Page 4 - Q01-2021 Fins Magazine

Editor
Mermaid
to
by Patricia Pastrano
Mermaids are full of abilities and passions.
One of their strongest abilities is to transform
and adapt to their surroundings.
WHAT IS A MERSONA
A mersona is a mermaid’s character. A
mermaid play on words referencing a
mermaid’s persona. How much you do and
incorporate is totally dependent on what
you want. Some basics include: mername,
backstory, conservation platforms, personality
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MERMAID NAME
traits, costuming, and maybe a sidekick or
mascot.
As a performer, it can be the character for
event performances or keeping the magic
alive for the younger skeptics that want to
believe.
As an enthusiast, it is a way to connect past,
present and future self. For many, it is a
fruitful exercise as a therapy for evaluating
yourself and revisiting your life changing
events, good or bad. Recognizing all the
many things I have adapted to and overcome
is giving me confidence and a sense of
accomplishment.
Mersonas are created for different sides of
a mermaid. For example, I plan on having
a mersona for my princess mermaid and
another for my dark siren side.
MERSONA BENEFITS
Our world is full of people who are struggling
in all ways. The loss of loved ones, loss of
financial stability, loss of homes, loss of
freedoms and the constant threat of an
invisible enemy are abound.
For me, building a mersona has been
infinitely valuable. This exercise is proving to
help me pay homage to the people in my life
that have passed on. It is helping me identify
who I am and who I want to be.
Taking stock of the things I have had the
privilege of experiencing in my time so far on
this fragile Earth we live on. Realizing I need
to do a better job at respecting the world in
my daily actions and taking care of myself.
Finding my name was hard. At a certain
age, you learn to say your name as a way of
with you and it grows as you grow. This is a
for all your life.
identifying with the world. This name goes
name you are given and you grow around it.
From school to college to work to family, you
have a story in this name associated with you
I realized when I went through my life
experiences how my name has defined me
to this point. I started out as ‘Susha’. It was
the only way my toddler brothers could say
Patricia. As we grew, my family evolved into
calling me ‘Patricia’ or ‘Tricia’. In junior high,
I shortened my name to Pat because it was
shorter to write my name on the headings of
school papers. Dubbed ‘Buffy’ by my college
volleyball teammates, they absolutely refuse
to call me anything else. It was a time of fun,
freedom and self-discovery. There were no
limits.
In 2008, I got the best name ever - Mom. My
son Tristan, a special child with an innate
ability to cut to the chase, came into the
world and changed my life.
With so many names in my life and so many
roles, I couldn’t choose.
I flippantly asked Tristan one day what
my mermaid name should be. I expected
his typical echolaliia response. I was sure
I would be Mermaid Elmo or Merboy Buzz
Lightyear. Instead he surprised me and said,
“BUFFFFYYYY!!”
El Mar Diving Center in Mesa, AZ
Behind the camera is a MUCH better place to be!
Mermaid. A name that carries a collective of
And with that, it was done. Buffy The
many aspects of my life. A symbol of a time
in my life when I became my own person.
Given to me by the focus of my life, a child
with amazing intelligence limited only by his
lack of certain basic abilities.
SWIMMING IN FINS
***BEFORE I GO ANY FURTHER: ***
Please exhibit the utmost
of safety when swimming
in a tail. NEVER swim alone.
Swimming as mermaid allows a release to
get away from the stresses of daily life.
I was fortunate to have an SSI mermaid
instructor and some experienced mers help
me on my first swim. I can’t lie. Swimming
was not what I was doing at the start. More
like FLOUNDERING on top of the water.
Once my mer-friends coached me how to get
UNDER the water, I got a good solid length of
swimming and I was HOOKED.
My first swim with SSI instructor, Paige Southard.