AmyLavernia

With the introductory post out of the way, I thought I would take the time to write an explanation to the context behind my choice of blog name.

I spoke of my procrastination in starting this blog; one thing that significantly held me back was trying to decide a blog name. Eventually deciding to (typically) choose the most obvious one of them all!  It was important that the chosen name felt fitting, and rightly expressed me. Impressions, also, were important, as is the case with a book (despite the idiom) if it ain’t got a good first impression with it’s cover, or name, my eyes are skimming right past it during my trip to Waterstones (I already spend hours looking, forget needing to read the blurb of every book to try and make a judgement). I had spent months trying to think of the perfect name, waiting for the sudden inspiration of the perfect words.  The attempted inspirations: “architect of art”, “author of thoughts”, “it’s a state of art” or “avant-garden of Eden” ( I am admittedly grateful that my past self thought better of these catastrophes) just didn’t cut it. And no amount of looking through Shakespeare quotes, picking my favourite phrases from Charlie Chaplin’s “Great Dictator” or reading every lyric book of every The Cure album I owned seemed to work either.

And so, (rather predictably) I eventually chose the name that had been staring me in the face, an ignored child tugging on the trousers of my imagination; the name I had already been using for my social media accounts for God knows how long: “AmyLavernia”. I mean, it has my name in it, how more “expresses me” can you be?

Anyway…

“Lavernia” is French name, as is Amy (a first link)  meaning “goddess of the underworld” this, is what initially drew my interest in the name; a couple of years ago, I had a collaborative narrative “roleplay” (not THAT kind of roleplay)  Facebook group chat, it was of a similar nature to the kind that you would do at primary school or when you’d reached the ultimate point of boredom during a family meal, and you would all take turns to carry on the sentence, this had adapted into a hobby for a few months (and is actually a great way of stimulating creativity and getting out of the ol’ writers block). I was choosing the name for my new character, of whom would be a demon in a similar style to Selene from Underworld (my latest craze at the time) and ended up taking a shine to this name and using it for my social media accounts. I now find this is a fitting name, as it not only has a nostalgic sentiment, but I find it perfectly fitting in expressing the “underworld” of the arts, a world seemingly separated from the realms of reality. It also has undertones of a Gothic semantic field,  (or “vibe”) that resonates my love of the Gothic genres of music and literature.

To quote “www.sheknows.com”: “People with this name tend to initiate events, to be leaders rather than followers, with powerful personalities. They tend to be focused on specific goals, experience a wealth of creative new ideas, and have the ability to implement these ideas with efficiency and determination. They tend to be courageous and sometimes aggressive. As unique, creative individuals, they tend to resent authority, and are sometimes stubborn, proud, and impatient.” This description both highlights my character, mostly with the last sentence (not my best traits I must say) but also completely contrast with my character, mostly with “courageous”, “leaders” and “a wealth of creative ideas”, as a person who has the social skills of a block of wood and is in a constant state of, the previously mentioned, creative block, that this name then becomes part of the alter-ego I intend to obtain.

and with that, there’s a not-so-brief context to my name.

I am currently writing a two part post about my visit to Manchester exhibitions “Queer Noise” and “LaMovida” and also received a reply from artist John Casey for a feature article that I will transcribe into a post soon! 

~ AmyLavernia