Imogen?

Dear Associates,

I’ve decided to give myself the nickname Imogen. You can use Indigo or Imogen, doesn’t matter, it’s a nickname!

Here’s a little voice note I recorded about Imogen.

xoxo
Indigo/Imogen

this animal cracker is probably named Imogen

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Transcript:

00:05

So...

00:12

So. I’ve been thinking about, taking, the nickname, Imogen? Um.

00:28

Taking a nickname, would be f....un. Because, like, I don’t really have any nicknames? And I, like, I haven’t in a long time? And nicknames are really cute and sweet. Um, so I want a nickname, and, it’s kind of fun to choose your own nickname, because you’re really not supposed to do that. And like to just be like, Imogen is my nickname, even though nobody actually calls me that? Would be fun. Except the thing is, people sometimes do call me Imogen, because they, they, they know the name starts with an I and that’s the first thing that comes to mind. And so sometimes people already call me Imogen, so, that’s cool.

01:19

And then also, it reminds me of, my favorite character in, um...

01:31

I don’t know I’m remembering like a made for TV movie that was like the Best Little Christmas Pageant Ever,¹ or something like that. And in my memory, there is a main character named Imogene. And Imogene... this is, like, my memory, right? Imogene was kind of bratty? And kind of naughty... and like... you know, would have like a dirty face, because she doesn’t care, because she’s just like running around, getting into mischief, you know? She was like a Punky Brewster, kind of, only... tougher, I don’t know. In my head. And I liked Imogene, and I’m realizing now that, that’s the same little character that I have in mind when I picture Frances Piper from Fall On Your Knees by Anne Marie MacDonald, which is, a book, that was just super formative to me. My emotional life. I found Frances... in my mid 20s, and I loved her so much, and she was so bad. {laughs] But she was bad because she was angry, because the world sucks. And she was bad because she was in pain, because... because she was in pain. And there was no, she was, there was no way to express it, except being bad. And I wasn’t a bad kid. Well, I sort of was told that I was but I wasn’t. [laugh] I was an obedient kid. I had a temper. Yeah, I had a temper.

03:58

Really, really angry kid.

04:06

Yeah. So Imogen... is the name of a kid that gets angry and, is naughty and, defiant. Kind of smudged and doesn’t care. Like, yeah.

sculpture consecration at work

1. Turns out I was thinking of the made-for-tv movie The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, aired in 1983, with a character named Imogene. My mind confused the title with The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, which I also saw on tv around the same time.