Friday, December 10, 2010

Labels



Location: Near 5 Navy Wharf Crescent and the Gardiner Expressway, Toronto, Ontario

Description: The Rogers Centre with a garden/patio area in the foreground and the CN Tower behind on the right.

Story: "You don't seem like a Stephanie."

That was all it took to set her off. "And what, pray tell, does a Stephanie seem like? It's just a name. It's a handy way to reference that you're talking to me, that's all. It's easier that constantly going 'That girl' all the time. I mean, take Stephan for example. If I said that I was talking to my friend Stephan, what do you think he would look like?"

She paused, but wasn't expecting a response, so whatever he said in his defense was silenced. "We have all these ideas that someone will act this way, or look like this, or whatever and it's all wrong. Your name doesn't change over the course of your life, but you do. It's not supposed to be an accurate depiction of the entity you are now. It's a label, a tag!"

He sat down and let her go; no point jumping in front of a speeding car. "It's not meant to be descriptive, even more so now. Names no longer tell us if a person is male or female. And it doesn't even make sense! It's like saying that a toaster isn't very Stephanie, or a lemur isn't very topographical, or that bench is metaphorically a river! It's apples and oranges!"

She looked straight at him now; the end was nigh. "I don't care what you think; a name is not meant to describe the character of a person. So when we do this play, I'm going to be called Stephanie, got that?" He nodded. "And if I hear another word about this, you'll be called Mr. Sprinklehead the Third."

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