I’m taking a conversational French class with my mother at the local junior college *[1]
We met last night for the first class, and as part of the “immersion” approach, we were all asked to “use our imaginations” as we were going to have to “pick someone to be.”
The teacher wrote on the board in front of the class:
nom:
âge:
nationalité:
profession:
famille:
personalité:
Then she said to us (in French, but I got the gist), “now, decide who you’d like to be — you can be anyone! A baker, a dancer, a doctor, anything! And you get to decide if you want to be outgoing, or friendly or shy or — just make it someone you’ll really like being, because you’ll have to play this person for the rest of the semester!”
This was serious business. This was turning into not only a French class, but an acting class as well.
I thought long and hard about the person I’d want to play. I’d have to like playing this person; this was a long time to be embodying a role.
A whole semester.
But then I started to think about the role I was already playing, and I realized I’d better like it because I’d be playing it a whole lot longer. A whole lifetime. Shit.
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nom: Shannon Michelle DeJong
âge: 25 years
nationalité: American, with reluctance
profession: Currently pursuing dream of going in hot tub 30 consecutive days in a row and attaining Golden-Buddha-Monkey-hood as demonstrated by 17 year-old cat Patches; completely unemployed writer; freelance verbal branding consultant
famille: loving parents who are providing roof, wonderful grandparents with endless stories to share, wacky brother who is all-star board game player and sister-in-law who collects Hello Kitty, uncle who gives “Live Long and Prosper” handshake, multiple cousins who think the word “fart” is Grade A humor, and a plethora of extended life-long friends who should be considered as such.
personalité: Outgoing, wacky, spontaneous yet doggedly anxious about being practical; quirky and creative while being traditional and mediocre; can be selfish and generous; attention-seeking and self-sacrificing; inspired, bland; a pleaser, individualistic; confident and self-doubting…human.
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Some things we have no control over. We were born under certain circumstances, such as a particular time period, geographical location, etc. But the rest we get to choose. Listening to what roles people adopted last night was fascinating — it was a reflection of the secret lives people wanted to live.
People chose to be actresses and salsa dancers and spies — my mother, God bless her heart — chose to be a Tahitian princess.
And it made me wonder if we aren’t all capable of, aside from choosing certain things like nationality, living these imaginary roles. Aren’t we just as capable of choosing what role we’d like to play for life as we are for the semester?
And I was happy with this Shannon character I’d chosen. She was all right.
But then I realized the teacher probably meant we should be someone different for the class, so I ended up deciding to be Carlotta Rosana Maria Consula, a 76-year-old chicken-raising grandmother who used to be an aid to Fidel Castro.
I figured that could be très fun, too.
*[1] this is what happens when you move home, people — your social life begins to involve your parents, the dude at the video store, and your cat. Your city friends and that guy you were “quasi-dating”? It’s a fact that the busy-ness of their schedules are directly related to your proximity to the city — the further away you are, the more often they have to wash their hair.
