I recently started writing a column for the Town and Country, and as part of that I was required to come up with a catchy short name to describe my musings.
I have to admit, although I am a writer, I struggled.
Coming up with something that defines your style and ideas in such a short phrase is much more difficult than one would think.
Of course I started with the obvious: Here’s a thought, Check this out, and all of the more common and uncharacteristic names.
I turned to my fellow colleagues for help, begging them to come up with something, anything that would provide a handle for my written word.
After weeks of brainstorming, thinking and sleepless nights it finally came down to the last day, last straw, last chance.
I was doomed.
So I thought to myself, here I am, a damsel in distress, who can I call to save me from this impossible challenge before me?
My dad.
Whether my furnace needs fixing or I just don’t know how long to cook a turkey, my dad always has the answer I’m looking for. I picked up the phone and made the call, and of course he had a few ideas.
I wish I had saved all of the names he suggested.
It started with “humbug hum,” “fence post,” and even “redneck ramble.” He sent me lists upon lists of names, and none of them really defined the idea behind my columns, that is until he said “the salt of the earth.”
This saying takes on a different shape and meaning depending on who you say it to, and for me it takes on many definitions.
The meaning of the salt of the earth is: those of a great worth or reliability.
I want my columns to reflect that.
I did even more digging, and went beyond just the origin and Webster’s definition, and I found something that made the name an even better fit.
The Salt of the Earth is a collection of photographs taken over a span of 40 years by photographer Sebastiăo Salgado.
Salgado travelled the world, witnessing and photographing some of the world’s most beautiful, iconic, and historical moments.
As a photographer I endeavour to capture the beauty the world possesses, a beauty that can be found in the good and the bad, much like the work of Salagado.
The name of my column has many different meanings, and I encourage everyone to read it the way that suits them, because I know I do.
