names, bands, and BET

some would beg to ask "what's in a name?" and to them i reply with, "i hope absolutely nothing because probably everyone except my parents has botched my name at least once, and most people botch it on a regular basis - if my name is supposed to be representative of who i am, then i must be flailing around haphazardly like a seabass out of water because i have no official identity, as the various pronunciations of my name suggest". throughout my life i have been called a great many variations: shalinn (my actual name), SHAY-linn, shay-LEEN, shuh-LINN, shal (which i like), mal (which is my sister's nickname), shallee (which is reserved for the totsch whom i call mattee), shalipoo, shal-ba-gal, shuh-LINN gin, sha-naynay, and my personal favorite, shaniqwa (oh wait, no one calls me that - or at least i don't think they do....). case in point, the automated voice lady i talked to on the phone last night couldn't get it right when i not only pronounced it twice, but also spelled it twice. the following variations as repeated back to me were "shaleena - s.h.a.l.i.n.a" and "shalinn - s.h.a.l.y.n" needless to say, after what seemed like the 10th time of telling "her" she was wrong, she gave me another option and my identity was then claimed only through the means of that arbitrary set of numbers given to me to make sure that i am socially secure (even if my emotions are not - tear....).

but enough of the sob stories about the downfalls of my name (which i love by the way, and let's be honest is probably more original than your name). exciting news was brought to my attention sunday afternoon, just after i had sat down in my bathrobe to read my newspaper and smoke my pipe as i do on a fortnightly basis (oh wait, strike that) and i feel obliged to bestow this intense information to my readers. my name, yes, my name has been chosen to represent a musical group, otherwise refered to as "a band." "shalinn," the new hit sensation consisting of zach brown (guitar, vocals, blonde hair), megan mcadoo (guitar, sweet vocals, stelar personality), kristen lueck (cello, sparkling smile, bubbling reporter), and tim (percussion, radina's employee, man of mystery) is to debut it's newly decided name as they perform this friday in manhattan, ks (the magical home of the cats). i am much obliged as they embark on using my name in order to obtain some free coffee and bars, and play their little hearts out. rock out friends and although i'm honored that you arrived at this decision, please don't erase from your hearts all of the quality band name options that i gave you that you shut down.

and finally, on to the BET portion of this blog. this had nothing to do with my name, but did have to do with a brief argument between my students this afternoon regarding the names of an actress on BET. the argument: was it queen latifah or monique that played in barber shop? (or beauty shop - neither one of them really knew what they were arguing about). names. names. names. it's all relative to me.