>> i was born lillian jen whichy was an elegant name my chinese also t name sounds like lillian that these books all have lilly as the root it is a a very elegant name. so i was i was named for the lotus flower. thee lily i had in and that i member thinking this is not the woman i had in mind. so i i will go along with this beautiful name but i was a junior in high school.i w part it is part of the creating righe if group -- creative writing group. city to and then i have a friend so the, called me gish jen off of i lillian -- i would have been horrified that i didn't know soc it was a nickname that only limited circumstances so then to that archaeological dig and awaa from home electricity was out sd we are going by candlelight and introducing ourselves and with no premeditation whatsoever ii w just said gish jen. i don't know why.e. today i know self naming is something a lot of riders do.li, at the time i did not know but u that idea was very much on my mind that lillian was a nice girl but gish jen leaving the windows open at night. but that was an american freedom nillia that li

>> i was born lillian jen. that was actually a very elegant name that i had been given by my mother. my chinese name sounds like lillian. they both have lilly as a root. very elegant name. i was named for the lotus flower that grows up out of the mud but opens up pure. i'm going along with this really very beautiful name. but when i was a junior in high school, i went -- wait, okay, i was a junior in high school, and i was part of a creative writing group, a little club. and this was run by a guy. and everybody got a nickname that was related to their name. you know, we were inventing ourselves, going into new york city to go watch cinema, versus the regular movies at home. i had a friend who had a nickname. my name was lillian so they called me gish after lillian gish, an actress whose movies i had never seen. it was kind of a nickname that a couple people used in a really very limited circumstances. until i went away during the summer to an archaeological dig in pennsylvania. i'm away from home. there's a hur

i will say over the years, gish jen has different handwriting then lillian jen. from my catholic school upbringing, gish jen is a completely different thing. there was a kind of emergency, i had to write something before i went out the door. the answer was gish jen. i can only write one thing in my old handwriting now and that is my name. except for my checks i don't use that at all, it is gone. i could see it but literally can't do it anymore. it becomes this other person. my very first story, published as lillian jen, almost said who is she? as soon as they said that, that is so right, a person who writes these stories, it is not lillian jen. this is kind of a pain. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979 c-span was created as a public service by america's cable-television companies. we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court and public policy events in washington dc. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> michael avenatti is a lawyer for adult film star stormy daniels. he atten