The Real Rex Ray

Anyone who has read "Views From the 14th Floor" over the course of its existence this last year, and it has been almost a year now since its inception, knows that I have listed myself, the author, as R.D. Ray. If you pay close attention today you will notice that I am officially coming out of the closet. No, I am not gay. I am no longer going by R.D. Ray. I am labeling everything I write henceforth by the name that was given on the day I was born, by my very own mother. That is to say that I am openly acknowledging that Rex Ray is my name and it is I who writes each and every one of these posts. (And yes it is true that the Reverend R.D. and Liberal Man are fictitious emanations of my somewhat twisted mind.)

There are a couple of reasons that I have used R.D. Ray over the past year. For one, I have delusions of grandeur from time to time and I didn't know if I wanted the masses out there to know who this guy was who was writing this incredible stuff and posting it for all to read. Had to keep the rabid fans and stalkers to a minimum. The other reason was that every time I have tried to get an e-mail address or declare a domain in internet land, there has been a problem. It seems there is this guy in San Francisco who is a pretty famous artist and he calls himself, you guessed it, Rex Ray. As it turns out I purchased a calendar with 12 months of Rex Ray art on it. Pretty cool, but hey, I'm Rex Ray.

I recently reconnected with an old friend who I did improv with in the late 1970's and he told me that he had tried to find me by Googling me. Turns out he couldn't find me because this other fake Rex Ray is dominating Google as regards the name Rex Ray. What kind of crap is that? I was born with this name. I did some research and it turns out Rex Ray is not really this guy's real name. He chose it as a pseudonym because he saw a vaporizer in a Colorado Springs thrift shop and the brand name was Rex-Ray. (They, too, are not legitimate.) He thought the name sounded cool.

What I can tell you is that the only real Rex Ray in this mix is sitting at a MacBook Air writing this at this very moment. I was born Rex David Ray at St. Joseph Hospital in Hot Springs, Arkansas on October 6 in a year long, long ago. My mother had a thing about a singing cowboy named Rex Allen and thought he was really cute. She gave me that name and the middle name David because my father's middle name was David and his father before him had the middle name David. I am the real deal boys and girls. Artists in San Francisco are usurpers who borrowed the name without permission. Small appliance makers, well I'm not sure where they got that name, and little do I care.

As a result, I have endured a great deal of crap over the years. In elementary school I was "Tyrannosaurus Rex." In Junior High I became "Sexy Rexy." Then I became "Oedipus Rex." I grew up down south where a great many people have two names, i.e. Billy Bob. People constantly asked me what my last name was, "Rex Ray what?" A great many people over time have felt it necessary to inquire what Rex is short for. It's not short for anything. It is just Rex. It's Latin. It means "King." Get over it.

Then after I became a grownup, a lot of people began to acknowledge that Rex Ray sounded like a movie star's name, and I had to admit that I had done a little bit of acting, but it was not a stage name. It was actually the name given to me by my very own mother. My wife, Babs, assures me that this is a name that speaks of fame and I should not shy away from it. (Oh and Delacorte Press will be publishing her book, Slouching Toward Adulthood, next October.)

I've had a great deal of angst over name issues in my life. I've had a great deal of angst over identity issues, and have subsequently re-invented myself several times in my lifetime. The bottom line here is, though, I have nothing to hide here. I am a teacher, a writer, a world-wide traveler, and a real man who shares his experiences and insights via "Views From the 14th Floor." I am "The Real Rex Ray."