Searching for Vanity

4/19/2020

This is part two of my original article about Vanity.

When I was in junior high in the 70’s, I was assigned to write a research report on a topic, and I choose Invertebrates of the Sea. This was in either 6th or 7th grade because I did not have a diary as a child. One of my greatest regrets is not keeping a written record in the predigital age. Back then the only thing that diaries were known for was if you kept one someone at school would some how find it and read it to the class. Girl’s diaries were like The Diary of the Laura Palmer. People would read it and use to find clues about who killed Laura Palmer. I had no time to write things down or at least no time I wanted to commit to writing them down before the age of computers.

Our Junior High teacher wanted us to check out all the library books from the children’s section our topic. We were to bring them home and then create a filing card system using Index cards. The index card system was kept in an alphabetically tabbed index box. Plastic or metal boxes held the larger 4 by 6 filing cards or standard size three by five size index card. Each sea creature became a topic such as starfish. Filed under S the starfish card would contain the combined knowable of all the books. I would read the books and each time I found a fact about starfish I would write the fact on the card. Then once all the books were read, we were instructed to go back to the cards and write the report based on all the facts on that card. I will never forget how trilled I was, not just by sea creatures and not just by the report, but by the system. I realized I was born to category and organize data.

Based on the primitive file card system which only supplied information in a closed system, I devolved an elaborate data saving scheme. The file card system was closed. It could not contain any more data other then was available at the children’s library in the books they happened to have on Sea Creatures. An open data saving scheme means the data would come from anywhere in the world mostly but not exclusively from the Internet.

If I am interested in a topic such as Vanity the singer, I start a file on her. If more information is found and I want to branch out I could create subfiles depending on how much information is available about Vanity. Each time a come across a new “fact” about Vanity I place it in her document (as if it were an index card) on my computer. I put the word fact in quotes because some of the information I find about Vanity could be an exaggerated truth or an untruth in terms of a quote given by her former boyfriend Nikki Sixx. Nikki Sixx claimed Vanity glued small bits of vegetation on to cardboard egg cartoons and made them into art projects. Wow, that is interesting but is it true? I would have to evaluate that statement. The statement comes from Nikki’s book The Heroin Diaries but what does Nikki have to gain by lying? Nothing, but maybe he is joking? If the fact passes all of these tests maybe I could consider it to be likely true. It does not seem to make much difference if Vanity had ever made egg cartoon art or not, but it is a fun fact that is likely true. But we will never know for sure if it was true unless someone saved some of her art works and placed it on eBay for sale. Even then maybe the seller had simply created his or her own egg carton art and placed it for sale. I would have to look at the age of the egg carton to see if it were from the 80’s. Many artistic forgeries can be found out from the age of the artistic medium such as some of the Dead Sea Scrolls have been shown to be fake, but not all of them.

I check and see if any of Vanity’s former associates also claim she made egg carton art, but it is not likely any of them would bother to make a statement about it. I search Vanity and Egg Cartoon on Google. Each time one dips into Google it’s like spinning a roulette wheel. Sometimes no new information comes up, but sometimes something newly added will come up and sometimes articles or blogs that have been long buried and forgotten come up which may give some new information. Google changes and resets so an article you find may not come up the next time you look for it. So, you need to copy paste notes and save the URL for the article in the document as well as the date you saved it. For good measure also save the article on Archive Today, in case you lose your files. If you computer crashes and you lose your files you will be cut off from your data forever. Wikipedia is a giant data saving system in which many people contribute to various topics. By starting with the Wikipedia Article on any topic most of the preliminary research is done for you, but of you will have to evaluate each statement by checking to see if it is backed up by supporting evidence.

As a spin off topic because I am interested in Vanity I am now interested in Nikki Sixx, but maybe only in terms of how he relates to Vanity. If I want to start to research Nikki Sixx independently from Vanity the topic is too broad. I can’t put all the data the exists on Nikki Sixx on the Internet in one document. I pick only the data that is most relevant or important to me in the file. But the late Vanity burned all of her photos, files and videos thus depraving the world of her image and likeness forever. I can not help but feel that it was a dissatisfaction with her body of work of her career, and not the Voice Of God that made her burn her legacy. I would love to own an original Vanity Egg Cartoon Artwork not because the art is interesting, but the art represents a statement about Vanity who is interesting. If you happen to have any information about this topic, please contact me.