I grew up in the 20th Century.

Because of that, I suspect my first experience of the word “totem” was probably in a piece of fictional media (television, probably) where the word “totem pole” was used.

That usage was likely not respectful to the Native Americans depicted in the fiction. see Reel Injun

That doesn’t matter, but I think “totem pole” still pops up in my head first when I think of that word.

Next in my head is the term “totemic.” And then “avatar” and “iconic.”

This post is a response to IndieWeb Carnival July 2025: Totems. The provocation for this month:

I’m the host for this month’s IndieWeb Carnival, and the theme is totems: items of great personal, spiritual, or religious meaning, which may serve as the emblem or symbol of a group of people.

The IndieWeb itself is a living totem that we indie-website-havers create with every post. What’s your totem? What does it mean to you? How did you acquire it: purchase, creation, trade, gifting, theft? Is your totem connected to the Internet, perhaps? Is it something you look at every day?

Today I’m thinking of the paper sign I made of the “trollface” icon.

A physical print out mounted on foam core. I made it on impulse in response to Dr. Matt Lee.

I met Matt at XOXO and his ability to communicate with smarts, and also sarcasm, immediately appealed to me. It was in IndieWeb Zoom gatherings that I noticed how adroitly he could turn a phrase with snark.

And so I made the sign, as a way to punctuate the meetings. I would hold them up to emphasize or highlight his commentary–silently.

And that was many months ago. I deploy the sign very infrequently. It’s a sign that could be mistaken for insulting, or passive aggressively, or mean. And I would never deploy it that way and I would feel bad if it was taken that way.

But I also have been musing, as it sits on my desk, that I need a counterpoint sign.

What’s the opposite totem to the trollface?

Tantek and gRegor both said the opposite would be the heart hands emoji: 🫶.

I will not use these much, but I like bringing a yin/yang balance to the punctuational feel of my desk.

It’s important to me to be understood. Being misunderstood is hard, and hurting the feelings of others is very much something I don’t want to do.

I will probably not use these very often.

But I think they will find usage every so often.

Having them both visible to me on my desk might remind me of the two poles of conversational spirit available to me to deploy.

I have no idea what this all adds up to. I was glad of the opportunity to think about totems.

Thanks for reading.