Photo Credit: Mardale Walker @The Fabulous Fox, St. Louis, MO

Pray! Write! Works!

Today, I am inspired:

by Hadestown, The Broadway Musical.

My Three Words for this week are: ‘Say My Name’.

Music has been a staple in my life since a young age. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoy the theater scene in St. Louis since relocating here in 2019. Starting with the Shakespeare in the Park tour at January-Wabash Park in Ferguson, Missouri. A few years ago, I learned about The St. Louis Black Rep that performs on WashU’s campus. Now, a few weeks ago, I received a pair of complimentary tickets from St. Louis Public Library to see Hadestown at the Fabulous Fox Theater. And, fabulous it is.

Do you all remember when Destiny’s Child dropped their hit, ‘Say My Name’? We were driving around, singing along. It was upbeat, yet to be truthful, the lyrics are not what women actually want to sing in real life. But, like a lot of music, the beat was catchy and we danced to it while ignoring the negative affirmations we let slip from our lips.

Our names carry so much weight, so much history. We agonize over what to name the baby we carry in our womb. Some of us peer through the branches of our family tree, see a leaf with a worthy predecessor and say, ‘that’s it.’ My sister and I gave our mom the gift of choosing our sons middle names. She used a book of African names she bought. We had to agree though. I was like, ‘ummm, let’s try again’ on the first name she considered. But, we both believe our sons’ names carry their truth.

In cultures around the world, names are embedded in songs. Warriors are celebrated. Enemies are denigrated. Lovers…. both, sometimes in the same song.

I read this BBC article about the Kongthong village in India where mothers’ create a song for their child when they are born.

“It is an expression of a mother’s unbridled love and joy at the birth of her child. It’s like a mother’s heart song, full of tenderness, almost like a lullaby.”

“For us, it’s ingrained in our DNA. A woman isn’t taught how to compose a tune, it comes naturally to her after childbirth. We learn the tunes assigned to us as well as to our family members and friends, just like we learn our mother tongue — by listening to them since birth.”

When our loved ones’ say our name, say our name… we feel seen. We feel encouraged. We know our place in the house. As the years slip by, we know we are remembered. Like Lady Persephone in Hadestown, living personification of Spring and Summer, forced to live 6 months underground every year, sometimes we have to scream our own names out into the wind. To remind others of just who we are, before we disappear into the Fall and Winter of Life.

What about you Reader?

Are you saying your own name; lifting your own worth up in this Spring season?

Let me know in the comments below what weight your name carries.

Take a listen to this week’s video…. ‘Our Lady of the Underground’ from the Broadway musical, ‘Hadestown’.

Say your name, say your name, when no one is around you, tell yourself, ‘I love you!”

Pray! Write! Works! I’ll talk to you next Tuesday.

Be well,

Mardale, Bamboo Boss Lady

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