Jenna Brownback Can Spell

When she lived in Shantou City, China, Jenna Brownback used to be called Chenyi Dan. According to this interview, her birth mother carved a tiny oval on Chenyi's stomach with a pen knife so that they might be able to find each other again. Wow. That's intense but kind of cool. A scar you carry around forever to remind you of the woman who gave you life.

Chenyi was adopted when she was almost two by her parents, Sam and Mary — that's when she became Jenna Joy. Her other claim to fame, besides being a Senator's daughter, is that she won her third grade class spelling bee.

"Jenna" sounds kinda like "Chenyi," doesn't it? I'm glad my parents kept the name my birth mother gave me (since I don't have a scar), but that might be because "Sameera" is an easier name for Americans to pronounce than "Chenyi." Anyway, it doesn't matter what they named me because everybody and their uncle call me "Sparrow" now. Except the busty blonde barista who worked the morning shift at that café in Brussels -- she sang out "Latte für Sameera!" so perfectly that if you closed your eyes on the last word you'd think she was Pakistani, too.