Let Me Tell You About All My Names
I have been introducing myself a lot lately. I've been new in so many rooms where I feel destined to become familiar. When people meet me, I give them a list of options for names to address me by. After I say it, I get various responses lol. Let me tell you about each one. I always start with my actual name -- Mahiri. It is pronounced Mah High Ree, and this is how I am addressed by those closest to me. My old friend Nkenna (rest in peace, king) once told me to always be proud of my name and to stand strong when teaching the correct pronunciation. I've always had a complicated relationship with my first name as it isn't "conventional" since it isn't American, and it doesn't sound like everybody else's. My name derives from the Swahili language and it means "wise, skillful, and clever". I have to give my parents some credit here because I literally wouldn't be having this conversation if they had given me literally any other name. Following...