A Girl Named Sam
by Alex Andy Phuong
There once was a girl named
Sam. She had to endure a lot of struggles
because of her gender-neutral name. She
also had to cope with famous people named "Samantha,"
such as Elizabeth Montgomery's starring role in Bewitched.
Sam also felt very embarrassed by the Dr. Seuss
children’s book Green Eggs and Ham because
the character was male and shared that same name.
Because of the nature of her name, Sam aspired to
push herself to be as talented as her male
counterparts. She studied diligently in
high school, graduated from a prestigious Ivy
League school, and then became a professional
writer to express her feelings about her name
with a feminist tone. She felt superb
inspiration from the film Legally Blonde (2001)
because Elle Woods was such an independent figure.
Sam has had ups and downs, but she still reminds
herself about powerful women in cinema. She
loved Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the
Wind (1939). She adored Rose in
Titanic (1997). In fact, she eventually
became very proud of her name because the
masculine aspects of the name "Sam"
gave her the strength, courage, and determination
to succeed. Humorously, her father was
named Sam, and he accidentally believed that he
would have a son when his only daughter was born.
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