Love in a Global Village: A Celebration of Intercultural Families in the Midwest

Alterations: Janet & Andy

Alterations janet& andy Janet & Andy. Photo by Christy Mock. hen we first open the door of Janet Ingle’s dress shop in Wauwautosa, Wisconsin, just outside of Milwaukee, we are confused about whom to greet. There are several women who have turned to look at us as the door jingles open. One, an elegant black woman with white hair and a confident air, wears a beautiful mudcloth coat that we immediately recognize as African. This, we think smiling in her direction, must be Janet. But it is another woman, sitting unselfconsciously on the floor pinning a hem, who invites us in. This quiet, unpretentious person in black stretch pants and turtleneck is the woman we have come to see. Janet can’t talk to us right away, so we chat with the clients and examine the merchandise in her store. One wall displays some “Mama Africa” posters and is fronted by a glass case filled with African beaded jewelry. Another is covered in traditional West African clothing hanging in colorful tiers: most are garments called grands boubous — very long shirts over loose-fitting pants, both in a solid-colored, heavy cotton and beautifully embroidered. Nearby racks display dozens of children’s dresses, done in the most elaborate of Western styles with pleated yokes, puffy sleeves, lace pinafores, and underskirts. We watch as the women in the store try on the bags of new clothes they have brought for alterations and a few garments from Janet’s selection, teasing and prodding each other. Joyce, the tall woman we spotted earlier, looks good in everything she tries on and tries on more than anyone else, twirling and dancing lightly before the mirror. “She comes alive when she wears clothes,” one friend says admiringly. Janet sits on the floor with her legs splayed at a right angle and a yellow tape measure around her neck, the tools of her trade { Janet & Andy } 207 W scattered about within reach. Something about the humility of Janet’s posture, her quiet, brief remarks, the concentration she gives her work make her a sympathetic character, especially in relation to the boisterous, self-confident women she is assisting. She is completely unassuming in this moment, concerned with everyone else’s needs and appearance, and not at all with her own. Finally, Janet pins her last hem. The women surge out in a noisy wave, leaving a heap of clothes for Janet to alter and little time, apparently , for her to do the work. Other customers call or stop by during our interview and add to the pile. Janet apologizes but says she must work while we talk. And work she does — on an ordinary sewing machine without special appendages or fancy stitches, while we pull our chairs up close and arrange our tape recorders so that they are as unobtrusive as possible. Janet takes clothing from the pile that has accumulated behind her and tells us a story that is moving in ways we did not anticipate. Janet grew up in Ghana, West Africa. She laughs at one of our first questions — about how many people were in her family. “When you ask an African for family, you’re asking for trouble. What do you mean, ‘family’?” We narrow our question, ask how many sisters and brothers she had, and Janet tells us that her father had eight children, that she was the eldest one. Her father was highly educated — “He attended graduate school in Halifax, Canada , had a master’s degree, and he wanted every one of us to go to school to do something. I wanted to be a doctor, but after a while my dad was not paying my school fees, so I had to take care of myself .” It was the Salvation Army in Ghana that rescued her in the last instant; they needed nurses and paid Janet, who had settled on a career in nursing, to work for them while she finished training. Janet met Andy Ingle, who was a Peace Corps volunteer, while 208 { Alterations } she was working for the Salvation Army. “When he came to the hospital where I was working,” Janet remembers, “I was the first one he saw. He was speaking the language, and that was fascinating to me — a white man speaking the language. In the Peace Corps, they teach you how to get by, get around.” But Andy wanted to do more than just get by in...