Author Archives: notwithoutmyhandbag

From the Associated Press

Forest Service worries about environment, violence at peace gathering
By Don Thompson, Associated Press

MODOC NATIONAL FOREST — Lucky Sunshine Day says he arrived at this year’s Rainbow Family Gathering “a moon cycle ago,” measuring time much as he has the last 20 years of his life.

He spent much of his youth traveling aboard a Rainbow bus with his parents, Flower and Two Rock. To reach this year’s Gathering, he hitched a ride deep into the woods of Northern California.

“It’s about love, it’s about community, it’s about family,” he said. “We’re here to restore the earth to its natural state.”

This year’s annual peace Gathering got off to a bad start when one participant beat another nearly to death with a shovel for driving too fast through a campground. …

The counterculture festival reaches its high point Sunday when more than 10,000 self-described hippies from at least 40 states and eight nations are expected to hold hands in a circle, silently praying for world peace from dawn until noon. …

“Everybody with a bellybutton is a Rainbow. Some people just don’t know it yet,” said Sarieah, cradling her 2 1/2-year-old daughter Zakiaya on her hip. …

Elsewhere, as the full moon came up the drums came out, filling the woods with a hypnotic tribal beat. Rainbows consider themselves a tribe, or a gathering of tribes, and have drawn much of their language and tradition from American Indians.

Yet their choice of a site drew protests from the Fort Bidwell Indian Community Council, which worried diggings of latrines in particular would harm ancestral artifacts. …

The Rainbows have no leadership, only unofficial elders and organizers, and decide everything by consensus at council meetings. Most refuse to acknowledge they need a permit to freely assemble on public land.

“Whenever there’s a problem, we deal with it. We call the sheriff,” said Kalif, the head gatekeeper. …

Kalif turned in his longtime friend, Harry “Hugs” O’Neill, 47, of Whitehorn, on June 22 after O’Neill allegedly used a shovel to smash the windshield of a pickup truck and beat the vehicle’s two occupants. O’Neill remains jailed on felony assault and battery charges.

Christopher Witcher, 47, of Roan Mountain, Tenn., nearly died from injuries that included a punctured lung, ruptured spleen and head injuries, police said. Kelly Cook, 44, of Brosnan, Texas, suffered a head wound but later returned to the Gathering.

I know two sisters named Kezza and Velvet who have named their children (all girls) Stormy, Treasure Dawn, and Harmony. Apparently they have followed in their parent’s footsteps in deciding to torture poor defenseless babies! My husband, who is related to these women, wanted to name our second child Shediah (hello…Shediarrhea!)

I know a guy whose son is named Skyye Walker Stevens. And yes, he’s very into Star Wars.

My former brother-in-law is Danny Daniels (Jr).

– Lynn

I have worked in the computer field for almost fifteen years now. Worked with a fellow named Dan who named his first son Solaris (after the SUN microsystems unix operating system) his second son Linux (after the open source unix operating system) his wife got to the third birth certificate before he could though and named the third Stephen.

-D.

I found a link to your site the other day while reading a news article on celebrity baby names. I couldn’t resist reading as I was hoping to find my name on your list……. well. I didn’t. I couldn’t resist sending it and few other names in, out of curiousity I wanted to see if I could find anyone who shares the name with me.

Well, here goes…… My name is Dawntta (it was orginially Dawnetta, as if that’s any better). It is pronounced as Dante, Dontay just like a boy, by the way I am a WOMAN!!! Say what you will about it but, I love the fact that I haven’t met another female with the name (plenty of guys though!)

If that isn’t enough for you……my best friends name is Mihown (pronounced MY-Own ….as in My Own Child …or at least that’s where the name comes from, she’s an only child).

A friend of a friend thought this was a great name……. Heavn Isa Angel (Heaven Is A Angel….???……I laughed at first, I didn’t think she was serious) Apparently she took her husbands last name after they married…angel!!!

My neighbor, after waiting until she was in her late 30’s to have a child, named her poor daughter NoMorea Jones…..as in No More Jones (can you tell the dad’s not around).

Well that’s it, just wanted to share

Luv your site, Dawntta

Growing up my sister went to school with some very oddly named children:

Zachariah Buckbell Buchanan
Wendolyn Mage

…and my favorite…

Heidi Ann Seeke (her parents thought it would be fun)

My own parents believed that girls should have unique names and boys should have “good, sturdy names.” So the girls are named Shayla Mae, Alissa Dawn, and Aubrey Rose. My brothers are named Christopher Douglas (nearly Christopher Robin), Dave James, and James Dean. I was old enough to talk them out of Christopher Robin, but they wouldn’t listen when my sister and I argued against James Dean. Aubrey is from a Bread song released in the 70s.

I noticed that my name (Shayla) made one of the posts of “ridiculous” names. During high school, my name was constantly pronounced Shy-lah instead of SHAY-lah, and I’m perpetually having to tell people that I’m not Sheila. Having said that, I do like my name and it’s often shortened to Shay, which is unoffensive.

I’ve been told by several people of Arabic decent that there is a word that sounds like my name in their language and it means “Bargain” or “Good Deal”… Friends that overheard this quickly spread this around & they all say “What a Shayla I got on my new car!” or other similar phrases. There was also period in the 80s that I hated it, but that was because I was called She-ra by the kids at school or “He-Man’s Sister”….

The combination with my middle name sounds like The Hick Dream, doesn’t it? “Shayla Mae! Go feed them-there chickens!” I do get a lot of compliments on my first name though, which means “Hebrew princess” or “Of the Faerie Fort” depending upon which name book & etemology you choose to go with. I jokingly combine them into one–Hebrew Princess of the Faerie Fort–which connects nicely back to He-Man, don’t you think?

By the Power of Greyskull,
Shayla

I’ve got a friend whose sister named her child “Plumey”. Pronounced “ploo’-mee”.

Now, if I ever get to meet this child, I’m just going to associate her with those big feathers on those big marching band hats.

-O

i’m one of those unfortunate hippie offspring that someone else mentioned in your earlier pages. while my dad was driving my mom to the hospital to give birth on a june morning in the 70s, she saw the sun coming up and waxed poetic in her delirium. they decided to name me summer dawn.

it was a bitch of a name in junior high, what with the douche jokes and all (i don’t know why they didn’t see that coming…). but it’s okay now, particularly because i don’t use the middle name at all, and at least people tend to remember who i am. they still can’t spell it, though…i get “somer” and “sommer” all the time. who woulda thunk. interestingly, most people seem to assume that i’m black if they’ve only seen my name and never met me. (i’m not.) every school i’ve ever attended has had at least one other summer, but i don’t think i’ve ever met a summer who was black. i’m not sure what that’s about.

a couple of other interesting names for your hall of shame…i’m an alum of the university of kentucky, and i seem to recall another student on campus named summer earlywine. i also graduated with a girl named nahtanha (pronounced nah-TAWN-ah). i think she said that nahtanha means “cornflower” in a native american dialect, not sure which one. and my great-grandmother’s name was navada (pronouced nah-VAY-dah). of course you know she was called and spelled “nevada”, like the state, all her life. she was the oldest of ten, and by the time they got to her younger siblings, the creative juices must have petered out, because they got called stuff like james and willie.

summer

I’ve come across a few bad baby names in my day, and to my utter shame, the worst comes from my (relative). It was a slow descent into madness…her first child was Ashley Paige. The second one was the first to bear the burden of a second middle name – Alex Michaela Shea. Then the last and most horrible, her third child was a son – Justice Trey St. Christopher. And no, St. Christopher is not his last name.

Another of my (relative)’s married into an insane family. One of her grandchildren is Copper Wayne Richard. I was pushing for Zinc, personally.

Just wanted to tell you about a girl I went to high school with who was named Gina Nervina. But she always included her middle name when referring to herself. So, “Gina Christina Nervina”. Ouch.

-T