Summary

Identity is a complex word. What is an identity? Your name? Your ethnic background? How are you perceived by others? Well identity is defined as "The distinguishing character or personality of an individual: individuality." The meaning of identity may seem elementary and evident at first glance, however, it is actually an intricate proposition that has been in fact discussed in great detail amongst philosophers, psychologists, and sociologists for quite some time. Identity impacts almost all aspects of one's life, this includes family relationships, intimate relationships, work, social relationships and simply one's interaction within society. Ultimately, your identity sets the fundamental aspects as to how one thinks and perceives things around them.

Two versions, One me 

Bryan Naranjo

As a citizen of the land of the free, the leisure of freedom is given to me, saying and expressing whatever it may be. As astounding as this may sound, this “freedom” is chased around by a turmoil of restless confusion. I find myself lost in the question, the question that defines me and all I am, all I represent. I am two different characters all in one, the whitewashed version is always fighting to beat down the Ecuadorian me. 

Why is it such a strife to dig out the real me? 

My identity.

Growing up in western school systems, I saw common last names 

Allen, 

Lewis, 

Irwin,

Edwards,

Nelson… 

Then there was mine, 

Naranjo 

I despised the way it sounded like the Spanish word Naranja, meaning 

orange  

Why was my last name so bizarre, 

Why couldn’t I have been a smith or a Jones at least, 

My last name seemed to have been made to have others ridicule me,

So when asked my name I added a western twist to it and instead of pronouncing it 

Nar- an- jo

I said it as Nur – un – jo, 

Whitewashed. 

My mother has given me the name of Bryan Joel Naranjo Godoy at birth, yet, 

It didn’t appease me, 

so I just wrote Bryan Naranjo on all my notes,

At least removing the additional Spanish essence given to me. 

It was irksome for me to acknowledge the American in me, 

Expected to be a western entity, 

Expected to read, write and speak English fluently, 

While having a mismatched name. 

I found myself praying to be given an American name, 

And send Naranjo into obsolescence, 

Although I was born in America, my parents decided to keep the Spanish in me. 

Why? 

If I am to be whitewashed in this nation,

Why? 

Not just start at birth. 

My first name, Bryan, is associated with being noble and loyal, 

My middle, Joel, name meaning “Follower of God,”

A name full of dexterity, 

A name to be calmly rearranged with red, white and blue at the end of it. 

Although I am American born, I am tied to Ecuador. 

I speak, read and write the Spanish language as much as I can with English. 

Your name is the title people first read when they meet you, 

So I shortened mine to Bryan Naranjo, 

Yet…

I still wished to erase,

even more.

I wanted a name to have people remember me for as me, 

Not because my last name reminded them of a fruit, 

Ironically enough many liked the fact that my last name sounded like orange becoming an easy way to connect. 

To them it wasn’t funny, 

It was 

Interesting, 

Unique, 

Fun.

Yet,

To me my name was given superiority with the first name, 

But 

Reminded of my alienation with the last. 

Your name is like the disappearance of D.B. Copper, 

A mystery, 

Waiting to be resolved by others, 

And I don’t mean it in a bad way, 

It’s actually okay 

To be 

Different. 

Diversification is actually something beautiful, 

Something to get people thinking about, 

Reminding them that this world is smaller than they picture, 

You can find all ethnicities together in a room without even knowing it,

Amazing isn’t it? 

So, when my time comes to give my own children a name, 

I’ll give them something special, 

Without covering up their or my roots, 

Something to remind them of their beautiful motherland,

despite being American born. 

Something to remind people around them about the Inca empire and the beautiful 

Galápagos Islands

our motherland holds,

Something breathtaking,

Something  dynamic,

Something unprecedented,

Something original.

Something Ecuadorian. 

Most of all. 

Something, 

Us. 

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” -George Bernard Shaw