My "Love Salad" series was developed in response to two questions. First, "Do you do names?" as in will I make bracelets with names on them. Second, "How do I show respect for minorities and people of color?" The two questions went hand in hand. As I was growing up, I had difficulty finding items with my name on them. I became frustrated every time I searched a rack of license plates, key chains, barrettes, etc. for my name only to find Kristine, Karen, Katherine, Katie, etc. but not Katrina. I thought about this experience when I considered making name bracelets. I don't know the names of my potential customers. I don't want to guess which names will sell or disappoint girls like myself who rarely or never find their names on anything. Then I thought of some of my past students. I have taught in schools with high African-American, Hispanic, and Middle Eastern student populations. When have I ever seen their names on a key chain at Hallmark? I thought especially about my African-American students who have very unique names.
Several African-Americans came to mind. One was a former classmate named Nyenye. One day she shared with us that her name meant "light" and that made her proud. Then I remembered reading about the actress Taraji P. Henson (Empire, Hidden Figures). I read that her name was Swahili for "hope". Like Nyenye, she had a beautiful, meaningful name that I never saw printed on anything. I remembered that President Barack Obama's name is Arabic for "blessed" and that I've met students named Precious, Supreme, and Sincere. Then I remembered seeing an interview with Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played Lt. Uhura on Star Trek. In this interview she said that Gene Roddenberry wanted her to choose the name for her character. At the time, she was reading a book called Uhuru, which is the Swahili word for "freedom". They decided to modify "uhuru" into Uhura. As I reflected on that, "Love Salad" was born!
The title "Love Salad" came from a statement I once read that the United States is not a melting pot where all cultures blend into a single culture. The United States is more like a fruit salad, where cultures intermingle and influence each other, but each maintains its own distinctiveness. The "Love Salad" bracelets celebrate this distinctiveness by not favoring "American" names. Rather, they feature words and ideas that celebrate the goodness of people from all cultures while using words from the cultures of people of color. Sometimes these words are used as names, like Taraji and Barack. Sometimes the words are just ideas we can all get behind. Didn't Barack Obama write a book about the audacity of taraji (hope)? Do you think Taraji P. Henson might feel barack (blessed)? Don't we all value uhuru (freedom)?
I began the series focused on the languages Swahili, Spanish, and Arabic to reflect my African-American, Hispanic, and Middle Eastern students. I am looking to include Asian and Native American languages and a few European languages to represent the intermingling of cultures in the United States. Each bracelet features a single word or phrase in English and the same word translated into at least one other language. For example, one bracelet says "Peace - Shalom - Pax - Salaam" which is the word "peace" in English, Hebrew, Latin, and Arabic. Another says "Amor - Love" because "amor" is the Spanish word for "love". Explore the collection to see which items speak to you on a universal or distinctively cultural level.
