Magneta, Magenta

Chemistry class, Grade 11.

After combining a few dribbles of Hydrofluoro-somethingorother with two parts Whatsitium I was admiring the vibrant pink the solution had become. "Can anyone tell me what color the mixture should change to?" asked the teacher. I blurt out my response, "Magneta!" (You read that right: mag · net · uh) Probably thinking he'd misheard, the teacher asked me to repeat myself. I responded a second time shaming myself in full view of my 25 classmates with my dyslexic mangling of the word.
Mr. Chemistry kindly corrected my error, "magenta" you mean? "Yes... uh... Magenta," I stammered. Figuring this was surely the first thread of my sanity unravelling I decided to put in a couple hours of research and hastily find some answers before slipping away into a Poe-esque incoherence. Also there was the matter of my wounded self-esteem. After my visit to the library (this was pre-Wikipedia and prior to the birth of the Web, way back when we did "things" with "stuff"). To my delight and amazement I discovered my dyslexia was a sign, not of premature onset of senility or cognitive disfunction, but of brilliance and creativity. Brilliance! Creativity! My frequent bouts of daydreaming and incessant in-class doodling were nothing to be remedied, they were traits to be encouraged, quality traits sanctioned by science even. Science! Yale operates a Center devoted to the study of dyslexia and creativity.

Sally Shaywitz is co-director at the Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity, and an expert on dyslexia. She says,

And there you have it. My confidence was now restored and my mood swinging dangerously close to happiness at having discovered the apparent hiccups in my inventive little brain were actually symptoms of artistic aptitude and creative vision. Whew, that was a close one.

The basic black and magenta color palette in the Geek Girl Heart Locket tattoo flash I painted recently brought back the memory of my serendipitous high school gaffe. How's that for a color association? I also can't help but think of a certain namesake burlesque performer when I think magenta.