The General Assembly got back to work on Tuesday with a slate full of committee meetings to advance bills and resolutions. But before legislators receded into the meeting rooms in the State Capitol and Coverdell Legislative Office Building, the House and Senate each took up measures on their floors.
'Names Have Power': A Reading List on Names, Identity, and the Immigrant Experience longreads.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from longreads.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Her given name, the popular Vietnamese
Bich (pronounced ”Bic”), led to constant questioning (“You know what your name looks like, right?”). Her desire for acceptance led her to change her name to Beth.
Bich became Beth when she placed an order at Shake Shack in Madison Square Park, and gave the name without premeditated thought.
“The woman behind the counter didn’t care. She didn’t say, ‘Is that really your name?’” says Nguyen, novelist and professor in the MFA program in creative writing at the University of Wisconsin. “There’s something about that moment that stayed with me as a way to create a sense of permission for myself, legitimacy for myself. Anybody can do this. For me, it started at the Shake Shack.”
Beth Nguyen longreads.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from longreads.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.