The Greatest of Names

The name Nicholas is a name of great honor and respect. Dating back to the Greeks the name Nicholas means "Victory of the people" because its derived from the Greek words Nike which means victory and laus which means people. Nicholas became a more popular name with Christians because of the growing popularity of Saint Nicholas who is the patron saint of Children but is more well know for being Santa Clause. This name doesn't fit me very well. For one, I do not enjoy dressing up in red and delivering presents to small children. Quite frankly I think its weird and I hate most small kids. I also think I was named wrong because my motto is not even close to victory of the people. In fact, mostly any chance I get to ruin things for everybody for the sake of my own benefit I will take up. Another definition of my name though that I found did more closely fit my personality. Urban Dictionary defines the name Nicholas as "The coolest guy in the world." This more closely relates to me as a person because I am in fact  the coolest guy in the world.

In Anna Quindlen's story she talks about when she was married she decided not to change her last name. I completely see where the author is coming from and feel that it is very closely linked to my own life and situation. When I was born my dad ran off and left me and my mom alone without signing my birth certificate. As a result of this I was given my mothers last name, Zajac. I grew up most of my life to this point as a Zajac. The name was special to me because I was of only 4 people with my last name, including my mom, and the only one with a chance of really passing the name on. when I was about 12 my mom decided to get married to another man. This man , my dad now, had three other children much older than me but I still fit in well with the family.

Because my dad and his side of the family was only related by marriage they were technically my step family but there was no reason for them not to adopt me as their own legally and make me officially a part of the Stockdale family. So a couple of years ago we finally decided to get around to legally adopting me into the family. When we went through this process, however, there was a dilemma. The last name Zajac meant something very special to me and I wanted to hold on to it and not change it to Stockdale. So when the process went through I decided to not go with the traditional adoption method and I kept the last name Zajac. This didn't mean that I loved my new family any less or was left out in any way but at the same time I kept my separate identity. When my mother married into the family she also changed her last name. Just because I was the only one in the family with a different last name didn't make me an outcast it just created a second "me as the author stated. I am Nicholas who is a part of a great loving family who is very close to one another and I am Nicholas Zajac who is his own person and is free to carry on his own legacy separate from the shadow of my well known family.

Wing Young Huie Photography and Othering

Wing Young Huie, Baker, Montana, 2001

In Wing Young Huie's photograph there appears to be a crowd with a man standing in front. The man is noticeably different from the rest because hi is the only Asian, he is standing up in front, and he is facing a different direction of everybody else. The people sitting seem to be in stands at some type of event as if they are observing something. This is verified by the writing on the stairs that specify each individual row. The people in the stands also seem to be segregated in a way also. The majority of the elderly people are sitting in the middle while younger to middle aged people are sitting off to the left for the most part and the mothers with there children are grouped together in the bottom right.

When this picture is observed through a connotative lens a few thing stick out. The main point of this picture is to show how an Asian living in America is always left out. The photographer, himself being Asian as well, was trying to portray the difficulties of trying to fit in to society.he is literally and figuratively standing out from the crowd and is different from the rest. Everybody has their own group they are with whether its a group of moms or elderly people except for the man in front who is all alone.

In both Margret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" and Wing Young Huie's photograph othering is a key focal point. In the picture othering is shown by positioning mostly. The man in front is being "othered" by everybody else because he is out in front and facing away. by going against the flow of things he is put out on a pedestal almost to be shown as different. In "the handmaid's tale" Offred is also also a victim of othering. she must act differently than everybody else in the sitting room by kneeling instead of sitting. she is also othered by her job. in a household there's always people with somebody to talk to except for handmaids.The Guardians have other Guardians, the Marthas have each other, and the commander and wife can talk to each other but Offred as a handmaind has nobody to talk to. Another way othering occurs is through color. In "The Handmaid's Tale" Offred is othered by being forced to wear the color red all the time. she is left out because she is the only one in the house wearing red. In the Photograph by Huie the man is tan while everybody else is more white giving the same effect.