J Scott Bronson
(me. it's all about me...)
Legend has it that at some point before I was born my name was going to be Scott Everett Bronson. Also, according to the same legend (though this fact may be disputed), my maternal grandfather -- Grampa Snyder -- hated the name, Everett, and conducted a successful campaign to convince each of my parents that the other parent also hated it. Everett, out; Jeffrey, in.
Here are some facts not in dispute:
- The whole idea was to call me Scott.
- They got the name Scott from a TV show.
- They got the name Jeffrey from a handsome actor who once played Jesus. (It wouldn't surprise me if Mom was the guiding force behind that choice; I mean, look at the guy.)
- Jeffrey Scott flows better than Scott Jeffrey.
- Grampa approved because he liked the sound of J. Scott Bronson.
So, I was Scott at home, at church, and at school. Right up through the second grade, even though we moved half way through the second grade because Dad took me to my new school that first day and introduced me to the teacher as Scott. However, when third grade came around, Mrs. Winterburger did not get the memo and when she called out Jeffrey Bronson, I said, "Yes, ma'am," and never once contradicted her because she was large refrigerator of a woman with a deep, gravelly voice and a scowling, English Bulldog of a face and she was just plain scary. When I got to fourth grade, Miss Ferguson, a gentle, tall, and thin old lady with silver hair asked me if she could call me Jeff. And at school, that's who I was, all the way through elementary and junior high; Jeff Bronson.
When I moved over to high school, in the tenth grade, I had finally gotten tired enough of being Jeff that I corrected all my teachers from that point on and made sure they called me Scott. And as it turns out, I did adopt J. Scott Bronson as my signature. And that's who I've been ever since. Everywhere. (There is one friend, a fellow I met in the theatre department at BYU, Corey Ewan, who calls me J Scott. I like it.)
Even with the government (read: IRS), I've been able to go by my middle name instead of my first. Until a few years ago. As far as my Uncle Sam is concerned, from now on I am Jeffrey Bronson. Sometimes, Jeffrey S. Bronson. I can't use my full middle name at all any more.
This is why I'm considering legally changing my first name to J Scott -- without the period.
But, back to my first point, this website is all about me: J (or J.) Scott Bronson.
