390 Cannon House Office Building, Washington DC 20515
Televised live on the Committee's site, PBS and other channels as mentioned in this L.A. Times newspaper article along with discussion about what to expect, what has occurred and other political commentary HERE
The final Committee report release expected soon may be discussed.
(That emotionally moving singular performance was originally slated to be embedded here but then became unavailable for use in that manner.)
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JEAN
I'm not much in the mood for writing since I've learned what I really didn't want to know when I finally mustered the courage to conduct an internet search of a friend's name. The closest of my undergraduate college friends with whom we've kept in contact with each other all these years has died.
Jean has been writing she wanted to talk with me but preferred to call, so I waited for her to write a message advising that she was feeling up to talking and when she would phone. Her last email message to me included her saying she felt "like a slug." Now, I've discovered that two weeks later she died.
In the days before the internet, I might never have known about the death of some friends since family doesn't always make contact to convey that information. Most close friends long term have lived many miles distant from me for most of our years during our adult lives. Seldom, if ever, did we even see each other and in most instances hadn't even met each other's now adult children.
This close adult life-long friend, Jean, is the third in the past decade I've learned has died but only after I finally searched their name on the internet. I was hesitant about checking for the second person a few years later after that first loss experience. Though a letter and phone calls had elicited no response, I delayed further internet checking before finally searching only to once more find the result that I didn't want.
So, on this third occasion I finally acquired the courage to search a name once again on the internet. The screen instantly appeared and there Jean was, smiling directly at me, her face and name next to a column titled "Obituary".
I'm so glad I took a side trip stop-over to visit her and her husband as she urged I do on my flight home from visiting with my family several years ago. I wish now I had stayed longer. We could have enjoyed so much more time together. Now, there are only the memories. So much I could write, but as I said in the beginning, right now I just can't bring myself to immerse deeper into sorrow's moody pool. I will miss her!
In the decade before this current one when my friends' deaths began becoming more prevalent, some adult children never contacted me then, either, about their parent's death. One did, but not until a daughter wrote a year later, and another when a son wrote several months later.
One husband phoned me across the continent quite soon after his wife's death, then broke down on the phone and it was all I could do to emotionally keep it together as I felt I must for him. Days later the adult daughter called and after determinedly thinking I must keep my emotions under control for her, I could not.
I don't know why with other friends who died I never heard from family, especially in one specific instance. But I can appreciate simple contact delays as I guess there's really no longer any rush for any reason.
I know from my own experience there can be complications after a loved one dies, plus family members personal lives may have extra-demands, too. There's usually a rush of attention, followed by diminishing concern at some future point in time directed at the deceased's immediate family. Then that all ends and the remaining significant family member is truly alone.
All the grieving, adapting, coping can be overwhelming, giving way to the never-ending sense of loss for family and some friends. On reflection, after my husband's unexpected sudden death, I have been aware of not handling some matters in the manner which I intended or did so only part-way from what I expected to do.
Age differences between friends seem to matter little, especially since I've been older. I often think of one older-than-me long gone friend who wrote me once, "There are no friends like old friends." New friends, not always easily acquired when we're older, but who can become dear, rarely have the depth the history of time with shared life experiences and changes provides.
I note also, when an older friend dies there can be a different way of thinking about losing them than when a younger-than-me person departs. The older person is often said to have had a long life versus the younger one said to have died too young. When someone my same age dies, as was Jean, the loss resonates in a uniquely personal identification way.
I've written here before that I've found one of the most difficult aspects of ageing is the longer I live the more friends and family die before me, the fewer who remain living. My old friends and family once quite expansive in number are now down to less than I can count on one hand for the former, two hands for the latter. Memories can be cherished though they're not as rich as future personal interactions. No matter how many of those for whom I care deeply depart this earth, incorporating their loss into my life never becomes easier.
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"Donald Trump and his supporters are a clear and present danger to democracy."
Judge Luttig quote from the third House Hearing held on June 16, 2022.
United States Select House Committee on January 6th next Hearings:
--Tuesday, June 21: l p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT)
--Thursday, June 23: 3 p.m. ET (Noon PT)
One more Hearing to be scheduled.
Judge J. Michael Luttig PBS "Frontline Interview" May 25, 2022 "filmed for a forthcomingdocumentary looking at challenges to American democracy" HERE.
Bull raising is threatened in Spain I read recently in the news as this pandemic has taken a toll on many business enterprises. The bull raising business, especially in Spain, is no exception though it has been under assault for other reasons for a number of years as has been bullfighting for which these bulls are raised.
"The most well-known form of bullfighting is Spanish-style bullfighting, practiced in Spain, Portugal, Southern France, Mexico, Columbia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Peru. The Spanish Fighting Bull is bred for its aggression and physique, and is raised free-range with little human contact.
The practice of bullfighting is controversial because of a range of concerns including animal welfare, funding, and religion. While some forms are considered a blood sport, in some countries, for example Spain, it is defined as an art form or cultural event, and local regulations define it as a cultural event of heritage. Bullfighting is illegal in most countries, but remains legal in most areas of Spain and Portugal, as well as in some Hispanic American countries and some parts of southern France. (CGTN Rahul Patnak).
This 2002 The Art of Bullfighting video (17:20 duration) best presents the bullfights ritual sequence of actions I was to see one mid-1950's afternoon. Video commentary notes: "Every attempt to ban bullfighting in Spain has failed. In fact, since Spain joined the EU, it has enjoyed a renaissance as Spaniards stand up for their cultural heritage."
Actually, since this video, a few Spanish cities reportedly have outlawed the practice of bullfighting. There may have been some slight decline in bullfighting acceptance around the world in subsequent years in addition to the toll the pandemic has taken.
PBS recently aired a special program series on writer Ernest Hemingway that I watched. During this TV series, books he wrote about bull fighting evidenced his fascination with this activity in Spain. He stressed bull fighting was not a sport as conventionally viewed in the United States.
I was aware of Hemingway's non-fiction book, "Death In The Afternoon", published in 1932, examining the Spanish traditions and ceremony of bullfighting. Deeper meanings about fear and courage, life culminating in death, though the latter supposed to be only for the bull, are the focus true aficionados appreciate he noted.
His earlier novel, "The Sun Also Rises", published in 1926 portrays American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the bullfights. The story is based on real people in his life. Thought to be a lost generation after WWI Hemingway suggests they were resilient and strong.
"The Running of the Bulls occurs every July 7th-14th in Pamplona, Spain. 6 Spanish fighting bulls, along with 6 steer, run from the Corrales de Santo Domingo to Pamplona's Plaza de Toros (bullfight arena). Over 1 million spectators watch thousands of runners over the 8 days of the San Fermin Festival.
Rick Steves, European travel authority, describes the event:
"
The 2021 Running of the Bulls event was cancelled for the second year in a row as reported by Reuters due to the pandemic. The event, expected to resume in 2022, is being promoted on the Internet now for visitors to make travel bookings and accommodations reservations.
I have not been particularly interested in bullfighting so hadn't read either of Hemingway's books though I did see the 1957 movie based on "The Sun Also Rises". I especially recall sultry actress Ava Gardener in a leading seductress roll pursuing the bullfighter which reportedly became her reality in real life. There was also a much less appreciated 1984-TV miniseries I didn't view of that same book that is said to not have been favorably received by critics and the viewing public. The news item and focus on Ernest Hemingway prompted numerous thoughts and memories of my own from the mid-fifties.
My only sibling, decade older brother now deceased, made an effort to expand my horizons in various ways throughout my life. Not all his undertaking went well such as the time he sat preschool age me on the back of his bike with me gripping his bike seat. My little legs hung down as he rode his bike uphill toward our house. Apparently, my legs tired and I attempted to rest my left foot somehow, but ended up entwining it in the bike wheel's spokes. I still carry the large scar on my ankle but have no conscious memory of the event.
When I was a senior in high school my brother visited, gave me the keys to his convertible enabling me to have the rare opportunity to drive alone into town on my own one evening from our then rural home. Then when I graduated from high school his gift to me was a couple pieces of Samsonite luggage which was perfect for moving out into the world, or college as I had hoped and he certainly encouraged. A few years later he gifted me a necessary standard bit of jewelry accessory for any young woman's social life I was yet to experience -- a high quality simulated pearl necklace.
So, years later when I visited him in Ecuador, one unexpected activity he introduced me to was an afternoon at a popular event in South American countries as well as Spain -- the bullfight. The event featured an increasingly popular young bullfighter, Jaime Bravo, who was busily making a name for himself though relatively unknown then. Bullfighting was more universally accepted during those years, partly due to Hemingway's writings describing the Spanish art form aspect of the event.
I recall visiting a local hotel an afternoon after attending the bullfight where my brother's young children were able to interact with the giant size Galapagos tortoises in the courtyard. I heard quite a commotion inside the hotel which soon revealed itself to be fans encountering their idol, Bravo, who was staying there.
My recent research about Jaime Bravo's career revealed in his biography he led quite a colorful life, eventually groomed to be a U.S. motion picture star, actually appearing in several movies including:
"Love Has Many Faces" (1965) with him as a matador, of course, a movie that was scandalous at the time. "Starring Lana Turner, Cliff Robertson, Hugh O'Brian, Ruth Roman, and Stefanie Powers, the film was rife with repeated affairs...seemingly Bravo was typecast." His voice was dubbed due to his heavy accent, though he spoke English.
"Known for his death-defying style, in the late 1960's ... Jaime Bravo was a bullfighter for many years, especially popular with the ladies and with the border town crowds. He had the looks and the charm, if not the talent, to make it on the screen and to some producers, that's all that mattered." Ava Gardener is said to have showered her attention on him at one of his bullfights. Born in Mexico in 1932, he died there in a car accident in 1970.
Whatever point of view one has about bullfighting, after my viewing the afternoon spectacle, talking with others, reading about the various perspectives of bullfighting aficionados and critics, the moment when the banderillas planted their spiked end wooden sticks designed to tear muscles, nerves and blood vessels, my reactive opinion was formed.
Then, when the bull charged the mounted padded horses with the consequences of their sharp pointed horns out of view my perspective was reinforced. Yet later, more flesh damaging sticks were thrust into the bull's neck and shoulders. There was never any doubt in my mind -- how could such torture and brutality be part of or considered as art -- this was animal cruelty.
Emergency assistance for public television and radio stations has been approved by the U. S. Senate for $175 million in the Covid-19 related bill passed in an all-night marathon session this past week. Amendments to eliminate lifelines to these stations were prevented as Protect My Public Media reports ensuring the "highest quality remote learning services, local reporting and emergency communications." Public broadcasting has always been highly valued by me but has assumed increased significance these later years of my life, especially during this pandemic.
The Grand Canyon Protection Act to prevent uranium mining in the area has passed the U.S. Senate following previous passage by the House of Representatives. This is "part of a package of legislation aimed at protecting wilderness and public lands. Other provisions include protecting nearly 1.5 million acres of public lands as wilderness and designating more than 1,000 miles of rivers as part of the nation's Wild and Scenic Rivers"azcentral reports.
"A federal judge ... cleared the way for California to enforce its net neutrality law, denying a request by telecommunications providers to delay state rules meant to ensure equal access to internet content" The New York Times recently reported.
Florida voters over two years ago passed an amendment that took effect in 2021 outlawing greyhound dog races I was pleased to read. This "...could amount to a national death sentence for the century-old U.S. sport", NBC News reported. "With the state now out of the greyhound-running business, four tracks in three states -- West Virginia, Arkansas and Iowa -- are left still chasing rabbits."
I recall the summer after my high school graduation our multi-state senior trip in a school bus made an unscheduled stop in Florida before moving on through the state. Our adult chaperones encouraged us to go to the dog races which strictly speaking given the age of most of us we probably shouldn't have been able to attend. Some of us objected on the grounds of rejecting this treatment of dogs. We were able to remain on the bus with a chaperone, spared viewing what we considered to be an inhumane sport while the rest who chose to do so went to the races.
VACCINATION SYMPTOMS UPDATE
Updating my vaccination experience following my first Pfizer inoculation ... this past week several days after my shot I became aware of experiencing an unusual degree of fatigue. This tiredness continued a couple days which I think may be attributed to the vaccine as others I know receiving Moderna reported feeling this also though a younger person receiving Pfizer didn't experience fatigue. Reactions are relatively nil and seem to be unique to the individual.
As I previously reported I had minimal reactions initially: "The injection caused no immediate reaction just as occurs with my yearly flu shot. The only difference was about twenty hours later I did begin to experience swelling, then aching with increasing intensity at the shot site. This lasted for only a few hours, then abruptly ceased."
VANISHING FIGURE
A bit of an unexpected event occurred here one noon time earlier this past week when I glimpsed through a backyard patio door window and was startled to see what appeared to be a pile of clothing with legs stride out of sight toward a side yard gate. I went to a utility room window where I could see a small section of the yard and gate but observed no one. Returning to my living room I called our local police non-emergency number since I perceived no immediate danger though I was encouraged to call 911 in such an instance in the future. Before I even ended the call there was a knock on my door.
Opening my door I was surprised to see a policewoman there already. She informed me other officers were driving around the area, but she wanted permission to explore my backyard which I willingly gave her. Incidentally, when I open my regular door I can see out through the locked screen door but no one can see inside my house.
Soon the policewoman knocked on my living room patio door to ask if a sweatshirt and a few other possible trash-type items she described were mine. They were not, so she wanted permission to retrieve them which, of course, I granted. Whether or not they later found the owner I don't know.
I did learn from neighbors that a homeless person had sometimes been observed at a residence down the street on their porch some days examining packages that had been delivered but had left without further activity.
Several years ago there was a recurring instance with an individual I observed on several occasions in a neighboring city who suddenly lunged toward my car one day causing me to narrowly miss hitting him. Periodically he would appear in heavy traffic on old Route 66, a multi-lane boulevard, sometimes seeming to be trying to direct traffic, other times pacing the sidewalk, waving his arms appearing to talk to himself. He would be gone for days, weeks other times, then eventually reappear. I think he may have been removed from circulation on those occasions, then finally I ceased to see him any more.
The homeless people I've seen have been male except for one female for a short time several years ago. These individuals have generally presented with mental health issues, various drug issues including alcoholism as described in our local newspaper and police blotter reports. Some dangerous behaviors have occurred. There have been increasing homeless people in our city and other adjoining cities in recent years. Reportedly assistance offered them is sometimes rejected but efforts have continued to be made by our city government, religious groups and other organizations to provide help for the few homeless individuals in our community.
Thanksgiving has passed -- another day home alone for many of us, but I have much for which I give thanks. I enjoyed a delicious traditional turkey dinner delivered a couple days earlier that required my only re-heating the food in my microwave oven. I ordered small quantities of turkey, dressing, gravy, yams with pineapple, various vegetables, cranberries and two pieces of my favorite pumpkin pie.
I intentionally wanted to have leftovers from this nearby family-owned deli. I was glad they had decided to keep their deli open after having to close their long-time independent grocery a few years ago. They always featured quality meat and fresh seasonal locally produced fruits and vegetables but couldn't survive the competition from newly opened Sprouts and Trader Joe's just a few blocks down Route 66 from their city location. Farmer's markets are the sole source of such produce now. Wolfe's deli has thrived and I've occasionally purchased select items there before but only a full dinner once before. I think I will order meals for Christmas, later New Year's Day, some different food items from their varied menu offerings since everything was so tasty.
FaceTime calls with my children and grandchildren interspersed with videos of them preparing food highlighted my day. Other times internet videos of their playing games and crazy antics came across the miles as they enjoyed time together in pleasantly warm outdoor weather. They took care to maintain distance from each other, wore masks. I felt almost as if I was there in person for a long overdue family gathering -- maybe another time after this coronavirus is relegated to history.
Then, to bring me even more pleasure one of my PBS stations aired the most entertaining, exciting, colorful, energy-filled showing of the 1981 Tony award-winning Broadway musical "42nd Street" filmed at London's Drury Theatre. The next day this spectacular tap dancing production aired an encore for me to view once more to my great delight. The show apparently is only available in SoCal streaming on PBS Passport as part of their membership benefits but was aired specially for all this holiday. There are numerous YouTube video excerpts and here are a few for any tap aficionados like me.
Here's another excerpt.....
A final excerpt.....
Our city's restaurants are expected to contest, possibly even violate, despite $$$ fines, the recent admonition they've been given to reduce even further to 20% occupancy outdoor customer seating capacity continuing with daily closing hours recently set at 10 p.m. Owners believe these new requirements shouldn't apply to our town since Covid19 infection percentages are below the overall level of our County, Los Angeles, that dictated the criteria specified to have necessitated this change.
However, the total numbers of people with the coronavirus in our county have increased in alarming numbers. We haven't even seen what may occur in a couple weeks following this holiday, since many people travelled rather than staying at home as recommended. Small businesses income in our town has been severely impacted. Local Claremont Colleges (5 undergraduate, 2 graduate) have been offering virtual classes only, so most students are not presently living on campus or in our city to patronize them either.
Pity the children told Santa's coming but are having to wait for what must seem like an eternity, since advertisers started talking about Christmas in October this year, the earliest ever, I think. When I was a child Christmas wasn't promoted until after Thanksgiving. Those weeks until Christmas seemed to me to last forever, but the time has been much longer now for little ones to have to wait since advertising and promotion started even before Halloween this year.
Ordinarily I would rail about this commercialization starting so early, but it may make sense this year given the pandemic. Predictions have been there would be so much shipping of items as to overload our system so we should start early. So kiddies ..... delayed satisfaction has likely stressed the patience of all adults in our culture even more, since so many expect instant gratification under the most ordinary circumstances.
Our little ones may not understand at all and will just have to accept this seemingly never-ending wait for Santa in their world. I appreciate the adults have wanted something to feel happy about so decided to rush Christmas. Maybe it's just a matter of how all is presented to the wee ones. My children adjusted to what they thought were lucky neighbor friends celebrating both Christmas and Hanukkah. Now, more outdoor lights and decorations are going up in my neighborhood which all ages can enjoy, though some elsewhere started decorating before Thanksgiving -- but maybe avoiding mentioning Santa until after Thanksgiving is a good idea any year.
I hope all are having a pleasant long Thanksgiving weekend. No doubt, you too, are making whatever preparations may be needed for our next upcoming holidays. I don't think I'll write a holiday letter again this year to mail. I have only a few greeting cards to address as the number of family and friends still living has continued to dwindle, so will likely restrict myself to just the personal messages I ordinarily write. I don't expect to mail packages and will instead have items shipped directly to recipients from wherever I purchase them, or maybe I'll just send a check for them to select what they want.
How was your Thanksgiving?
Are you making plans now for Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's, other holidays?
What do you remember about the wait for Christmas or other seasonal holidays when you were young?
Word confusion comes about in many ways, but frequently as a result of complications trying to understand an unfamiliar language, or speech accents and dialect differences in the same language.
We do associate certain speech patterns and characteristics with geographical areas of our country and even particular communities. Standard English may be spoken in the USA with various specific area dialects, which can sometimes result in misunderstandings based solely on words being pronounced differently. These accents can also be perceived as strange, alien and a source of humor, or even as an indication of a person's inferiority because of the difference from the prevailing group's speech and language pattern.
I recall years ago as a native Great Lakes state northerner being made aware of having acquired a slight southern dialect during my few years in the South. My standard northern flavored speech had been subjected to southern word dialect osmosis which emerged in some words being recorded I was reading from a sales promotion script. I was supposed to be a woman from Chicago praising our companies products. When we finished audio taping the promotion for the sales department, I glanced up from my script to see the recording studio staff laughing uproariously. I soon learned my northern housewife character had unknowingly spoken her lines with southern speech patterns. Needless to say, her hometown was soon changed.
What a reversal, as I was reminded that only a few years earlier I had learned the reason why my new southern school's classmates had invited me to join them regularly at lunch. They said they had decided they liked me, but they admitted they really wanted to hear what they described as my northern dialect, which really was just general American speech. They stretched their words out, speaking slowly with "Y'all" while I sometimes said, "you guys." Occasionally I said "warsh" for "wash," and "crick" for "creek." My dialect variations were minimal or "light," but southern, northern, other regional dialects and accents can sometimes be so pronounced, "heavy," or "thick," (they're composed of so many unique sounds) others unfamiliar with such speech think they sound really strange. The confused listener may say, "I'm sorry, I didn't understand, could you repeat that please?" or maybe just a simple "Whaddya say?"
"Do you speak American? What speech do we like best?" These are questions asked at this PBS site.
Other times the special accent of foreign speakers creates a unique production of our English words. I always delight in Great Britain's English pronunciation of "laboratory" as they say "luh bor' a tory" accenting the "bor." We Americans often say "lab' ra tory" accenting the "lab." Even other English speaking countries Scotland, Australia and numerous additional ones produce their own distinct but differing word sounds from each other. Within each of those countries they have dialects, also.
Anyone who has ever needed to communicate on a regular basis with someone who speaks a language other than their own with an accent, whether here in the United States or in other countries, may have had difficulty understanding the other person, especially when they first interact. Probably each person has sometimes serious, other times humorous stories to relate resulting from misunderstandings they've experienced.
I am acutely aware of the effect of dialects and accents on others. I know anyone trying to re-acquire speech and language due to neurological damage as a consequence of stroke or brain injury for example, may experience as most challenging, interactions with those unable to speak precisely the patients native language. Individuals with hearing loss also must make an extra effort to perceive correctly the words of someone not speaking the predominant language of the hearing impaired person. These issues are universally true, in English and other languages, too.
I think about the experience of being in another country where my English is not predominant. Great patience and tolerance is required of speakers and listeners with the emphasis needing to be on understanding one another, not blaming and complaining about each others poor speech and language shortcomings. That is not to say that we each shouldn't make an effort to speak more precisely, clearly and even acquire words, phrases and other languages.
Actually, I think in some settings, such as medical, rehabilitation centers, public contact offices, an offering of speech class intervention is highly desired, but these accent reduction classes are rarely offered for our U.S.A. limited English speakers Unfortunately, doctors, nurses other staff are generally quite busy working long hours, some also training additionally to advance their professional levels and careers. They often do not have the time to attend such ESL adult education classes, or those offered at many community colleges.
The most difficult words and ideas to be understood by those acquiring English are idioms and colloquial sayings. (The latter are phrases more often spoken than written, sometimes slang.) One idiomatic story I recall from many years ago occurred when the college I was attending began admitting foreign students from a war torn Far Eastern country.
Soon after arriving on our campus, one such foreign limited English speaking (LES) student was hurriedly trying to find a new friend of his. The LES speaker had lived several years through a war in his home country. He had witnessed or known of all sorts of human atrocities to which a person could be subjected if he/she was simply unliked or in any way different from others. His perspective of life that anything could happen to a person prevailed here, too, as he was still unfamiliar with the ways of our country, much less our idioms. He managed with a limited few English words to ask a mutual acquaintance where his friend might be. He was quite unprepared for understanding the answer he was given. "Oh, you'll find him hanging around the corner." His shocked reaction quickly revealed further language explanation was needed, that his friend was well and not literally hanging.
Spelling words in any language present their own unique problems. Years ago I briefly assisted foreign speakers for whom English was a Second Language (ESL.) Fortunately, I already was quite aware of why so many find our language very difficult to understand, speak, read and write. We have quite a few words that are pronounced the same, but spelled differently and have very different meanings. For example: four/for is a very simple one, but many far more complex words can result in significant meaning differences if used incorrectly. Some native speakers still have trouble with such words, too/to/two.
Thoughts of all these speech and language matters, especially spelling issues, came to mind when I visited a local restaurant recently that appeared to be staffed by natural American citizens. This isn't the most fancy restaurant in town, but it's clean, respectable, has the highest "A" rating, with the food reasonably tasty, considering the inexpensive cost. The restaurant's near proximity to my residence also serves as an attraction when I make a sudden spontaneous decision to eat out and don't want to drive far. While paying my bill, I noticed a hand printed sign posted on the cash register:
"Sorry we can not take creit cards. This is temporitory." Signed "Manager"
I don't know if these spelling anomalies can be attributed to someone for whom English is not their first language, to a weakness in the writer's education, or if, perhaps, the writer has a learning disability. I wish I knew the answer as it might affect my attitude toward eating there in the future. I guess spelling accuracy and quality of food preparation don't necessarily reflect poorly on one another, but I must admit that simple sign planted questions and doubts in my mind.
I'm at war with computers on behalf of people with first names consisting of two words. There is a clear case of computer discrimination against such people. I know, because I'm one of those people discriminated against by some businesses computer operations. Actually my war is not with computers; my complaint is with the individuals who program computers, the people who set up the forms we have to complete at one time or another which don't allow spacing in such a way as to show two separate words are present in a person's first name, and the people who transfer incorrectly written two word names from print or sound to the computer as just one long word. I'll grant you transcribing from sound presents a greater challenge, except in such circumstances I always say, "My first name is two words..." and then "The first word is ..."(which I spell) and "The second word is..."(which I spell)...and then I provide additional clarification about the rest of my name.
I am very annoyed and irritated, however, that with the advent of the computer, my name is often deliberately shortened to the intimate version to which I respond with just my close friends and a few others. I hasten to correct any businesses who are so presumptuous as to use just the first half of my first name, and I ignore all other mail addressed thusly as junk ads. I'm inundated with return address labels from organizations soliciting contributions which show only the first half of my first name, or those who print the first half of my first name, then use an initial for the second half as though it was a middle name. Some businesses correct their computers appropriately; others respond their computers will not allow them to list mine and others full first names as two words, to which I say, "Correct your computer program -- find a way -- I'm not the only person with two words in their first name -- our names deserve respect."
I think a penalty of some sort should apply in every instance in which some employee is found to have converted a two word first name to one word. I also think if their employer does not allow them time to actually look closely enough at what and how accurately they're typing each person's name, the employer should be penalized. I find that if my being pleasant when asking for a correction in my name listing does not result in the desired response, I then handle the problem pretty succinctly if they get cute with me about "The computer won't let me... blah, blah, blah." I just tell them, "Fine, I'll take my business somewhere that can control their computer." I tell them that if they can't even program my name correctly, I don't have a great deal of confidence in how accurately and well they can manage the rest of my business.
That brings me to the three major credit reporting agencies. I was shocked the first time I received a copy of my credit report from each of them. That's right, they didn't seem to know which spelling of my name was the correct one. Again this year, I'm going to have to check with my annual review of the report from each of them to which I am legally entitled. In this day and age of identity theft, it seems to me that those agencies would want to be sure they've spelled every person's name correctly.
I make a point of letting any business who will need to check my credit standing with those agencies to be sure and spell my first name correctly with two words. As far as I'm concerned anybody else inquiring for information from any one of those agencies should be denied, if they can't submit my first name accurately, as two words, without extra letters and other little differences which some other people use with a name pronounced the same way as mine. Those making such inaccurate requests are not people with whom I am doing business, and information about me is none of their business.
Remember Barbra Streisand many years ago making a big point on a TV special, "My Name Is Barbra" HERE about how her first name was spelled, since it wasn't the usual spelling? Then there was another TV special starring Liza Minnelli (entertainer Judy Garland's daughter) who was making a point about getting people to pronounce her name correctly -- Liza with a 'Z' sound, with link HERE.
Recently on our local PBS-TV (KCET Channel 28 in Los Angeles and KOCE Channel 50 in Orange County) they featured a program hosted by Suze Orman, "Women and Money," giving strong emphasis to women being proud of their names, admonishing them to say their own first and last names strongly and directly. I'll just bet she thinks women should insist their names be spelled correctly, too. I can't help wondering if people sometimes write her name incorrectly i.e. Susie. She certainly has less likelihood her name will be pronounced incorrectly, since she spells "Suze" phonetically, exactly as it would be said. (Don't you wish all our words were that way? I'm sure all beginning students, and foreign speakers do, and I do, too!)
But then men should be insisting their names are accurate, also, especially if they have a first name with two words, an unusual spelling, or pronunciation. I just can't cite any TV specials featuring men having to teach people how to spell or say their names though.
We really are touchy about our names, aren't we. I know of someone named Barbara, who insists she be called by that full name -- no nicknames for her, and the worst possible name you could call her is "Barb." She grits her teeth, closes her eyes, scrunches up her shoulders, raises her hands in front of her face as if to ward off a physical attack, then explains her repugnance for this assault on her person.
Now, I just happened to know another Barbara, with whom some of her close friends, and I have been one all my life and hers, come to affectionately use the name "Barb," which she regards as reflecting the loving intimacy of our relationship, since only those closest to her are invited to do so. Then, there's the Barbara with whom I work, who said she never knew or used her name until starting school, because everybody called her "Sandy", due to the red highlights in her hair.
Only those who know me most intimately and select others I invite to do so, call me by a shortened version of my first name. I would assume that should anyone not choose to do so if invited, that would be a clear message that sort of intimacy was not desired, but then people send mixed messages sometimes in other ways.
So, how we use our name, and allow others to use it, the full version, whether or not it's one or two words, or a shortened version, or even a nickname that may not even be our actual name, we are often very particular about how our name is spelled, said and used as well as by whom, how, why and for what purpose. There can, indeed, be good reason on both a personal and a business level for doing so. There can be a good reason for protesting against this sort of name discrimination.
