Hey you, are you hungry? Why do you ask? I know a really nice place with fantastic food – the kind of food that
explodes on your tongue. A friend of mine calls it ‘orgasmic’. I always have
to think of her whenever I eat amazing food. She has a unique character.
Anyway, do you want to join me? Would be nice to have company! Okay. You know, food makes you come alive in two ways. For sure literally: it
keeps you alive. But what's even more important: you also feel alive
because such a complex system of senses is activated. Often it is just the
idea of food and the beauty in its colors, forms and arrangement that
makes you feel – the actual taste is secondary then. Sometimes eating even
destroys what was there before. What‘s your name? So far my name is Alex, Alexandra B. Conner, to be correct. But you know, I
think about changing it. I am bored of it.
Let‘s go and see what will happen today: explosion or void.
On a journey she met a girl named Alex B. Conner. They started talking and she liked her immediately. When she was back on the train, she opened her notebook at the page Alex B. Conner had written her name and her current address in New York. At that moment she recognized the beauty of the name. She had to think of her own childhood, when she used to play ‘being boys’ with her younger sister. ‘Alex’ was her boy’s name, and she tried hard to remember her sister’s – she couldn’t.
Also the name ‘Conner’ was connected to her past. In the 90s, she loved the sitcom Roseanne. It portrays the Conners, an American working-class family living in Landford, Illinois. Just recently she had watched it again – she still loves it.
She hadn’t asked what ‘B.’ stood for. Maybe there was not even a name behind this letter, and Alex’ parents just liked the play with the initials, A. B. C. – she didn’t care.
Alex had told her that she would probably change her name because she was bored saying it, writing it, and being called that way. So the name would be available again. That was her chance to take it – she liked the idea of becoming Alex B. Conner.