It's no secret that I have a legal name, separate from the pseudonym under which I work as a photographer, no? Well, not if you've been paying attention, mi gente: I do state, in every profile, that I'm a writer/editor in another life, or under my legal name.
Those who have spent time in my presence are typically given both my names—and their preference as to which they'd prefer to call me. Most who meet me as Emmanuela continue to refer to me by that name—after twenty years, both identities live, and are mine.
We've discussed—here and in other online fora—my intrepid difficulties with online social networking. Some people have gone as far as to refer to me as a Luddite, due to my seeming lack of skills with certain areas of the internet. In fact, my ignorance is bliss: I just don't love any of the services I don't use, and I am abundantly happy, without them.
Current best practices for those who maintain project websites, like mine, suggest SEO (search engine optimization) via visibility on, yes, social networking sites. Ay.
So I put my photography name on the face place. Guess what: it works, for SEO.
Then, though, I received an email from that site, alerting me that my eldest daughter "listed" me "as her mother," and the site wanted me "to confirm this family request."
Um.
Well, that just seemed wrong. I had to ponder: Emmanuela de León is known to have children, sure. But part of what is most sacred to me, within our family, is our names—and my legal surname is the same as my daughter's, very much by choice, and by Méxicana tradition.
Ponder.
I had to think about why I had initially chosen a pseudonym for my work as a photographer. Way back in the day, I recalled, during the completion of my post-graduate work, there was some trepidation over how a dalliance in photography would be received. I was, then, after all, what was once called "a Blue Chip Chicana": a target minority, working in-field, and attending the best schools. It was expected by all I would advance to the heights of academia. What the fuck was I doing playing with a camera? What would people think?
As it turned out, I was diagnosed with epilepsy, just a year after I completed my doctorate. I'd already been hired as an adjunct professor, and had not yet even made a lateral move, in my career, when I was declared "disabled."
More strangely, to me, the photography gig was extremely well-received. The people who called me Emmanuela began to far outnumber those who remembered me by my Dr. title.
Since moving East, when people ask me which name to use, I actually say I'm more comfortable with Emmanuela, because my legal name makes me feel either like a parent or as if I'm in the midst of some arduous battle, in which I am inevitably called Dr. Jaramillo. There are very few people remaining who simply call me Canéla, my legal first name, and are close to me.
There's nothing hidden, is the thing: Canéla and Emmanuela have the same histories, the same number of children, the education, the same lives. Anyone could have linked that, if paying attention *s
Well, that's how I see it.
I have to mention the fact that I was not so inspired, when (okay, I won't mention names) "a friend" told me he was even more impressed, to have me as his friend, after he ran my legal name through a search engine. I said, "What: Emmanuela wasn't good enough for you?" Geeeez.
Dr. Canela Jaramillo is a person of accomplishment. So what. I'm fifty years old, gente, with four children, and a solid education. I said I just picked up photography, about ten minutes ago. Did y'all think I was in stasis, the rest of the time?
Yes, I'm also an author and a editor. I've built schools, cradle to grave. I'm a curriculum specialist. A former professor. I've said these things.
As my son used to quip: Ain't no thing but a chicken wing *s
Emmanuela, I guess, is just Canéla Light . . . and I like it that way. It's good to have an occupation in which I am simply free to make art.
To all of you who have known all this for so long: sorry to bore.
For those to whom this is fresh: it's not a big deal, once you become accustomed to it *s
And: should I now consider one unified name?
I just had new business cards made . . . ay . . .
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