Everyoceanhughes.com Website Review

Hello. In September 2018 I am initiating a name change. This is a transitional and intimate interlude, this short statement will not In the spirit of queer invention, and in the light of many, I’d like to introduce myself with a new name. Every Ocean Hughes. Hughes is the name of my beloved sister-mother-grandmother and upon her death I took her name. Ocean I chose 20 odd years ago talking names on my mom’s bed in rural Maryland. Every, pronounced Ev-ry, is a friendly misunderstanding turned identification. EOH. My time to ask for this came upon me softly. A subtle reorientation towards how I feel now, as opposed to the name I was given in another time and place. It’s not hard for me to leave those markers, but it is a challenge to explain emotional change publicly. I want it to be simple: we all change over a lifetime, I’m stepping into something new. I’m 41 years old and I’m choosing this and letting the rest work itself out over time. I’m grateful to have friends as role models, and to live in a community where we do this. P.S. also hues, and hews. Every ocean hews. P.P.S. I’ll be both. It’s not a hard line, f.k.a., a.k.a. P.P.P.S. Here I quote my friend Tourmaline (f.k.a. Reina Gossett) who recently wrote about their own name change, the power of naming, and “It’s my birthday and I gave myself the gift of a new name. I loved being Reina. I claimed the name as my own at a time when I felt so much shame, blame and guilt about my beauty as a trans person. It was so hard for me to take up space, I literally apologized all the time for existing. Having the name Reina made me like nothing was wrong with me. The word is so powerful, just by saying it I got to be a queen even when I didn’t feel like I could be. The more I introduced myself, the more at home I felt in myself, my magic and power. I had so much scarcity come up when I first realized it was time to change again. ‘What about my website?? What about all the gigs I’ve booked, ways I’ve been credited? Will people connect those past accomplishments with my new name?’ and so on & so forth.