Nana Biography

Do you think there was some interaction there, that, because he was like he was, but that was objectionable to you and made you more aware, perhaps?

Probably more so. I can remember going to the library and find me books about black, and getting some statistics out to try to prove to him that they weren’t stupid, and they weren’t this way, and that way, and coming out and confronting him with it, and having a terrible, you know… As if I were being rude to do such a thing. Well, I don’t know, I just…

Do you think when you did this, this is sort of a little aside, but do you think in your family, being a little bit different, a little bit more sensitive, and more aware, that you might’ve felt some sort of a little bit of an outsider yourself? And perhaps, a little bit, could be a good word, picked on?

Oh, I knew I was, yes. I was picked on. My father really teased me a lot, and I hated it. The minute we moved, John moved in with the family, and a couple of times he started to tease the kids about something, I said, “I have to make one thing clear. That really bothers me. I’m going to lay it out on the table. Because I was so affected by it. “And not all people are affected by Thesing like that, but I took it terribly personally.

It was very hurtful.

And I can tell when people are being teased and it hurts them. And it makes me very angry. And I must say that the first year that I was married to Jon, he was terribly sarcastic. We had a lot of tough times that first year, and many ways,of you know our interaction, he was kind of jealous over things, you know, I think I told you one night I danced with somebody, and things like that, and, I was very sensitive to his reactions. And finally, I outgrew it.

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