Name In Mind
The names we are given often tell rich stories about where we come from. The punk practice of changing your name is about taking control of who you are now.
I.
As children acquiring language, names are the first words we truly learn. We respond to our own names before we understand why we respond to them; we “know” these sounds make meaning before we actually know that sound makes any meaning at all. What we don’t seem to grasp right away, if ever, is that something profound occurs with every time we establish this connection between name and self. We become our names by answering to them when we are called, and in doing so, we allow ourselves to be named. And each time we identify with the names we are given, we undergo a process of deep internalization that bonds us with the historical, social, political, and personal dimensions of that name. At that moment, the person who calls for us creates us.
The family folklore surrounding my…