i maybe 8 or 9 years old when i first claimed a new name. there is a fascinating allure to the hypersurreal neocapitalist modernist tendency towards label as identity and as individuality, to be defined by the terms used in reference to oneself rather than to first and foremost be an identity for which names are approximated. when i am called rose, i am rose, and when i go by ava i am ava. it is not even a form of internal dualism, a feeling multiple identites or tendencies towards such, but a deep dissociation from a socially understood sense of self, an idea of personhood which is understood and interpretted based onmits context. i have several names, including rose, ava, estro, tea, rosid, autumn, and i only collect more as i grow.