Scot Butwell? Michael Butler? How Are These Two Brothers?

Unveiling the mystery of the Medium-writing siblings

Yes, I have a brother who writes on Medium. He does so quite often. And I know I’m biased, but he does it quite well.

His name is Scot Butwell.

You probably wondering, why do these Medium writing brothers have different last names?

Let’s reveal the answer to this — until now — unsolved mystery.

Incorrect theories

Nope. we weren’t brothers from a different mother — or father. We aren’t half brothers. Nor was either one of us adopted. We both have the same father and the same mother.

And no this isn’t one of those mind-boggling riddles where the mother was the doctor, or they rode on a horse name Friday.

Reveal party

One of us changed their last name. And it wasn’t Scot? It was me. And no, I’m not running from the law, or under any government protection program.

But seriously, can you blame me?

It’s not an easy name to grow up with. Kids are cruel. I heard it all:

“Is your butt, well?”

“Butt-smell”

“So if a butt is an ass, and a well is a hole in the ground does that make your last name?”

At least we weren’t Dicks

A guess it could’ve been worse. Our first name could’ve been Dick. Yep, that was our dad’s name. I kid you not.

When I married my wife, she decided not to take my last name and kept hers. Things got more complicated when we had our first child. We chose to have her last name (Ladwig) be his middle name (Bryce Ladwig Butwell).

My epiphany

Then, I had an epiphany.

I made the proposal to my wife.

“What if we both change our name to ‘Butler.’ It’s similar to ‘Butwell’ without the easily-mocked aspect. We’d all have the same name, and our kids wouldn’t be teased relentlessly throughout the elementary and middle school as I was.”

She loved the idea. And agreed to proceed forward with “Operation: Butwell to Butler Name Change.”

We had to get the name-changing forms from the local courthouse. It cost us $435. We set up a court date, appeared before a judge, and he asked us one simple question:

Why do you want to have your last name changed?

He laughed when we told him the reason, and added, “I totally get it, and I don’t blame you one bit.”

Michael Lee Butwell retired

He stamped the document and it was official. Michael Lee Butwell was now Michael Lee Butler. We did it over the summer so it didn’t affect my current third-grade students.

My previous identity and former last name Butwell were officially buried. The name change was made back in 2002. Since then I have moved to a middle school — where students are meaner.

But there was no way that my current students would ever know my deep, dark secret.

That darn Tina Miller

Well, thanks to Tina Miller one did.

She taught at our feeder elementary school. Tina saw one of my favorite sixth-grade students Brandon Prince and asked him who his teachers were.

When he answered, “Mr. Butler is my English teacher.”

Tina responded, “Oh, Mr. Butler and I go way back. I knew him when he was still Mr. Butwell.”

Really, Tina?!

My face was beet red when she told me the story, and I told her the whole reason we changed it. I was a little annoyed with Tina for letting the Butwell out of the bag.

Lucky for me, Brandon promised to keep it in the vault, and he did.

However, if you look really close on my desk, there’s a coffee mug from a former student that reads, “Thanks, Mr. Butwell.” It’s buried — like my old last name — behind a bunch of trinkets on my messy desk.

Maybe, just maybe, some observant student can figure out the hidden mystery of who Michael Butler really is.

Thanks for reading my big reveal story.

Shout out to Deborah Camp and her captivating story My Mom’s Caretaker Went Insane — I Was Naive and I Admit It. This was is so well-written and is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat until the last paragraph.

Tagging a few who might’ve been curious about this unsolved mystery: Scot Butwell, Evon, Lu Skerdoo, Sreese, Ning Choi, Adelina Vasile, MarkfromBoston 🐾🍻, Ruby Lee, Klara Jane Holloway, Gerald Sturgill, Jameson Steward, Pam Winter, Victoria Valentine, Scott Younkin, Susan Wheelock, Deborah Camp, Alicia Domínguez, Sarah Jean, @kristine laco, Janet Meisel.

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