Once Teased for Her Name, Marijuana Pepsi Turns Her Challenges into a PhD

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/21/734839666/dr-marijuana-pepsi-wont-change-her-name-to-make-other-people-happy

by evo_9 • 7 years ago

20 28 7 years ago

npr.org

bitlax• 7 years ago

So what's the takeaway here?

iampims• 7 years ago

Literally the last paragraph:

"We can't always go through life-changing things to make other people happy ... and I had to learn that early on."

devoply2• 7 years ago

You could also spend 10 mins like my brother did and just change your name to something you like, maybe even name yourself after a celebrity, rather than the one assigned to you.

RIMR4• 7 years ago

The takeaway is that if you judge people based entirely on how "normal" their name is, you're a bad person.

unethical_ban• 7 years ago

I'm not judging her, I'm judging her parents.

Naming your child after an illegal and, at the time, much less accepted narcotic and an amoral beverage conglomerate seems to be short sighted in the least. At least the man who named his son "Sue" knew it would give him trouble.

I am glad she has come out of it ahead, and I wish her all the best in the world. It is shameful that teachers acted the way they did.

basic6• 7 years ago

Viral crap making the rounds.

layoutIfNeeded2• 7 years ago

"A lot of other people were thinking [my mom] was smoking marijuana and drinking Pepsi," she tells NPR. "In the black community, we're used to having names that are more cultural."

I'm not a native English speaker, so I might be in the wrong here, but is she using the word "cultural" in a different way than normally?

RIMR4• 7 years ago

No, African Americans have a unique culture in America, and whites are notoriously judgmental about it.

The only reason you might find this "different" is if you don't consider Black culture to be legitimate.

We call this "racism".

maxheadroom• 7 years ago

No, African Americans have a unique culture in America, and whites are notoriously judgmental about it. The only reason you might find this "different" is if you don't consider Black culture to be legitimate. We call this "racism".

...but he's not American?

It's quite a stretch to arrive at an honest question about the use of a word - by someone outside of your own country's culture - to it being equated to racism, merely because it's from a egocentric (American society) point of view.

The world is a lot bigger than just America.

Maybe tone down the racist accusations until you have some qualitative context to use it. Otherwise, if antagonising people that might otherwise be sympathetic to your plights is your end goal, then by all means, carry on.

adolph3• 7 years ago

As the subject of tfa says, "We all hear things that make us look twice."

Unfamiliarity != delegitimization

Your use of the term racism certainly isn’t lending a hand towards others gaining positive familiarity.

adolph3• 7 years ago

Marijuana is not in the top 1000 names for any year of birth beginning with 1960.

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/

allannienhuis2• 7 years ago

I interpreted it to be 'more specific to our culture'

adolph3• 7 years ago

Yes, “cultural” is an adjective and in typical English has a noun to which it refers. In this case the noun may be implied by some other part of the conversation not included in the article.

gHosts• 7 years ago

In Africa children often have names like "Beauty", "Princess", "Precious" (yes, Precious, that's a fairly common boys name)....

I actually love it.

It says what the parents feel about the child.

layoutIfNeeded2• 7 years ago

Hmm, still I think Marijuana Pepsi is a bit different than Beauty or Precious. It’s more like the name of this Sudanese general: Telephone Kuku http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?mot2811

currymj• 7 years ago

Naming people after flowers is actually incredibly common if you think about it.

RIMR4• 7 years ago

Or intoxicants.

"Brandy" is a name, why can't "Marijuana" be a name?

sdinsn2• 7 years ago

It's a common misconception that the name Brandy comes from the drink. All evidence shows the origin is just a feminine form of Brandon.

ykevinator• 7 years ago

The lesson is you can overcome the legacy of your parents bad decisions.

Once Teased for Her Name, Marijuana Pepsi Turns Her Challenges into a PhD

Related Stories