Die Valkyrie Die (Discursive Aside page 19)
I love the look of runes.
I loved runes in J. R. R. Tolkien´s Lord of the Rings world.
I like Vicke the Viking.
I´m interested in longships.
I like the concept of mead in Valhalla with the Norse heroes and kings.
In 7th grade math class the teacher told us to choose a pseudonym under which she would list our grades, so she could post the grade list on the wall while protecting our anonymity. Then we´d know not only our absolute but also our relative grades. In elementary school in China my teacher did the same thing, except under our real names. In that case, everyone knew everyone else´s absolute and relative grades as well. I always thought that was a pretty representative instance of cultural difference.
So I had to choose a pseudonym. I was reading a lot of Norse and Greek mythologies at the time, and mixing them a bit. I had prayed to Athena under the moonlight, and for 7th grade math class grade anonymization, I chose the pseudonym Die Valkyrie Die. I got the first Die part from Richard Wagner´s Die Walküre. But it looked so odd, after all, it was the English verb “to die”. So I thought, I know what will make it not odd: balance it on the other end with another Die. Classisism, surely takes out all the weirdness.
So that´s how the 7th grade math list in small town Ohio looked: normal nicknames, and Die Valkyrie Die.
Next page Halloween post of pictures of fantasy China and Shakespeare´s poetry