(cheerful music)
♪ You are the best you the world will see ♪
♪ Come along now and share you with me ♪
♪ Let's learn something new and share feelings too ♪
♪ Cause these are the things to do to be the best you ♪
(cheerful music)
(cheerful music continues)
(magical chime)
- Xi-o-mar-a. (whispering)
- Uh, hi, Auntie Lena.
- Oh, hi, Possum.
Hello, friends.
- Oh, sorry, I interrupted you.
- Oh, that's okay, Possum.
I was practicing a new name that I learned today.
It's a little hard for me to pronounce.
Would you like to practice it with me?
- Okay, what is it?
- Well, repeat after me.
- Mm-hmm.
- Xi o MAR a (see oh MAR ah).
- Xi o MAR a.
- That's right! Xiomara.
Do you know what letter that name starts with?
- Umm, a C?
- Actually, it begins with an X.
It's spelled X-I-O-M-A-R-A.
- What, an X?
Whoa, I like that name.
- Me too.
I wasn't sure how to say it at first,
but I think I've got it now.
- Is Xiomara a new friend of yours?
- No, it's a name from a story I read.
- What story?
- The book is called Your Name is a Song
by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow.
It's about a little girl who feels frustrated
when kids at school can't say her name right.
- Well, I'd be frustrated too.
- Well, would you like to hear the story with me, Possum?
- Yes, I would.
- Okay, let's go to Boulevard Park Library
and listen with our friends.
(magical chime)
- [Together] Hi, friends.
- I'm Miss Amber.
- I'm Lilliana.
- We're here at the Boulevard Park Library
to read Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow,
illustrated by Luisa Uribe.
You ready?
- Mm-hmm.
- Your Name is a Song.
"I'm not coming back ever again."
The girl stomped.
"Please don't stomp unless we're stepping in a drill team,"
Momma said.
"Was your first day of school so bad?"
The girl looked down.
"No one could say my name."
"No one? Not even your teacher?" Momma asked.
"She tried. It got stuck in her mouth."
A street musician swayed and played.
Momma closed her eyes until she swayed too.
"Tell your teacher that your name is a song."
The girl wrinkled her brows.
"I can't say that. Names aren't songs."
"Sure they are.
Take the name, Olumide.
Olumide is a melody, girl."
♪ Olumide ♪
- ♪ Olumide ♪
- "And so is Kotone."
♪ Kotone ♪
- ♪ Kotone ♪
- [Miss Amber] The girl whispered names.
Tap-ta-tap went her feet.
"Mamadou is a beat."
♪ Mamadou, Mamadou ♪
"Thandolwethu stretches out like a love song."
♪ Thandolwethu ♪
- ♪ Thandolwethu ♪
- [Miss Amber] "Yes, girl. Names are songs.
Sing your name.
Your teacher will learn to sing it too."
The girl did a jig as they walked on.
But then, her feet slowed.
"Ummi," she called to her momma.
"During snack, some girls pretended to choke on my name."
At the red light, a car boomed hip-hop beside them.
The bass pounded from their heads to their toes,
even in their chests.
Pat, pat, pat.
Momma patted her chest.
"Tell those girls some names must be said from here,
not the throat."
"Names come from your heart?" the girl said.
"Say the name, Ha, from there."
Ha. Ha.
"You got to go deeper to say Ahlam."
♪ Ahlam ♪
- ♪ Ahlam ♪
- [Miss Amber] As they crossed, the girl touched her chest.
♪ Juana ♪
"is here."
You got a Juana for me?
- ♪ Juana ♪
- Ooh.
"Ngozi goes deeper.
It pokes me in the stomach."
"Yes, girl.
From your heart, say your name.
Those girls will learn to use their hearts too."
The girl bopped to the beat as they walked on.
"In art, one boy's eyes got all wide when I said my name.
Is my name scary?"
Wires sparked above a streetcar,
and Momma and the girl jumped back, startled.
Momma put a calming hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Tell that boy some names have fire."
"You can put fire in a name?"
♪ Kwaku ♪
"storms on a Wednesday,
and fire dances in..."
♪ Sagnika ♪
Momma said.
"Names are that strong?" the girl asked.
"Xiomara fights a battle in your mouth.
♪ Xiomara ♪
Tongues bow to say Bilqis.
Bilqis.
Ju-long lunges like a dragon.
Ju-long.
- Ju-long
- Oudom.
Oudom is?
"Magnificent." The girl's lips trembled.
"Yes, girl. Just like you."
On her toes, the girl rose and kicked as they walked on.
"What about the kids at recess
who said my name sounds made up?"
Momma pointed up.
"Tell them that made up names come from there."
"From the sky?" the girl asked.
"Made up names come from dreamers.
Their real names were stolen long ago,
so they dream up new ones.
They make a way out of no way,
make names out of no names,
pull them from the sky."
The girl reached up to pull names too like Ta'jae.
- ♪ Ta'jae ♪
- "And Trayvon."
- ♪ Trayvon. ♪
- "They sit on clouds with Jalonte."
- ♪ Jalonte ♪
- [Miss Amber] Momma nodded.
♪ And Laquan, Laquan ♪
♪ And Lamika ♪
"are the twinkle in the stars,
and the glimmer in minds that think and tinker."
"Are these names new songs?" the girl asked.
"Yes, girl. Tell everybody to learn new songs too."
The girl twirled and leapt to the sky as they walked on.
The next day, the girl didn't wanna go to school,
but she had songs to teach.
"Line up," Ms. Anderson hollered.
The girl looked to the sky,
and she saw dreams and fire there.
Ms. Anderson hollered names.
"Benjamin!"
Tap-ta-tap, went the girl's feet.
"Here."
"Siobhan!"
Ta-tap.
"Here."
"Olivia!"
Ta-tap ta-tap.
"Here."
The girl stopped tapping.
Her name was getting stuck in Ms. Anderson's mouth again.
The girl sang.
The whole class stared.
"What are you doing?" Ms. Anderson asked.
"I'm singing my name so you'll learn it."
"Names are not songs," Ms. Anderson huffed.
[Lilliana] ♪ Miss Anderson ♪
- Sang the girl.
Ms. Anderson frowned.
"Your name is a pretty song," said the girl.
Ms. Anderson's frown slowly turned into a smile.
"Why, thank you."
"What about me?" Bob asked. "What's my song?"
The girl belted out,
[Lilliana] ♪ Bob ♪
- Nice.
Other kids asked for songs too.
She sang and sang their names.
Ms. Anderson asked, "Could we hear your song again?"
The girl sang her name.
- ♪ Kora-Jalimuso ♪
- The teacher sang it back.
♪ Kora-Jalimuso ♪
One kid sang it, then another, and another.
Everyone sang her name.
You wanna sing it together?
[Together] ♪ Kora-Jalimuso ♪
- It was music to her ears.
Nice singing, girl.
- Thank you.
(both mimics pow)
- [Together] Thanks for joining us, friends.
- Bye.
- See you later.
(magical chime)
♪ Auntie Lena, whoa, whoa ♪
Oh, it's fun to sing your name.
- Yours too.
♪ Po, po, po, possum ♪
(both laugh)
- Oh, well I'm glad that the kids at Kora-Jalimuso's school
learned how to say her name.
- Me, too.
Names are a very special part of who we are.
We honor others
by learning how to say their names correctly.
- But Auntie Lena?
- Yes, Possum?
- What if I mess up?
- Well, that's why we practice.
- Have you ever messed up someone's name?
- Mm-hmm. It happens all the time.
When I first met my friend, Elena, from Brazil,
it was difficult for me to say her name.
I called her Alana by accident.
- Was she mad?
- No, but I still said sorry
because I felt bad for getting her name wrong.
So I went home and I said her name over and over
until I could say it right.
- Oh, just like we did earlier.
- Exactly.
- Auntie Lena, we should learn some of our friends' names.
- I like that idea, Possum.
Maybe we can...
♪ Sing them ♪
- Yes, that sounds fun.
- Let's go to the Children's Museum of Tacoma
with our friends and see if Miss Olivia can help us.
(magical chime)
[Together] Hi, friends.
- Welcome.
And we are here at the Children's Museum of Tacoma.
My name is Miss Olivia and this is...
- Inez.
- And we are here to talk about names
and how amazing that they are.
So Inez, I have a question for you.
What do you think makes names so special?
- Because they're spelled different sometimes
and they don't really follow the rules.
Some do, some don't.
And sometimes people haven't ever heard of them.
Like my friend, Sahaj, for example,
I've never heard of that name.
- Yeah, yeah, that's a really cool point that you make
'cause I feel like we all come from different places
and different cultures,
and so our names might sound different.
So Inez, what do you love most about your name?
- Because I didn't even know that
no one has ever heard of it.
- Yeah, you definitely have a unique name
and you're definitely the first Inez that I know,
so I feel so honored.
Well, I thought that we could play a game that has to do
with just celebrating and making our name super fun.
Are you interested? You wanna play?
- Mm-hmm.
- Okay, all right.
So Inez, how do you spell your name?
- I-N-E-Z.
- So you have a four-letter name.
Okay, so here's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna plant both feet on the ground just like this
and we are going to do some, I call it, body percussion.
And we are gonna spell our names with body percussion.
So the letter I is actually going to be,
we're gonna tap on right here on the edge of this bench
three times, so we're gonna go...
1, 2, 3. (both tapping bench)
Very good. So that's the letter I.
And then, the letter N is, we're gonna clap three times.
Here we go.
1, 2, 3. (both clapping hands)
And then the letter E, we're gonna clap two more times.
1, 2. (both clapping hands)
And the letter Z, we are gonna snap two times.
Here we go.
1, 2. (both snapping fingers)
Very good.
Do you think you can remember that?
Do you wanna try it?
- Yes. - We'll go slow.
Okay, here we go.
I.
(both tapping bench)
N.
(both clapping hands)
E.
(both clapping hands)
Z.
(both snapping fingers)
Awesome.
Okay, do you wanna do it one more time?
Do you wanna say the letters with me?
Okay, here we go.
- [Together] I.
(both tapping bench)
- N.
(both clapping hands)
- [Together] E.
(both clapping hands)
Z.
(both snapping fingers)
- Nice job.
Okay, so my name has a couple more letters in it
but we're gonna do my nickname, which is Liv.
So it's L-I-V.
And we both have Is in our name.
So let's start with L.
So for L, I thought we could tap on our thighs three times.
Okay, so we're gonna go...
(both tapping thighs)
Yup, there we go.
And then what did we do for I
'cause we did that for your name?
What was that first move that we did for the letter I?
Yup, we tapped on the bench three times.
1, 2, 3. (both tapping bench)
Very good.
And then for the letter V, we are gonna snap three times.
Let's try it.
V. 1, 2, 3. (both snapping fingers)
Good.
Okay, so let's review for L-I-V
and we'll say the letters together, okay?
- Okay. - All right, here we go.
L.
(both tapping thighs)
- [Together] I.
(both tapping bench)
V.
(both snapping fingers)
Nice.
Okay, so I thought the last thing that we could do
is you can actually come up with your own sound at the end.
So when we spell out Inez and Liv,
what do you wanna do at the very end?
What sound, when we're doing body percussion,
what sounds do you wanna make with your body?
Like, maybe we could like tap our heads,
we could pat our shoulders.
What do you think we should do?
- Pat our shoulders.
- You wanna do pat our shoulders?
Okay, I like that one.
So we'll do that at the end, okay?
All right, let's go from the top
and we're gonna spell Inez and Liv.
Here we go. - Okay.
- All right, you ready?
- Mm-hmm.
- Okay, here we go.
- [Together] I.
(both tapping bench)
N.
(both clapping hands)
E.
(both clapping hands)
Z.
(both snapping fingers)
- L.
(both tapping thighs)
I.
(both tapping bench)
- [Together] V.
(both snapping fingers)
- And then our last sound.
(both patting shoulders)
Nice job.
Well, friends, we hope you guys had a lot of friends
celebrating and talking about names.
And we'll see you next time.
- [Together] Bye, friends.
(playful music begins)
- [Possum] It's time for Movement Minute.
(bouncing sound) (playful music continues)
- Hello, friends.
My name is Coach Patrick from Rainier Health and Fitness.
And today we are going to go through a Movement Minute
and what you're going to learn is lunges.
We'll start with your feet right in the middle
and we lunge, forward and back,
forward and back,
forward and back.
Keep your chest up and back,
keep your chest up and back,
and keep your chest up and back.
And now we are going to mix it up a little bit
and you are going to go forward to the left foot and back,
backwards with the left foot and back,
forward with the left foot and back,
backwards with the left foot and back,
and forward with the left foot and back,
and last one with the left foot and back.
Then, you're going to switch to the right,
forward and back and move it up faster, forward,
forward, back, back, forward,
and last forward, back, middle and back, forward.
And that's it for today.
Thanks and bye.
- Auntie Lena, what does the name Xiomara mean?
- The book tells us at the end of the story
that it's a Spanish name that comes from the word
famous and war.
- Oh, Xiomara sounds strong.
Do you know what your name means, Auntie Lena?
- Yes, I do.
Lena means light.
- That's awesome.
You're like sunshine, Auntie Lena.
(Auntie Lena laughs)
I could call you Auntie Sunshine.
- I sure do love the sun.
- And you always make me feel nice and warm.
- Oh, thank you, Possum.
- You're welcome.
And do you wanna know what my name means?
- I sure do.
- It means I'm a possum.
(Auntie Lena laughs)
- That's true.
It also means that you're kind, you're smart,
and you're curious.
- It does?
- Yes.
Remember, your name isn't just a name,
it's also all the things that make you who you are.
- Oh.
So then, Auntie Lena also means fun.
- You could say that.
I think I'm pretty fun.
- Yes, you are.
(Auntie Lena laughs)
- Well, let's have some more fun then and go back
to the Children's Museum of Tacoma with Miss Charleen.
- Hi, friends.
I'm Miss Charleen here at the Children's Museum of Tacoma
and we're thinking about celebrating names,
and one way I was thinking we could celebrate names
is to make a name banner.
And I made one right over here with my name, Charleen.
And I was thinking of another name
that I wanted to celebrate which was the name of my son,
and his name is Rigby.
So we're going to make a Rigby banner.
So I have a few supplies here
that will help me make the banner.
I have some paper, some scissors,
some stickers to decorate my banner,
and some markers as well,
and of course, we need some strings,
so I have some ribbon or yarn that I can use.
So the first thing I have to think about
is how many letters are in Rigby's name.
So it's R-I-G-B-Y,
so I need 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 pieces of paper to make my banner.
And so, I decided that I was going to
choose a shape for my flags.
I chose a triangle, but you can choose
to make rectangles like these here, or circles,
whatever it's calling out to you.
So I'm going to count out five triangle flags.
1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
And so, each triangle will be a letter of Rigby's name.
So I'm going to write the first letter
of Rigby's name which is R,
and then an I,
and a G,
and a B,
and a Y.
And I'm thinking about what I'd like to celebrate
about Rigby, and Rigby loves the color purple
so I'm gonna get some purple paint
and paint some of that right onto Rigby's letters.
And he likes a lot of purple,
so I'll put a lot of purple.
And I also have some other stickers
of shapes and stars that I can use,
maybe some purple rectangles.
Thinking about names, friends,
why do you think names are special?
For me, what's so special about names is
it's one of the first things you learn about a person
when you meet them.
So I'm going to add a few more stars
because this name is very special to me.
To help complete my banner,
I'll need some string, and I have some purple string,
but I think I used a lot of purple (chuckles)
so I'm going to use the yellow string.
All right, so I think I need just an arm's length,
long enough to put all the letters on there.
I think that should be long enough.
So I have some choices of how to attach
these flags to my string.
I have some tape or some clips like I used earlier,
but I think I'm going to use tape
since we already used clips.
On there.
One.
And two.
All right.
So now, I have a really special banner that I made for Rigby
that maybe we can hang up in his room or his window
and talk about how special his name is to me and to him.
Well, thank you, friends, for joining me in making
a name banner for someone special in my life, Rigby.
When you get home, maybe you can make a banner,
maybe about your name or someone special to you.
So thanks for joining us, friends.
Goodbye.
(magical chime)
- Wow, I learned so many new names today.
- Me, too.
There was Xiomara, Miss Olivia, Miss Amber.
- And Lilliana and Inez.
Their names are all so different.
- That's what's beautiful about them.
Every name is unique.
Even if two people have the same name,
it can mean two different things.
- But it's important to say them right.
- Yes.
- I'm going to practice all the names I learned today
with Mama Possum.
Well, thank you for sharing them with me, Auntie Sunshine.
(Auntie Lena)
- You are welcome, Possum.
And friends, thank you for taking the time
to look, listen, and learn with us today.
Remember, you are the best you that the world will ever see.
- Bye for now.
- Bye-bye.
(light playful music)
- [Auntie Lena] Please stay tuned after the credits
for Auntie Lena's parent tip.
(light playful music continues)
- [Announcer] Brought to you by Public Health.
The COVID vaccine is safe for you and your kids.
Your questions answered at kingcounty.gov/vaccines/youth.
(light playful music ends)
(cheerful music begins)
- The topic of today's episode is very personal for me.
I struggle mightily with names that I'm not familiar with.
It can cause me a bit of angst and embarrassment.
Names can literally get stuck in my mouth
just like the teacher in today's story,
but I am committed to learning
because saying a name correctly matters.
Think about your name.
It honors all of the wisdom and the love from your elders
that was poured into bestowing your name.
And as caring adults, we get to help children
also recognize and take pride in their own names.
When children understand the preciousness of their names,
it can be easier for them to respect
and learn the names of others
that are unique or unfamiliar to them.
Kora-Jalimuso used music to help pronounce different names.
Another tried and true way to learn a person's name
is to simply ask them.
Then on your own, do what I do,
practice, practice, practice.
As Auntie Lena said, "A name isn't just a name.
It's all the things that make you who you are
and all the things that make you the best you
that the world will ever see."