Conni Castille is a Louisiana-born French-Acadian woman who recently created a 25-minute documentary film honoring Cajun women and the art of ironing.
Castille produced the visual gem, "I Always Do My Collars First: A
Film About Ironing," as a tribute to the pride French-Acadian
women take in doing daily tasks. Castille interviewed four lively
French-Cajun women ? including her mother, Gay Castille ? who
lovingly described the art and practicality involved in ironing.
Storytelling is the method Castille uses to support her ironing theme, combined with colorful local backgrounds of neatly kept neighborhoods, colorful community events and church life.
In following the process of ironing, these French-Acadian women display pristine pride in their meticulous attention to appearance and cleanliness.
"It says something about a family when their clothes are properly ironed," said one woman the film. "I always look for the crease in the sleeves."
Ironing is a learned art.
"My mother taught me to always press the collars first," says Marcelle Bernier McGuire, of Brunswick, who grew up in a Franco-American home in Lawrence, Mass., where she spoke French.
The women interviewed in Castille's film say that's how their mothers taught them to iron too. It's also how they learned to take pride in their appearance.
Castille says the subject of ironing was another way of examining her Acadian heritage. Many of Louisiana's Acadians are descendents of French-Acadians who were drawn to the area after 1755, when they were expelled from Nova Scotia by the British, during Le Grand Derangement.
Louisiana attracted the expelled refugees because its colonial history was French and the practice of Roman Catholicism was, and continues to be, an important part of the state's culture. "Cajun" is a colloquial contraction of "Acadian."
"I'm from Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. I lived away from home for five years because I was embarrassed by my Cajun culture," Castille said.
After people asked her what country she was from because of her Cajun accent, she began realizing how special her heritage really was.
"People practically bowed when I said I was Cajun," she said. "It made me wonder about what I was missing. So, I moved back home ready to embrace my roots."
She read an article by folklorist Judith Levin explaining how housework is communicative.
"It's expressive of the personality of the woman doing the work and it's aesthetic," said Castille.
So she asked her mother about ironing.
"When I asked my mother about ironing, she went back to when she was 10 years old, to explain what laundry was like then. She wanted me to understand how doing laundry was a big deal. Monday was typically the wash day. Pants legs, collars, and shirt sleeves were dipped in pots of cooked starch, either light or heavy, depending on the stiffness you wanted. Then, the clothes were hung out to dry. Pants were hung with metal insert 'pants stretchers.' While still damp, they were brought in, rolled up in a pillow case, sprinkled with water, and placed into the ice box until her mother got around to ironing them the next day."
Cleanliness and pride in personal appearance are revered practices to French-Acadians and Franco-Americans.
"It doesn't cost a lot of money to be clean," paraphrased Castille's mother in the film.
More information about Castille's film is available by e-mailing her at ccm3687@ louisiana.edu.
Merci ŕ tous for your wonderful feedback and comments about the DVD "Collars First"....actually, the nice message below is from the film's creataor, Conni Castille. By the way, about Connie's request to find Maine lodging, I recommended the Samoset in Phippsburg (:-):
Hi Juliana -A friend of mine writes for a local paper here and she came upon your article about the film. Thank You! I thought the article was well done. I appreciate the publicity.
I will let you know once dates get confirmed, but looks like Allison and I (Allison is the cinematographer and co-director) will most likely fly into Portland on the 10th of October IF the Lowell mass screening gets fixed (the 11th). (We want to spend some time in Portland.)
Can you recommend lodging? I thought there was a hostel in an lighthouse? But, I can't seem to find anything specific about it. Any suggestions would be so helpful.
Best,
Conni
Juliana e-mail: Juliana@MaineWriter.com
Juliana Website: www.MaineWriter.com
Ed.: Recent Posts at http://oneturkeyrun.blogspot.com/
