• 4 Posts
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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: July 1st, 2023

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  • My grandfather (2nd generation polish immigrant) used to hate having to correct people on how to speak and pronounce our family name and decided to change it to something more “Americanized”. It took me a while to understand why until I spent 40 years having to correct people on the spelling and pronunciation of the Americanized version.

    Then, two of my kids turned out to be genderqueer and they both chose new first names for themselves. It was them that I realized that choosing your own name is a powerful thing and you should be proud of forming your own identity. So, ignore everyone who questions choosing your own name. It is a good thing!

    As for Cliff, I like it! It sounds good and it’s a name you hear a lot. Stick with it if you also like it!













  • When I was very young, maybe 7 or 8, my parents took me to Rancocas Nature center in Westhampton, NJ. There was a jar full of tiny, rubber dinosaur figurines in bright neon colors because it was the 80s. I asked my parents if I could get one, but they said no (we had very little money). Well, the ranger manning the shop held up a little orange ankylosaurus and said if I could name it, I could keep it. Well, grade school me was like, “Game on, motherfucker! It’s my time to shine!” I wound up winning 4 of them before the ranger said he might get in trouble if we kept on going. I don’t remember what the other three were, but that neon orange ankylosaurus was my favorite toy for a very long time!

    I hope that ranger is having a great life!