dianepoststhings-blog

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Object

The significant object he chose to show me was a picture of his late younger sister. Behind the picture there is an extract of a prier. This picture was distributed at her funeral. She died of cancer like her mom. When I asked him to show me a significant object, it only took him a few seconds to know what he was going to show me. I went to his new apartment to do the interview and even if, he was in the middle of boxes because he had just moved in and he found the image right away and didn’t hesitated once on where it was put up. The behavior reveled that the picture of his sister was one of the first thing he put aside which show how valuable this picture is to him. Maybe, keeping the photo is a way from him to remember her and to a certain extent his family. When he talked about her, unconsciously he started to gaze at the floor and he face was suffused with a profound sadness. The fact that she died very young must have impacted his life, this reminds him that life is short, so you have to appreciate every moment either good or bad. The photo is kept in his room, near his bed, into a drawer of his bedside table. The place where he keeps is also an indicator of how valuable the photo is, because the bedroom is the most private room in a house/ apartment, only your clothes and essential things are kept in it. His bedside table is near his bed which means that his sister is close to him emotionally and physically (her picture). The prier at the back was one of her favorite. It reflect his unconditional love for them. To conclude this object has more symbolical value then physical. It’s a reminder of his family, the ones who live, but also the part who died.  

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Analysis

I chose to interview this person because he is a friend of my mother and she told me he has a very interesting life. My big question was: Are you happy and if yes, what contributes to this happiness? Through this interview, we can see that his family is a very important part of his life, even though he lives far away from them (him in France, them in America). His happiest memory but also his saddest one are directly related to his family. A strong connection unifies them. He grew up in a very special environment. Despite the wealth of his mother’s family, money was a subject of tension in the house due to the lack of it sometimes. The fact that he was raised in a supportive and educated family where he could express his opinions and encouraged to pursue his passion influenced his adulthood and strengthen his ties with his siblings and especially his mother. During the interview we can see that his father isn’t really included in his family. He his mentioned at the beginning during the question about his parents’ job but isn’t a part of the happiest memory. At first, we can assume that it’s because he wasn’t there but after a second look at this topic, no gift was bought for him even if he was still married with his wife. As described the relationship Franck had with his father was volatile due to his abuse but we can also think that his opinion about him was impacted by the perception his mother’s family had of his father (bad opinion). One day he tried to do his sisters hair and after it became a tradition. Franck is not particularly interested in fame; he chose to leave his famous clientele and went to another country to start over in order to focus on his passion. Living in France also play a part of his happiness. He loves this country and it culture; it can be due to the fact that he was fed up of New York City and when he arrived here, Paris was his Eldorado, a place where he can start over: new place, new faces, new culture, new language. His work is also a part of his happiness because even though he is retired he still continues to work. We can see that hairdressing is more than just a work for him, it’s his passion, it’s form of expression. Moreover, his passion is linked to his family because his discover his gift at home with his family. He doesn’t need to be with someone to be happy. He enjoys being alone and is happy to be old. We can explain this satisfaction by the fact that death is a part of his life. He lost both of his parents, some of his siblings and his friends, that’s maybe the reason why he is rather happy than afraid to get old.

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The interview

What’s your name?

My name is Franck Walker.

Where were you born?

I was born in New York City, New York so and I was born in the village of Harlem, which is in upper Manhattan. Harlem is the Indian name for Manhattan but we call it New York City.

What is your date of birth?

I was born March the 15th 1949. I’m 70 years old.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in New York city exclusively. I grew up in apartment.

What were your parents’ job?

My mother was a housewife and she worked with the PTA (The Parents Teachers Association) so she was part of the educational system. She didn't work full time because she had 8 children.

My father worked at The Metropolitan Opera House and he was the first black scenery director at the Metropolitan Opera House. This is before Lincoln Center, this was the original Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Do you have siblings?

I have, I had I should say five brothers and two sisters. I lost 4 of my brothers and 1 of my sisters so it’s just now all the 3 of us: my older brother Clarence, and younger sister Allegra.

What was your dream job when you were little?

There were so many. When I was a kid, I was going to be a singer, and I sang for the Metropolitan Opera Boys Choir, but my voice changed. Because my father worked at the Metropolitan, he encouraged us to play instruments, so I played the cello for 8 years. My parents said I had to play an instrument, everybody had to play an instrument in my house.

Did your parents force you to play an instrument?

They didn’t force us, they suggested strongly because they didn't want us playing in the street. You had to have activities after school. It was either that or to church, and I went to church every day until I was 15.

Why did you stop?

Because I could, I was old enough to say I'm not going anymore. I went to religious instruction every day every.

What is your religion?

I'm African Methodist Episcopal. It's the Church of England.

What was your dream job dream?

From the time I was 12 years old, my mother used to do my sister hair for church on Sundays. So she will wash their hair Friday night, and then she would do the brushing and all on Saturdays. She used to burn them every other Saturday because it was every 2 weeks. She would be talking on talking and running her mouth, so she would burn them, so they will start to cry on Saturday before she started. One time I said to my mother: “Why don't you pay attention to what you're doing”, and she said to me: “Who you’re talking to?”. And I said: “I'm talking to you because you’re burning them in they’re crying”. She looked at me, and we were allowed to talk, so she said: “You think you can do a better job”. I said:” I can't do any worst”, so she said: “Go ahead”, so I did their hair. I did their hair so well and I didn't burn them, then she said: “OK from now on, and I'm going to pay and if you do it anybody else’s hair they must pay”. That's how I started doing hair so I was going to be a designer I always could do hair but I was going to be a designer. When I took my entrance exam for art design, they said it wasn’t my work, so they made me sketch in front of them, so I did and I passed. Then, I decided to go with design and illustration, but I was always drawing pictures of hair.

In my 10th grade I was going to school, and after I was working in a salon so I started working there at 16 years old. So I have been doing hair and makeup for 54 years.

Give me 3 qualities you have and rate them.

I have the ability to put myself in your place somebodyelses place so whatever you're going through I can imagine it's happening to me. I have that empathy for people and that's one of the characteristics about myself that I like most.

I'm funny I think it's one of my better qualities I have a great sense of humor.

I am a dreamer. Usually, my daydreams become realities, it’s not just daydreaming for nothing I think.

What is your worst habit?

My habit is eating anything. I'm a diabetic and I'm not supposed to have sweets and I love to eat them.  My diabetes is really under control. When you have diabetes it doesn't mean that you can't have sweets it means you have to know your limits.

I’m a procrastinator, I put things off, I hate to admit it but I am. I'll do it tomorrow.

What is your happiest memory?

I was about 17 years old and my mom was always making sacrifices for the kids. So sometimes she was wearing the same thing over again. When I got my job, every week I would put away money, and I bought an outfit for my younger siblings from the from the shoes to the beret. For my mother, I bought everything from the shoes to the gloves. My mother was concerned about what she was going to get the kids for Easter, so when I came home that day, I had all these boxes. She said: “you've been shopping, what did you buy yourself?”. I said that it wasn’t for me but for the kids and she kissed me and she said: “You’re a good son you’re always so thoughtful”. She opened up each thing and she was happy. When she opened up the box for her, she just burst into tears.

What is your worst memory?

It’s the death of my mom. She had a colon cancer and they had given her 6 months to live. She was 45 years old. We were just devastated. I was 16 at the time, and the idea that my mother, my best friend was not going to be there anymore… Then she went into remission, and she lived for 10 years. She was living in Bermuda, and she fell and it activated her cancer for whatever reason. She came back in August and went in the hospital in September and she never came out. She died that January the 2nd 1975. To watch her from this woman full of life just diminish. She couldn't talk. I remember it was the end of the year and she said to me: “I don't want you to come tomorrow you’re here every day, go out and enjoy yourself.”. I did and I'm getting ready that morning on the 2nd to go to the hospital, and I got a phone call that my mom had passed. I was so pissed that they told me on the phone and it wasn't the hospital it was a friend of mine who want to see my mom. He should never have told me that my mother died on the phone let me come to the hospital and then let me let somebody in my family tell me. How I was going to deal with this knowing that I would have to do her body because we had agreement from when I was a young boy “When I die I wanted my hair, my nails and my make-up done, I want them to see my shoes”. I knew the moment she died I was gonna happen and I did. I was 25 years old.

Is your dad still alive?

My father died my father died in April 1974. They were divorced. I lived with my mother until I was around 18 and then I moved out. In America you are encouraged to be on your own, to be independent because you will have to take care of yourself for the rest of your life, so you might as well start early. I had a job when I was 13 years old, I used to be a paperboy.

What were your relationship with your father?

He was a very smart man and he could be extremely kind, but he was not a man that should have had 8 children. He was a mommas boy, he always had his mother to do things for him. When he was very young his father left home. I'm sure that this has some type of effect on him. I think he meant to be a good father, but he wasn't responsible. He was still living his life like he was single. My mother was from a very wealthy family, and my mother had five older brothers. When she got pregnant, she got married. My uncle told her to not marry him because he was never going to be a man. My relationship with him was volatile because he could be abusive, instead of being mad at himself he would take it out on my mom, he never took this responsibility for what went wrong and I think what compounded the stuation was that my mother's family had money. When he couldn’t afford something, my mother would get the money from her family. I think he may have the less.

He had an accident on his job and he injured himself. He never recovered from it, so he started to drink. He died at 58 years old. I asked her: “Mom did you ever love daddy?”, and she said: “I liked him”.

What is your greatest achievement?

Being 70 years old. I don't know a lot of people my contemporaries that are 70 years old, mostly people my age is dead.  I'm in France, I've been in France for 28 years. I guess that's an achievement. I was 42 years old when I came here.

Why did you leave America?

I had a cousin here, and we were going to open a salon here. In America, I had a lot of celebrity clientele, and sometimes when you’re doing celebrity people, they talk too much about their personal life, and then, they get mad at you because they told you. They want you to sign a piece of paper saying that you won't repeat what they said, and it got to be too much for me. When I came to France, I could do hair and not talk, I didn't speak a word of French. I was known for taking good care clients, and they would just say: “Do me”.

What is my future achievement?

I want to write a book about my life and my experience in France because I love France, I really do. I love the French people.

Do you have any regrets in your life?

Yes, I have many regrets. But nothing big. I would have liked to be a parent. I had 2 children and they both died, one at birth and the other one she lived by a week or two. I worked out in my head and wasn’t for me.

What do you like the most in life?

I like to be alone, I’m a loner. I was like this when I was 7. In a house full of kids, I would play be myself. I can amuse myself. I do like me.

Are you currently satisfied of your life?

Yes, I am right now. But this is kind of new to me what I’m going through right now, because I'm in the middle of changing my whole life here. I'm containt, but I’m not happy happy but I'm going to be. There’s a lot of things coming, next year, I'm going to be with my family. There are coming to Paris. I'm very very happy everything in my apartment will be finished.

Do you want to get married?

I’ve been married since 1978 with my wife. We just never got a divorce, we had a daughter and she died, so there was no reason for us to stay together. I mean we loved each other but not that much, not for lifetime. I told her that if she ever wants to get married again, I will sign the paper, but she never did. I’ve never seen her in 30 years.

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Maelle

Maelle is 22 years old. She was born on January the 23rd, 1997 in Blanc-Mesnil. She grew up in an apartment in Drancy and moved in a house in Bondy when she turned 17. Her parents got divorced 2 years ago. It was very hard for her but at the same time she was relived because it meant no more fighting. Maelle has 1 older sister and 1 little brother. Her sister is married and has a 2-year-old daughter. She lives with her mother, her siblings, her brother-in-law and her niece. She is currently single, but months ago she went through a bad break up with her long-time boyfriend, they were together for about 3 years. She likes music and films moreover she plays violin. She loves mangas, that’s why her dream is to go to Japan, she even started to learn japanese. Traveling is her passion, she already went to 10 different countries. Her goal is to travel around the world. Maelle is currently studying History at university but she decided to take a gap year after passing a BTS in lab’s techniques, before starting university. She worked during a all year at Starbucks. She would like to have a PhD in History, she wants to be a history teacher and studies hard in order to achieve her goal. Her worst memory is when her grandfather died, and her happiest memory is when she went to the US and saw the sunset at the Grand Canyon because it was on her to-do-list. I interview her at her house in her room on her request. It was her first interview outside of job interview. She is a very shy person therefore she did want me to put her picture on my blog. Sorry.

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Hi, this is a picture of an object that is important to me. It’s a necklace with 2 tokens. One is a geographical map of the Reunion Island with the rivers and the cities of the island. There are also a Palm tree and the name of the island on the token. The other one is the image of a cherub with his head in the palm of his hand, we can only see the top of his body. On the back of the token my name and my date of birth are engraved.