Ask Alexandra – January 2000


Question #1:

Dear Alexandra,

Not only do I enjoy your work and admire the great qualities that you place in today’s society as a celebrity, but I LOVE your name! My little girl is 1 year old and her name is Alexandra as well. My questions to you are the following: Do your close friends and family have a nickname for you? Do they shorten your name to Alex or Ali. Do you LIKE your nickname (if any) or does everyone call you Alexandra? We call our little girl Alexandra! But there are sure quite a few people that ask “do you have a nickname for her?” ORRR they will just call her Alex on their own. I do not want my little girl growing up with a “boy’s name” that she does not like (since that is what Alex is). (Ali is cute though). Sooooo…as her mom I do not want to call her something that she will not like later in life. Perhaps I am thinking too much about it. But that’s a mom for ya! Your input as a grown up Alexandra will truly help me with my nickname dilemma!

Thanks so much and May God continue to bless you!

Ann

Dear Ann,

Your daughter is so lucky to have such a beautiful name! I love our name (my full name is Alexandra Elizabeth Belcarra Paul) and I only call myself “Alexandra”. I even drag it out a little! (David Chokachi teases me because I pronounce it Alexaaandra). Yes, kids in school immediately shortened it to “Alex” which always annoyed me because I felt that they were just too lazy to say the extra two syllables. It is a very American trait (my mom is British, and they don’t do that in Europe) to shorten people’s names – even upon just meeting them – but I think it is impolite! The etiquette is that you should call someone the name by which they introduced themselves, so my advice is to not give in and always introduce your daughter as “Alexandra”. Encourage her to do the same.

The only time I don’t mind a shortening or nickname is if it was given out of affection and not because someone didn’t want to say my whole name: my old roomie, Ann, calls me “Lexie” because of a private joke between us, and my friend Jim calls me “A” which I like because its original. Jaason Simmons calls me “Sam”, which touches me because he and only he calls me that.

Good luck with keeping the integrity of your daughter’s name!!!

Alexaaandra

Question #2:

Alexandra,

Since u are a vegetarian , do u have friends that are meat eaters, and how do you handle it when you are out at dinner with them or having supper at their house ?

Tim

Dear Tim,

I am a vegetarian, but my fiancé Ian eats meat. I believe that the best way to change the world is to simply be a good example and to not try to convert anyone. I learned this firsthand when my younger brother Jonathan became a vegan: he berated anyone who ate meat and wouldnt sit at the same table with them. Unfortunately, all he did was put them on the defensive and alienate them! Ultimately, he didn’t accomplish his goal of saving animals’ lives, because people automatically resist when they are lectured to or judged. If you are a vegetarian and you have friends who eat meat, just do your thing and don’t discuss it unless asked. When asked, explain in as non-threatening manner a possible (don’t make them feel guilty – it will just shut them down). Think of Ghandi and come from Love. I promise you will have more of an impact on the world this way. I would not be surprised if eventually some of your friends came over to your way of living! I thank you for eating in a more compassionate way and helping the environment at the same time (one acre of land can graze enough cattle for 165lbs of beef, but that same acre could produce 20,000lbs of potatoes!!!! For more info on vegetarianism, read “Diet for a New America” by John Robbins).

Thank you for
writing.
Alexandra

Question #3:

Hi Alexandra,

I must say I like you’re acting performances as well as your looks (especially your smile!), but the best thing about you is your fight against overpopulation. It is a very serious problem, which gets too little attention.

I’d like to know what you do nowadays to do something against it?

As a homosexual, I won’t get any kids and that’s what I do against it 😉

I’m not sure but I believe you don’t have any kids. Would you like to have them?

Thanks for making our lives more fun and keep up the good work!

Love,

Bart, 17, The Netherlands

Dear Bart,

Thank you for your kind words. Yes, I am very concerned about the overpopulation situation on our planet. The world population has DOUBLED in my lifetime – it has gone from 3 billion in 1960 to over 6 billion today, just 30 years later!!!! To educate people on how serious this is, I am speaking in high schools on overpopulation with a professor, David Abramis. To date, we have taught over 5,000 students in Los Angeles. I also talk about the issue in almost every interview I do, and I am producing a sequel to my last educational film (that one was Jampacked: The Challenge of Human Overpopulation), which will discuss how materialistic we have become here in the US. It is entitled The Cost of Cool: Finding Happiness in a Materialistice World. This issue of how wasteful and “shopping-crazy” we are ties in to overpopulation: in developed countries( like the US and Holland) we use A LOT more natural resources (water, trees, oil) and pollute A LOT more than countries like China, India and Africa who have many more people. So when you discuss overpopulation you need to look at numbers of people , but also HOW those people live – how wasteful are they? In the United States, we buy and throw away more “stuff” than any other country (an American uses at least TWICE as much “stuff” as someone from your country, the Netherlands).

I am getting married in 2000, and Ian and I want to have children. I prefer to adopt, but I will birth one baby (I recommend that people have no more than 2 kids per couple by childbirth – if you want more, please adopt!) and adopt the others.

Good luck to you. My twin sister is gay, and it is not easy to be homosexual in a world that still discriminates against homosexuality. I pray that the new millennium brings Equality and Justice for all people.

Alexandra

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