I don't know what he means to me really. I only remember him four times my whole life where I would visit him in the summer to go down to North Carolina. My brother and sister remember so much about him like his eye color and what he used to always wear, but I didn’t. His passing reminds me of what happens in my life. How I can spend so much time doing something or being with someone and not knowing who they really are. Uncle Williford means a piece of my life to me that has gone with him. Something that I can’t take back because it passed away with him. He was always kind to my mom and family whenever we came over. During his funeral, I was the only one that didn’t cry because I couldn’t no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t bring up anything that will make me cry for someone I lost in my life. I feel bad for doing this project because I know people who have lost their mother or father or someone really important to them and yet here I am saying that I felt nothing over my great uncle's death.
I decided to make my sugar skull on him because he was the only family member I could think of that passed. Also, I never really connected with anyone outside my immediate family family if that makes any sense. My sugar skull has features I know about the person like the face is brown because he was brown skinned. I made the eyes red around with red, blue, and white which is suppose to be Chucky which was the first horror movie I watched that was at his house. There is some green on the skull because he owned acres of land and also built his own house. Black on his teeth because my sister had said that she saw him put on denchers once. In his mouth are supposed to be noodles because he had lots of ramen noodles in his house.
“Dia de los Muertos” opened my mind into seeing different ways people commemorate the dead and the sugar skull part of it really helps with letting go of that person you lost. Dia de los Muertos, also isn’t about letting them go completely since it’s a yearly thing where as a funeral is a one time thing and you may put flowers down from time to time on their grave. The actual physical sugar skull also give a metaphorical meaning to the person for example, for my great uncle I put a googley eye on the top of his forehead. This is referring to the “all seeing eye” seen on the dollar bill which relates to him because he would always use to catch us doing something sneaky like stealing oreos or he was always watching over his plants and animals on his farm. On the back of my sugar skull is white because of the things I don’t remember about him or that I know about him. The orange hair on top of the skull’s head is representing Chucky where his hair was orange. Since he lived down in North Carolina and we would visit him in the summer and in the summer there is a lot of polin. My nose is colored red because it represents a red nose from allergies and what comes out the nose is snot which is colored green all around my mouth. Metaphors like those can be seen on my skulls that can only make sense to me and no one else.
I honestly have nothing else to say about my Uncle Williford that passed away. It’s sad really because if it were (god forbid) my mom, brother, or sister I could go on forever for my paper, but the fact that I don’t have any other words to say is evident that I don’t remember or had a strong connection with him. The Sugar Skulls made me realize that one person if creative can have so much that represents that person on one skull. In the end, my uncle has been the piece in my life I can never get back or the memories I’ve had and never will get back.
Eulogy
Quién Soy? Yo soy Adán Bennett. Yo soy nacido y criado en oeste Philadelphia. Hasta donde yo sé mi vida es apenas comienzo. Pero sí sé este un futuro aguarda. Williford Lewis Hart era mi tío abuelo. Nacido sobre tres de julio mil novecientos treinta y uno. El era el noveno hijo de doce hijos. Tío Williford era un perezoso mayor hombre. Él tenía verde ojos. Él era un soldado quien pelear en guerra. Yo estoy en mi casa. Yo estoy muy cansado. Y triste porque yo no sabía lo bien, entonces yo estoy muy triste. En conclusión mi tío Williford es un buen hombre. Aunque yo no acordarse mucho de hombre. Nosotros aún tenemos unos conexión.
For this project, my partner and I created a power point that consisted of Ser and Estar. We used all of the categories which included: origin, identification, characteristics, time (time/date), place of event, possession (material) location, opinion, and condition. We had to create sentences that accurately displayed the proper use of ser and estar for the categories, as well as videos on each slide. The videos consisted of my partner and I saying the sentences we wrote with proper pronunciation to better the understanding of the viewer.
English Reflection
The person that passed away is my grandfather. His name was Louis Wyche Sr. He was born in August of the late 1930s, and lived until October of 2015. I loved my grandfather very much. He meant a lot to me and my family. At family reunions and events everyone loved seeing him and speaking with him, he was a really cool guy. He came to Philadelphia when he was 19, leaving his wife (my grandmother, I’m not sure of they were married at the time) and his newborn baby Louis Wyche Jr, which is my uncle. He left his hometown in Tallahassee to come to Philadelphia to find work and a home for his family, which he did quickly. He found a job at an industrial factory, and he ended up working there for over 30 years I believe. He found a home in the Germantown area of Philadelphia, on Crowson Street. He lived at that home until his death. It was known by some as the ‘Wyche’ Home, and my grandfather was the head of the home, and was often referred to as ‘Mr. Wyche’.
My grandfather meant so much to our family and to me. His death was so devastating, everyone in the family shed tears and were beside themselves after hearing the news. I was at home when I found out, others were at the hospital. His death was extremely hard on my grandmother, he meant the world to her. They were together for over 50 years, and had 6 Children together. She lost so much when he passed away. For me, I lost a lot also. I loved my grandfather, his death hurt very much. I always would have fun talking and hanging out with him. He was a very funny man and we had a lot of fun together. He was someone that always enjoyed life even when he was sick for a while, and that made me want enjoy my life even when things were going bad. Even though i stopped seeing him as much as I got older, it was still awesome to talk with him and see him when I could. My grandfather was one of my favorite people in the world, when he died I lost that.
For my sugar skull and mask I decided to incorporate my grandad’s life into it fully. On the mask I had yellow teeth. My grandfather didn’t have real teeth when he died, and didn’t for many years, but when he did he had yellow teeth. Also, I had a lot of green and red on the mask. This is very important to my grandfather's life for many reasons. One is being his love of the holiday Christmas. He loved Christmas and getting and giving presents, and the Christmas colors are green and red, that is one reason that I added red and green. Another reason is his love of the Philadelphia Eagles and Philadelphia Phillies. The Eagles colors are Green and White and the Phillies colors are Red and Blue. He loved both of those sports teams very much, and before he lost his vision he would watch them all the time and enjoy it a lot. I am a fan of both of those teams also, and I sometimes watched the games with him. The team colors are why I have red and green on the mask. The skull has red and a dark blue or purple. The red is added to the skull as well because red was one of his favorite colors. The blue or purple is for the flag of his original hometown of Tallahassee. I could not find the exact color for the flag, so I used the closest color I could find. I added that to represent a big part of who he was, and a big part of him is his hometown. Even though he lived most of his life in Philadelphia, Tallahassee is where he met the love of his life, my grandmother, and I added that to represent it. The way the skull and mask reflects my grandfather is that everything added was important in his life. The red, green, yellow, and blue/purple for his favorite holidays, team's, colors, teeth, and hometown. All of these reflect who he was as a person and what he loved when he was living.
“Día de los Muertos” has opened my mind about celebrating deceased loved ones a ton. Before I did not think about celebrating in any other ways than a funeral. This project made me realize that my family does actually celebrate our deceased family members, and I think it’s great. After doing this, recording the eulogy, making the mask and skulls, I want celebrate my deceased family members even me.
Spanish Eulogy:
Yo soy Makyle Wyche. El hijo de Michael, y el nieto de Louis Wyche Sr. Yo soy uno de los muchos nietos de Louis. Mi abuelo fue de Tallahassee, Florida. Él llegó a Philadelphia en la edad 19. Él llegó a encontró trabajar y un hogar. El rápidamente encontró un hogar. Él vivió en ella con la familia hasta su muerte. Mi abuelo el amor deportes. Sus favoritos fueron béisbol y fútbol americano. Mi abuelo fue no alto. El fue gordo y gracioso. Yo Vivo cerca de su casa. Yo visito a veces. Su muerte me hecho triste. Yo extraño el muchísimo. Mi abuelo fue un gran hombre. Yo encanta mi abuelo muchísimo. Que en paz descanse.
