What's In a Name? The Founding Tale of Unfeathered Ink.

Some posts are practical, and others are world-building. Step into this short story of how a girl and a dream became known as Unfeathered Ink.

Once upon a time, Unfeathered Ink was but a dream in the mind of a girl who had nothing but a desire to build something of her own, a mixed bag of skills and interests, and an obnoxious amount of willpower. In April of 2016, after weeks of struggling with yet another bout of insomnia, she became just delusional enough to believe that she could bring the dream to fruition and that that moment would be that of its conception. But what would she call this dream?

There was no research on related businesses, no grand insight from a mentor, just a video from the land of YouTube that gently covered the recommended process for creating a kingdom of her own, and she did just that. When the establishing forces (IRS) prompted her to check her proposed business name for availability, she closed her eyes, breathed deep into her belly, and the name came like a cosmic force— Unfeathered Ink. No results found. Name Available. The jubilation started promptly, and before she could even open her email and confirm the name was hers, she sat back and wondered…Unfeathered Ink? As she made yet another pot of coffee to feed the insomnia and new mission, all the reasons why sprinkled into her mug like cinnamon from an untamed shaker.

Why Unfeathered Ink? It was a name for the girl who wrote till her hands ached, but never touched a quill. It was a symbol of the many other ways ink came to her, though: leaking gel tips; scratchy ball points; glittering colors; cartridges encased in company logos from the places she’d been; dimming highlighters; home, office, and library printers; and more. Ink always found her. At her best. More importantly, at her worst. It gave her a way to express all the things her mind is often too scrambled to say in the moment. It gave grace to the way she processed the world around her and cheered for her when she’d return after a long absence. She never needed a quill when reaching for the future and possibility; she just needed the ink.

The girl had another thought: Unfeathered made her think of being naked, exposed. Baring it all. Raw, real, relentless. The way she feels when her words hit the page, and the rise in her chest could finally rest, when her shoulders drop to invite peace. When the beast was fed. It reminded her that, like a plucked chicken, she could bare herself wholly, but she could never control how she'd be consumed. And that somehow felt like a step closer to freedom.

Upon an announcement in the local news (Facebook) of Unfeathered Ink’s beginning, someone would comment on how they loved the wordplay of the name. The girl paused in confusion; maybe more coffee would help her make the connection. She sipped slowly, asking each drop for answers, and nearly halfway through the elixir, she laughed a hearty laugh. Her chaotic thinking and realizations surely amuse her mother’s spirit. Unfeathered as in a pun for unfettered!

Unfettered. Defined by the old texts (dictionaries) as a state of being uncontrolled, unrestricted, unlimited. Being free, unshackled, uninhibited. Lacking doubt, rules, or limits. A perfect word for a girl the crones called “a free spirit" (some complimentary and others with judgment), for the girl who consistently made her own rules, her own way. For the girl who was finding her way in the world again after years of being shackled in the dark by men who feared her magic, were intimidated by her joy for life and the bonds she had with her community, hated that her figure and existence weren’t meant to be held so tightly (sexual assaults and domestic violence).

“Unfeathered” unveiled itself as an integral and critical part of the story, but in the “Ink” is where the answers will always lie, and there will always be more to be spilled as long as she may reign. Together, they became the blueprint for all that has been since and all that is still yet to come.

Categories: : Unfeathered Ink