Sawyer's aunt, Mayetta Jackson of Chicago, clearly remembers when the name was picked in 1972. The newborn's mother and father were products of the post-Woodstock era when reefer was rampant.
"And they would cool off with a Pepsi," she said, which makes you think it's lucky for Sawyer that it wasn't Coke instead. "I thought it was crazy," her aunt said about the name, "but they were such fun-loving people that it suited them."
Ms. Sawyer's story does have some elements of the Johnny Cash song.
She gives a surprising amount of credit to her mother for making her resilient and resourceful. "She instilled in me that fighting attitude - never take no, you can do anything," Sawyer said.
By high school, her name was cool to many. "They were like, 'Oh yeah. Man, I wish I had your name. I love that. I'm going to name my kid after you.' I hear that so much and I go, Lord, please don't do that to that child."
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/40874017.html -via Fark
(image credit: Jeffrey Phelps)
Early in her life, her mother "lost" her and filed a missing person report with the cpd. my dad was the cop that filled out that report.
I've been telling this story for about ten years or so - ever since he told it to me and I though it was a lie up until today when i saw it in print... WOW! How funny, and small, our world is!