, Corporettes knew that au contraire, Alan had cheated on her and broken up with her in his downward spiral of alcoholism.

B. McLeodJanuary 29, 2009 5:03 AM
Weeks passed by with no posts to log,
Perhaps Alan took his girl away,
For her comments came not to her hot-pink BLAWG,
(nor EVER to THE a.b.a.),
B. McLeod, the Ellen fan, grew sad,
As he shut down his auld P.C.,
He shook his head,
"I'm afraid," he said,
"She's forgotten you and me,
It seems, Anonymous friends o' mine,
That we've outlasted her blawghood years,"
Then he turned, and was gone,
With a lazy yawn,
To search for a couple o' beers.

McLeod was many times accused of being Ellen, but offered (reasoned) denials every time. I'm still trying to avoid wading into controversies over the "real" Ellen, and I see more clearly than ever today that at any rate they are as old (and as futile!) as Ellen's internet activity. Overall, McLeod seems like a jolly ELLENWatcher, and now only do I hope that he is reading with us today...I also fairly strongly suspect it. Ahem.