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Couldn't go wrong with those names, Troy. "Zora", as in Zora Neale Hurston? "Maya" as in Maya Angelou? Is what you ended up naming your daughter pronounced Zo or Zoee? We are brainwashed about names. We think that white female names like Hannah, Abigail, Emma and Maude or surnames used as first ones like Taylor and Tyler and Morgan are acceptable names, but we ridicule and reject musical names that roll of our tongues like LaQueezetta or TaShanese. I'm guilty of wincing at some of these names that black folks come up with, too, but what's really in a name? "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Too bad that names nowadays are like a brand. Celebs can get a way with giving their kids crazy-assed names but black folks are penalized for their made-up names. Who'd ever have thought a time would come when "Mary" would be an uncommon name? My first name is a Spanish one: Consuelo . And I actually detect a subtle bias in my favor from HIspanics who see my name in the course of interacting with me. The last time I was taking a road test to renew my drivers license, the Mexican tester actually passed me because he was influenced by my name - and because I had a tattoo. Neither of which was a good reason for allowing me to get out there and drive at my age.( I was named after an aunt and how she got a Spanish name, I'm not sure.) I prefer short one-syllable names for boys. And as I have mentioned on numerous occasions, I really like the name "Troy".

Hey, LiLi. Where you been, girlfriend? Welcome back. Jump right into this whirlpool conversation. Delano, as for you making a distinction between thinking and observing, to me, your decision to do this involves thinking. And even as you're watching, your mind is processing what your eyes are seeing, either forming an opinion, or deciding that what you are looking at doesn't interest you. What is your definition of "thinking"? It has occurred to me that a lot of what I ponder has already been dissected and incorporated into philosophies like Existenalism. Also I always heard so much about Henry David Thoreau's classic work Walden Pond but I have never checked out this book which I think deals with many aspects of what we are discussing. So I'm going to look into it.

Hello all...I am dizzy reading all this...I will take a week to absorb...then possibly make a comment LOL