Sometimes the blogs just write themselves.
I checked my MySpace inbox today. This is what I found:
From: Demetria Date: Feb 15, 2008 11:17 AM
Hello,
My name is Demetria XXXXX and I write for Amsterdam News here in New York. I just use my first name for blogging and other stuff to stay semi-anonymous and what happens is that people ask if I am Demetria Lucas. In fact, because I recently got married and just changed my last name to XXXXX, some of my old friends think I am in fact Demetria Lucas and that I write for XXXXXXX.com. LOL! No worries, I always set folks straight.
I have no idea if you are the writer Demetria Lucas, but it is not a terribly common name, so I figured I'd try my luck and extend my MySpace friendship.
If you are the Demetria Lucas I think you are, then I have read a lot of your stuff in various magazines and I could definitely be counted as a fan.
-Demetria
This is comedic to me on so many levels. First, how many friggin Black people are there named Demetria? How many Demetria’s even outside of Greece? (I was in the AT&T store last month and a Greek woman helped me. She pointed out that my name is like the equivalent of Emily in the Old Country. It comes on key chains and everything.)
Second, eight years ago, in J-school, I had my very first clip published in the Amsterdam News. The morning it came out, I ran all over downtown NYC trying to find the paper. I bought it, and in a clichéd movie moment, snatched open the paper, found my name, and showed it to the guy at the stand. He gave me a polite smile and an “okay, you’ve paid. Get the hell away from my stand” look. Fucking New Yorkers. I cried when I read it. Wept tears of joy, right there in the middle of the sidewalk on Broadway & 8th.
Third, people know my writing? Wow. When something I write gets published, I read it once when it comes out, then put it on the shelf with the other magazines. (Long way from crying in the street, huh?) I don’t even tell my parents anymore. I was talking with Ace last month about how we used to pour through magazines in high school and college and actually read names (I think that’s rare for non-writers, no?). I would still cut off my right pinkie toe to flip a phrase like dream Hampton, asha bandale, Lola Ogunnaike, Margeaux Watson or Miles Marshall Lewis (the latter two were mentors at one point.) As many people have pointed out, I grossly underestimate myself and have a hard time putting life in perspective. In her ‘ [Belle] this is your life’ speech, Ace pointed out that some high school or college girl now reads me the way I read (and still do) others. That’s so humbling and amazing. All I could say is ‘Wow.’
Life is a fabulous, wonderful amazing thing. I live a great life (half based on outlook, half on blessings). I take credit for nothing. God directs, I’m just another human ad-libbing lines.
Oh, and I was so wonderfied by Demetria’s email that I invited her out to drinks I have to meet her! Two writers with the same name! I’ll let you know how it goes when I make it happen.