michelle rivers - my adventure blog

Names are somewhat arbitrary labels, but they have a profound influence in shaping our lives and personalit y .  I recently decided to change my last name from "Hickman" to "Rivers", and have been thinking a lot about what our names say about our identity. When I ask myself, "Who am I?", my name is always the first thing to pop into my head. But now that I have a slightly different answer, it doesn't mean that I'm a different person. Right?  Usually when we want to re-invent ourselves, it takes a lot of dedication and hard work from the inside out. But a name change works from the outside in - a re-branding of sorts. Even so, in choosing what I wanted to call myself, I had to think deeply about what label best encompasses how I want to been seen by the world. Although I only chose to change my last name, my full name - Michelle Lauren Rivers - now carries additional power because I chose it.  Why change my last name? Actually, I think

Spring was great, full of: -  2 sets of house finch broods and mating alligator lizards on our porch - plenty of family and friend time - exploring new hobbies - tutoring and TAing Research Methods at Mesa College - presenting classroom research at a conference in Long Beach - Girl Scout events, including a backyard campout - a trip to Kauai with Mom and Tony! We snorkeled nearly everyday, and did a helicopter tour of the island. Here's a glimpse of April/May: Visited my friend Patrick in Tucson, AZ, and my friend Kaelle came down to SoCal for a visit! Appropriately posed in front of a silo in rural Pennsylvania. Last month (June), my Mom and I flew out to the east coast.  We started out looking for housing for me in Ohio and were very successful!  We found a great condo in a quiet, safe neighborhood only a few miles from campus (with an attached garage for those nasty winter days!)  I already have a roommate and furniture lined up.  It was especially