I am an artist

My name is Caroline and I am an artist. I don't always feel like it, but God knit me together as an artist in the womb. He knew what my desires would be because He created them. He knew I would yearn for working with my hands. He knew that creating would be my only outlet that would truly fulfill me.

I think often about how we have all come to be. I think about the evolution of society and what shapes our minds. I see how the powers at be attempt to control us, but Ecclesiastes is a constant reminder that there is nothing new under the sun. What is has always been, and what was will always be. The may cripple some, but it's extremely comforting to me.

The Bible talks often about how people are named. Many, many chapters are dedicated to detailing the lineage of a certain member of the story. God puts much emphasis on the meanings of our names. Although we don't care as much as they once did, it still is true that our names are significant -- they were important once, so they are important now.

My full name is Dixie Caroline Lanier. Dixie directly translates to "tenth" ("dix" is a French word for ten). My ancestry does date back to France, so it's interesting that my first name is of the same heritage. Now, Dixie has come to mean "of the South" due to it's connection to the Civil War. My father chose the name Dixie, not because of the literal definition, but because he wanted to remind me of where I came from. He would always tell me that one day, when I'm a reporter in New York or wherever I was, I would have to sign my name and remember who I am. He may not have foreseen that I would move nearly 2000 miles away after college and call the west coast home, but God did. That story that he would always imagine was rooted in something that he didn't even comprehend at the time, but it did come to fruition, more or less.

Caroline is a name of French & German origins and is the female version of Charles. Charles means "free man." My grandmother's name is Carolyn, so my parents took that and named me Caroline, which my mom heard as Marisa Tomei's name in the 1993 film, Untamed Heart. Lanier as a last name means "woolworker," deriving from the French word "laine" which means wool.

I can never doubt the truth of the Word of God because I see it in my name. I'm sure my parents had no clue what they were doing, but they were branding me with a name that would outline my entire life. I was bound to be a "free woman wool worker from the south." That is my name. That is who I was made to be. That is my identity. God makes no mistake in making us exactly who we are supposed to be.

---

I first had these thoughts in October of last year. The past month had been entirely surreal at work since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and we had all been looking for hope where we could find it.

On Charlie's birthday, the President presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously, which was accepted by his widow, Erika. This was an important event at Turning Point HQ. Everyone gathered in the open office area where the event was being broadcast for us all to see on the big screen. Erika talked about Charlie with such love and adoration. She talked about how "her Charles" had a name that meant "free man" and that it was something that he lived out every day. I had always known that Caroline was the feminine of Charles, but I hadn't connected the meaning to the name.

Her detailing the meaning of his name stuck with me. I realized that I had an identity that I hadn't noticed before. I've always had a certain stubbornness about me to pave my own path, to do my own thing, to see always for myself, to be free.

I've always had such strong connections and pride for being from the South. I love the landscape, the traditions, the hospitality, the love, the kindness, the values, the arts, all of it. It's always stung more to hear someone badmouth anything Southern and look down upon it with unjust judgments than anything. Because, I am the South and the South is me.

I've always been a woolworker of sorts. I've always sewn, crocheted, knitted, woven. I've always done all that I can to make with fibers and to work the metaphorical wool in any way that I can.

Our names define us. Our names are important. Our names are who we are. My name is Dixie Caroline Lanier. I am a free woman who works wool from the South. That is who I am. That has always been who I was, whether I could say that into words or not.

I was created to create. This is something that I know. I am an artist.