My great-grandma and I share the same given name. We also share the fact that both of us stopped using our given names. I really loved her, she was a rascally, radical woman, a devious liar, a wonderful storyteller, and a chocolate fanatic. I want to do a series of comics on her life, celebrating who she was, and her connection to me. It feels important as I go on this path of becoming that I say goodbye – and celebrating my great-grandma seems like a great way of saying “thanks for the name, I really appreciated it, but now I’m going to let it go.”
TRANSCRIPT:
Panel 1:
Sam: (A person wearing a blue collared shirt, dark trousers, and is looking directly at the viewer. Eyebrows are raised and mouth is open. Arms are bent up at the elbows, with relaxed hands. Hips are pushed to one side. Aotearoa and Australia are drawn in the background.) I’m proud of who I am & where I’ve come from.
Panel 2:
Sam: (Facing and looking directly at the viewer, with a now unbuttoned shirt. Sam has raised eyebrows, big eyes, and an open mouth with slightly downturned edges. One arm is bent up at the elbow, its hand curled into an almost fist, the other arm is by Sam’s side.) And I am proud to hold your name. This is not a rejection of that.
Panel 3:
Sam: (Looking directly at the viewer with lowered eyebrows, and an open mouth with downturned edges. One arm is bent up at the elbow, its hand is closed around a finger-sized orange something, pulling it out of Sam’s chest.) But it’s time for me to let you go.
Panel 4:
Sam: (Looking directly at the viewer, with raised eyebrows, and an open mouth, with slightly upturned edges. One arm is being pushed back a little by the force of the yellow matter that is flowing out of Sam’s chest, and the other is obscured by the yellow matter. The yellow matter has inside of it; a row of 5 blue dots, a row of 8 blue dots, 2 blue feathers, 2 blue triangles, a blue rectangle, and 2 blue spirals.) And this is how I want to say Goodbye.
Aw, I’m looking forward to reading those.
I lucked out a little… I was Lucretia, and in the end I decided to just become Lucretius. Luc, for short.
Cool, that’s an awesome name! And I think it makes it a bit easier on some levels if you don’t have to change your name too much. I’d been using Sam as a pseudonym for years before I really thought about it’s gendered relevance, and my given name would not ever be able to be transferred to a boyish one, so Sam felt so natural and fitting. Though lately it feels like people keep saying Sam and using female pronouns, which feels hard, so I feel like I need to pull out the “Sam, short for Samuel” line to ensure no confusion.
I was also named after a great-grandma, though I never knew her. It’s a Jewish tradition to name people after dead relatives, so…
But I think when I changed my name my Dad really took it as a rejection of him (since it’s his grandmum I was named after). I haven’t been able to do something to prove to him that that’s not what that is. I think what you’re doing is beautiful.