Jones, Grace Jones

     Being called "Grace" my whole life has set me up for lots of nicknames. I've been "Amazing Grace", "Gracie-Lou", "G-Poo", "G-Unit", and on occasion "Poodle-kins" (shout out to my sister Mary). Out of all the abbreviated names however, I've never been called "Grace Jones"-- never that is, until I visited Chile.

     First, it should be noted that the name "Grace" with an hispanic accent does not sound very pretty, and neither does "Jones." Second, the only famous Jones that I have been familiar with are rapper Mike Jones (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd0S0LwhEDU) and the Joneses of whom we try and keep up with (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeping_up_with_the_Joneses). So when introducing myself to my host family, teachers, bar rats, and other Chileans you can imagine my surprise that 9 times out of 10 they repeat my name, smile and nod while saying "ahhh, like Grace Jones". Initially I replied; "no no, like, Grace Kelly" and they'll usually repeat "yeahhhh Grace Jones". Alright, whatever you say hombre*, but I was intrigued- I had to know; "Quien es Grace Jones?"
      Some of you probably already know the answer to this, but for those of you who don't, she was a singer, model and muse to Andy Warhol who evidently enough is well known throughout Chile. Out of all the celebrities in the world you might be surprised to know who tops the list of favorites here. Lady Gaga is probably number 1-- in good company of course with an assortment of old school rappers (mainly B.I.G and Tupac), the Simpsons, Michael Jordan, Amy Winehouse and arguably, Grace Jones. When I asked my host mom, why- out of all the Graces- do you call me Grace Jones? Do I look like her? She laughed and laughed and said without hesitation, "como gemelas" yes, like twins.

Grace Jones, my twin.

*hombre- man