My grandma, Mau Mau, looks at the world without judgement. Growing up in Philadelphia, her parents worked hard to give her a good, and very religious childhood. When she married my Grandpops, it was not just a union of people but of cultures. Her husband’s Arab and Venezuelan background changed her perspective and how she raised her kids. She worked to teach her kids about their culture through singing the ten minute birthday song in Spanish or making stuffed grape leaves. I have respect for my grandma for how she continued our culture and was able to shift her values despite what she’d been taught. My mom always tells me that I look just like her mom when she was my age. It makes me feel connected to my grandma, like I am just a younger version of her.
Getting to do this interview was special to me since it was my chance to show her how much I care about her and who she is. I could tell that she was excited too, and later learned that she told my mom how getting older she sometimes felt invisible, so having someone show so much interest meant the world to her. We talked in the basement, both of us laughing at her stories during the conversation, though on her part it felt like it was her way of copping or processing her experiences. She was open about her life and memories while also looking through a very matter of fact lens. Once we were done talking, I felt like I had a deeper understanding of why she is who she is and how alike the two of us really are.
Siena– So your dad was a butcher… Where were the animals that he would… slaughter?
Joan– Okay well in those days… live animals were brought from Chicago. The cowboys would round up all the cattle to sort of the central hub of Chicago. And from Chicago, they came by rail into different cities like Philadelphia. And his business was right by the railroad track. So as the animals uh cows and the lambs would arrive they would come into his uh pens where they would stay.
Siena– Oh they were alive still?
Mau Mau– They were alive, yes. And that was his job, he also had employees and the animals were actually hanged upside down and then they slit their throats to kill them and then they would strip all the leather off the animal all the skin and then he would have big chunks of meat huge carcasses of beef lamb and then they would have a truck and deliver all the meat to the butchers in the Philadelphia area. And one time I went as a little girl and I thought the cows were very nice and then I saw them being slaughtered. I don’t think my father realized that that would be such a shocking view. But the animal was hung upside down.
Siena– It’s sad that you had to see that… Seeing a cute animal and then your dad killing it just is such a strong image. I don’t know too much about your dad, but I heard that he had some issues with drinking?
Mau Mau– Yes he did. He had an Irish temperament, and um yes, I saw drinking when I was young and uh he would uh sort of many times after a hard day of work, and he did work very very hard because you heard about you know with the slaughtering, and you know he would stop off at the tap rooms before going home, much to the consternation of my mother. Many times they fought about that and uh there was a very sad ending to this cause uh he as I told you really provided a good life for us, we had a home in Philadelphia and also a home at the shore, and uh so one time coming down from work he uh stopped off at a tap room and we were all at the shore which is about sixty five miles away so he um he wanted people people to go without him. He felt sort of unsure about that trip down to the shore. It was at night and he left and went to the shore and fell asleep at the wheel and he ran into a bus that was on the side of the road. And he only lived four days after that and he died. So it was very sad.
Siena– I am so sorry that you had to go through that. And your mom was very religious right? You were Catholic but now are you aesthetic, agnostic?
Mau Mau– No I’m not practicing my catholic religion, uh I was really raised my children catholic too because I was raised catholic, however, later on as I grew up I became for some reason switched- I won’t go into it now I sort of uh not lost my way I just didn’t believe as I believed before. What do I believe in? I believe now in a uh supreme being, I really do. I think there is somebody that created everything- do I believe that Jesus was God? No I don’t, but in the catholic religion you do. You believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. So I do not believe that now. Do I believe he was a very holy man? Yes, I believe there were many many holy people like I believe in the saints that they did exist and they were good people but I don’t believe that that uh that god put his son on earth. That I don’t believe. But I do believe in a supreme being. I know I’ll meet all of the people who’ve gone, like my husband, my mother, my father my sister my brother. I would like to meet all of them.
Siena– I wish that I could’ve meet Grandpops. What was your first impression of him?
Mau Mau– I had never met a person of Aran background before. And he just how can I say, had a slight accent spoke English very well, was very very intelligent I found him very interesting and very very nice. However, we went out for like six months and then he left to go to Venezuela. Eventually he came back, and uh several times cause he had business in New York and I would see him then and then finally it, we just got to love one another and decided to get married.
Siena– I think it’s interesting how we had pretty different childhoods in terms of growing up religious. I have a question. Okay, I’ve always wondered this. So, you come from Philadelphia and I know you also kind of have an Irish background and Grandpops came from Bethlehem right. So what are the ties to Venezuela cause I feel like such a big part of your life.
Mau Mau– That’s true. That’s a very interesting question. Because there were many problems in Palestine and to establish a good business and so forth many people from the Middle East went to South America and years before his uncle and older brothers had gone to Venezuela so that was the connection between Venezuela. So when he and his brother, they both graduated as a chemist and as a chemical engineer and they learned how to make synthetic foam rubber. So they said “well we have an in Venezuela we have family there” and they said let us go to Venezuela and produce and be the first people to produce synthetic foam rubber. And that’s what they did. And they established that. And in this process, they were also working down there and establishing this foam rubber business and we got married and I came to the scene down there. So that was when we were first married.
Siena– That’s really sweet. Mau Mau, what are you proudest of?
Mau Mau– I think my family. Yeah I’m very proud of them all. I love all of them. First of all my children I’m very proud of them and I’m so glad I have a daughter (laughing). And I’m glad I have my three sons and I’m proud that they’ve succeeding in life and no one’s an alcoholic or drug addict or you know everybody we all have our faults but you know we seem to get along. That means a lot to me. Family is everything.
