Charlie's Digs
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The february 19, 2013 >tuesday february 19, 2013 The News >tuesday 18 19 News N Ó Charlie’s Digs ONDRAG M NICA Ó R VE ! L The game of the name TURA L U [email protected] C N Ó A basic right we all enjoy is the right to a name. According to the United Nations Convention on OMUNICACI the Rights of the Child, a name implies inclusion in C SAR a civil registry and the right to a nationality. ÚL P Cultures have different ways of giving names A Í S E to children. Those with a Spanish tradition, such ORT as Mexico, tend to use given names followed by a first and second surname (“primer apellido” OTO C For me indirect PH and “segundo apellido”). Foreigners in Mexico, People attend the 8th annual San Miguel de Allende Writers’ Conference. especially those arriving from the North, find it is everything, odd that parents do not have the same surnames as it’s about indirect is everything, it’s about fig- writing short stories? their children. uring out the subtext. The story ac- A short story has more riding on ev- Mexican parents are free to choose their figuring out the tually comes from the indirection, ery word and so it has to be its own children’s given names but the registration process subtext. The not the direction. contained universe. In some ways I for surnames is strict. Newborns receive their story actually think I am making the novel more father’s first surname as the first “apellido” and their Who are you reading right now? di"cult that it has to be. A novel has mother’s first surname as the second “apellido.” comes from the I’m reading Dorrit Cohn’s “Trans- so much room for error. For me, I see Hence, the surnames of parents are different from indirection, not parent minds,” Liza Zunshine’s a lot of my chapters as short stories their children on government-issued documents. “Why We Read Fiction,” I’m in- in and of themselves. It’s probably In Mexico, a baby born in a hospital goes home the direction... to the theory of evolutionary nar- more coherent when I just write it with a birth certificate that records gender, weight, ZZ PACKER rative right now. In terms of fiction, out, instead of in fragments, but what length and parents’ full names, as well as the place, Writer I just kind of read whatever comes most interests me is moments, that’s date and time of birth – and a footprint. Parents around, like Juan Villoro. I was how we remember, not in absolute or legal guardians have to register the baby’s given CUARTOSCURO amazed that I hadn’t read any of his chronicles. It’s fun but a lot of work. names at their municipal civil registry office within Mexican parents are free to choose their children’s given stu!, but America is very xenopho- a certain time. names but the registration process for surnames is strict. bic, even in the publishing indus- What do you think other If that period is exceeded, witnesses must E BELL try. … As Americans, we are horribly peoples’ concept is of the life of accompany the parents or guardians and baby to Among Mesoamerican surnames, Maya names OTT L provincial. a writer? the civil registry. Indigenous people frequently are more common in Mexico than those from any AR H C People always tell me that they want prefer to register their children’s birth in what they other indigenous language. Nahuatl is a source F O Y Earlier you were describing to be writers, but usually people consider “their” municipality, even if their child is of given names, even among those who do not S E the separation between the want to “be a writer,” they don’t nec- born in a distant location. consider themselves indigenous. COURT biographical person and the essarily want to write. They have In the Spanish system, the first surname is Because the United States cycles through ! person who writes the fiction. an idea of what a writer’s life is like. the one used for putting names in alphabetical trendy names that are popular for a few years, a OTO PH What are the main di!erences The fantasy comes from the idea order. Next, the second surname is alphabetized. name is often a giveaway for a person’s age. Latin ZZ Packer is currently working on her first novel, which deals with the lives of freed blacks during reconstruction after the U.S. Civil War. between those two personae? that they could get accolades, rec- Given names are alphabetized last. The frequent America doesn’t seem to go through those cycles. The autobiographical “me” is the ognition, but most writing is servi- “security” question asked by U.S. banks, “What is There are names, however, that are popular in some one things happen to, but the perso- tude. There is some imaginary per- your mother’s maiden name?” would be senseless in countries and not in others. A man named Jairo is na that is required to write can’t be son out there and you have to think: Mexico. It’s printed in the phone book. likely from Colombia or Venezuela; Rodrigo, from bound only by the things that hap- Will they understand this? Will Latin Americans from Spanish-speaking Central America or Colombia. Xochitl, Xicotencatl, pen to her and not think about what they laugh at this? Will this char- countries who move to the U.S. will frequently Netzahualcoyotl and Cuauhtemoc – names of she imagines is happening, or could acter change their minds? Half the hyphenate their surnames so as to keep both their Nahuatl origin – usually hail from Mexico. have happened. The persona has to time it’s being a mind reader and the “apellidos,” yet not be alphabetized under their A new phenomenon regarding names has be able to be an author; you can’t re- other half it’s like you’re someone mother’s maiden name. evolved with the Internet. One would think ally be an author if you’re just your- sweeping the floor, sweeping every- Names can get quite long, especially with that readers who comment about a newspaper self. You have to be able to see the thing up, making it pretty. Servitude multiple given names. A given name is dropped, or magazine article online would want to be character in the way that your limit- means a certain amount of invisibil- rather than one’s second surname, when names are recognized for their statement. ed experience would not impede her. ity. In order to be that good servant shortened. If an initial is used it usually stands for Yet they rarely use their names, much less their you have to be invisible. the second surname, not a middle name. email addresses. INVBY LYDIA CAREY ISIBLE Do you think the fictional Under current civil registry rules, a Mexican In some organizations, only first names are used NLlahkm& The News persona is more of the dreamer? Are you saying you’re a literary woman keeps her birth name for life. Though in an effort keep members out of the limelight. lmhkrpkbm^kSS I guess so. I spend most of my day maid? she may choose to take on her spouse’s surname, One such organization is the loosely organized AN MIGUEL DE ALLEN- daydreaming anyways. The autobi- Yes, you are as a writer. When I’m frequently with the possessive “de” between her Occupy Wall Street. Even so, some people can IZ\d^k`bo^l DE, Guanajuato – “(South- ographical self says I can’t write this teaching and I tell my students “that first surname and her spouse’s, she keeps the be identified. A Harper’s magazine article quoted erners) do not so much word, I can’t write about someone isn’t the best way to say that,” they name with which she was registered at birth on from the speakers log at Manhattan’s Zucotti Ma^G^plZg tell as retell, they do not who faked a pregnancy test because ask me, “well, what is the best way?” her government-issued documents. Hence, in Park, mentioning “Charlie from Cuernavaca,” create so much as cajole, SERVANT it would be embarrassing, you have And I say “I don’t know, that’s your order to cash a check, she will need to have her who delivered a greeting along with pericón bglb]^ob^phg andS they do not o!er resolutions so Since then she has written for Harp- Kentucky, sat down with The News but southerners are like “well, we to stop protecting your ego. So may- job to figure out.” Sometimes it takes name written as it appears on her identification flower crosses from Cuernavaca for Liberty Park. much as revelations,” writes author er’s, The New York Times Magazine to talk about writing and storytelling lost the war,” so there is this constant be ego is a better word for it, you a room full of students 10 or 15 min- document. I received several inquiries asking if I am that paZmbmmZd^l ZZ Packer, keynote speaker at last and more. at San Miguel’s Real de Minas Hotel. need to explain or defend, trying to have to abandon a certain kind of utes to improve one line ... that’s Mexican spouses who are active in politics or Charlie. weekend’s San Miguel Writers’ Con- She has received both the Com- make up the story of what happened ego to write.