Ferry Tales
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Short, FERRY TALES exposes a secret world that exists in the powder room of the Staten Island Ferry--a place that brings together suburban moms and urban dwellers, white-collar and blue-collar, sisters and socialites. For 30 minutes every day, they gather around mirrors to put on their makeup – talking not as wives, mothers, or professionals, but just as themselves. Sassy and honest, they dish on everything from sex scandals to stilettos, family problems to September 11th, leaving stereotypes at the door and surprising viewers with their straight-shooting wisdom. In broaching such topics as divorce, single motherhood and domestic violence, FERRY TALES goes beyond the surface to show us the realities of life for working women. A rare and honest look at the intersections of race and class, this heartwarming film is also a must have for women’s studies, urban studies and sociology departments. Utterly charming and often outrageous, FERRY TALES gives these unlikely heroines their moment in the spotlight.
'Esson's film gives a fantastic glimpse into one of the countless secret sub-cultures of New York. Her brilliant portrayal rethinks class and gender and turns our ideas of the suburban/urban divide on their head...with important lessons for sociology, women's studies, and urban history alike."
K.E. Fleming New York University
“Highly recommended...Absorbing ...a useful addition to collections supporting urban or women’s studies.”
Educational Media Reviews Online
“A delightful microcosm of a diverse group of women…their views of the world, race, relationships, and the challenges and the joys of the working woman in today’s society.”
Meira Blaustein Executive Director, Woodstock Film Festival
“An exploration of a floating community, both transitory and enduring, cliquish and inclusive, performative and insular, this engaging documentary gives new meaning to the notion of the transference of identity…an important contribution to the study of gendered space, racial politics, and urban class dynamics.”
Joseph Boles Dept of Humanities, Arts, and Religion, Northern Arizona University
Citation
Main credits
Esson, Katja (film director)
Esson, Katja (film producer)
Esson, Katja (photographer)
Schenk, Sabine (film producer)
Sager, Corinna (film producer)
Other credits
Camera, Martina Radwan, Katja Esson; editors, Sabine Hoffman, Moira Demos.
Distributor subjects
Diversity, Family Relations, Labor Studies, SociologyKeywords
WEBVTT
X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:0
00:15.981 --> 00:18.501
(seagulls squawking)
00:18.501 --> 00:23.501
(upbeat music)
(ferry horn blaring)
00:27.649 --> 00:30.247
- The ferry brings thousands
of people every day
00:30.247 --> 00:32.743
from Staten Island to Manhattan to work.
00:37.280 --> 00:40.820
There\'s a culture that only
really happens on the boat.
00:40.820 --> 00:44.120
You have people at the same time,
00:44.120 --> 00:46.653
same place, almost every day.
00:55.010 --> 00:59.530
Some passengers read,
some drink their coffee.
00:59.530 --> 01:03.723
Most people just do their
normal commuter routines.
01:07.151 --> 01:10.900
But not us, we have our own special place
01:10.900 --> 01:15.773
that we go to where no man has ever been.
01:18.959 --> 01:20.200
- The women\'s bathroom is a phenomenon.
01:20.200 --> 01:25.060
You have no idea the scope of
what goes on in that bathroom.
01:25.060 --> 01:26.370
- It\'s a big mystery to most people
01:26.370 --> 01:27.350
because they keep wondering
01:27.350 --> 01:29.370
why are all these women coming in here?
01:29.370 --> 01:31.900
It\'s this black hole almost.
01:31.900 --> 01:32.890
It\'s like, they seem to go in
01:32.890 --> 01:34.710
and they don\'t seem to come out.
01:34.710 --> 01:37.120
And it\'s not that they don\'t come out.
01:37.120 --> 01:39.870
It\'s just, they come out
looking like different people.
01:42.600 --> 01:44.330
- It\'s it\'s like, I\'ve secretly clubhouse.
01:44.330 --> 01:45.894
That\'s what I think it is.
01:45.894 --> 01:47.650
- This is what we do in the morning.
01:47.650 --> 01:49.070
We have a cup of coffee
01:49.070 --> 01:51.700
and I used to always
call up the transformer
01:51.700 --> 01:54.785
because we walk in there,
looking like pure (beep),
01:54.785 --> 01:58.813
and walking out looking like a rad girl.
02:01.330 --> 02:02.480
- Let me see them both.
02:04.300 --> 02:05.393
- I\'m 29 years old.
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I have a husband.
02:08.220 --> 02:09.980
I have four children.
02:09.980 --> 02:12.519
I work in finance or
public relations firm.
02:12.519 --> 02:16.670
I\'ve been getting on the ferry,
since I was 14 years old.
02:16.670 --> 02:20.710
I started going into the
ladies bathroom five years ago.
02:20.710 --> 02:22.250
It took me a couple of times.
02:22.250 --> 02:24.227
And it was a riot in there.
02:24.227 --> 02:25.730
It was a riot.
02:25.730 --> 02:29.210
And once you build that
momentum of all of the energy
02:29.210 --> 02:31.000
like a synergy that happens in there.
02:31.000 --> 02:35.303
It\'s unlike any other place
that I\'ve ever been in.
02:41.160 --> 02:43.150
- I grew up right on
the water in Bay Ridge.
02:43.150 --> 02:44.170
So bringing up the water
02:44.170 --> 02:46.313
and hearing the ferry
go off in the mornings
02:46.313 --> 02:49.080
when I\'m up very early and
everything is really silent.
02:49.080 --> 02:51.440
I\'ll know what time it
is by the ferry signal.
02:51.440 --> 02:53.840
If it\'s the half hour or the hour.
02:53.840 --> 02:56.820
So it\'s really, it\'s a comfort.
02:56.820 --> 02:59.400
- I was born and raised in Brooklyn.
02:59.400 --> 03:02.300
My husband and I moved to
Staten Island five years ago.
03:02.300 --> 03:05.140
Two things I really love
about living in Staten Island
03:05.140 --> 03:06.409
is I love my house
03:06.409 --> 03:09.703
and I love coming on
the ferry twice a day.
03:12.870 --> 03:14.170
- I didn\'t start wearing makeup
03:14.170 --> 03:17.030
up until like two years
ago, like makeup, makeup.
03:17.030 --> 03:19.980
I never wore makeup, I
couldn\'t be bothered.
03:19.980 --> 03:23.760
Then three kids, and a
house still looking haggard.
03:23.760 --> 03:26.000
People start asking you, are you tired?
03:26.000 --> 03:26.833
Do you feel alright?
03:26.833 --> 03:29.220
Then you know it\'s time to wear makeup.
03:29.220 --> 03:32.370
Before it was the blush, the
lipstick, a little mascara.
03:32.370 --> 03:34.120
No, yeah, you know, it\'s full face.
03:36.845 --> 03:40.436
- If it\'d been me, it
been like excuse me. Bye.
03:40.436 --> 03:41.269
(laughter)
03:41.269 --> 03:43.730
- I come in with my loud self, you know
03:43.730 --> 03:46.653
bringing out the true
personality in people.
03:48.140 --> 03:50.044
I actually came to Staten Island
03:50.044 --> 03:53.140
through a battered woman\'s shelter.
03:53.140 --> 03:55.342
Okay. I was a battered woman.
03:55.342 --> 03:57.140
No, you know, you wouldn\'t think that
03:57.140 --> 04:00.590
the way I looked now. All
sexy, and foxy and energetic.
04:00.590 --> 04:03.120
I was a very depressed person back then
04:03.120 --> 04:07.143
which that was about nine
years ago. No, 11 years ago.
04:08.870 --> 04:10.654
I started working the hand,
04:10.654 --> 04:13.573
and I started going in
the women\'s bathroom.
04:14.598 --> 04:17.600
And, it\'s just been a part
of my life ever since.
04:17.600 --> 04:19.800
I\'m a survivor and that\'s, that\'s,
04:19.800 --> 04:21.170
that\'s the end of the story.
04:21.170 --> 04:23.330
And my personality is going
to get me through anything.
04:23.330 --> 04:24.900
I can get through an earthquake.
04:24.900 --> 04:26.643
Okay. With wax shoes on.
04:30.030 --> 04:31.180
- Big brown brush.
04:31.180 --> 04:32.040
Funny a long time ago,
04:32.040 --> 04:34.163
I said I want to be the next Donna Karen.
04:36.250 --> 04:37.823
And then reality struck.
04:41.730 --> 04:43.680
For eight years I was working two jobs.
04:43.680 --> 04:45.440
I was working night and day.
04:45.440 --> 04:48.020
My husband he\'s been at
school this whole time.
04:48.020 --> 04:50.270
Yes. I\'ve been ready to
kill him late lately.
04:53.880 --> 04:55.450
I went from the benches to in here
04:55.450 --> 04:57.920
because I couldn\'t take
the people staring at me.
04:57.920 --> 05:01.070
And back then, a lot of men rode the boat.
05:01.070 --> 05:02.920
There\'s a lot more women working now.
05:04.190 --> 05:07.920
- I\'ve been taking the ferry
as long as I can remember.
05:07.920 --> 05:09.880
I\'m a student, I\'m a mother.
05:09.880 --> 05:10.810
I have three children.
05:10.810 --> 05:12.100
I\'m a wife.
05:12.100 --> 05:16.666
I\'m a full-time socio therapist
for a foster care agency.
05:16.666 --> 05:21.049
I\'m a lot of things to a
lot of different people.
05:21.049 --> 05:25.270
When you ask them, who am I to me?
05:25.270 --> 05:28.443
I\'m finding that out every day.
05:29.632 --> 05:32.382
(birds chirping)
05:34.920 --> 05:37.303
- Well, my alarm rings
technically at 5:30.
05:39.150 --> 05:41.540
I don\'t get out of bed until maybe 6:15
05:42.530 --> 05:45.720
- Five o\'clock my alarm goes off by 5:30.
05:45.720 --> 05:48.020
I already have a wake up call.
05:48.020 --> 05:49.860
One of my best friends calls me
05:49.860 --> 05:51.460
and wakes me up every morning.
05:51.460 --> 05:54.390
You up? I\'m up. Get out of bed.
05:54.390 --> 05:55.223
I\'m a bad hanger.
05:55.223 --> 05:57.330
- My morning routine is.
05:57.330 --> 05:59.080
Number one, rolling over
05:59.080 --> 06:01.304
and thanking God, I woke up this morning.
06:01.304 --> 06:03.596
(alarm sounding)
06:03.596 --> 06:06.491
- I hit the snooze for like two
or three times. Love snooze.
06:06.491 --> 06:09.393
Snooze was like the best
invention there ever was.
06:10.300 --> 06:12.830
- It\'s very important
not to turn on the light.
06:12.830 --> 06:14.130
When you get back out of the shower
06:14.130 --> 06:16.670
that you can get dressed
by the light in the hallway
06:16.670 --> 06:19.233
because your husband is
not ready to get up yet.
06:21.380 --> 06:24.110
- So when I wake up, I
by immediately come down
06:24.110 --> 06:26.023
and have four cups of coffee.
06:27.070 --> 06:28.513
- It\'s one kid at a time.
06:31.515 --> 06:33.170
You know, and you got to kiss your kids,
06:33.170 --> 06:35.400
so you have boogers on your shirt.
06:35.400 --> 06:37.830
Everybody packs up their
school bags with their lunches.
06:37.830 --> 06:40.020
And then I dropped them at the sitter.
06:40.020 --> 06:42.020
Yelling, screaming, and throwing (beep).
06:42.020 --> 06:44.323
It\'s is a regular black mom syndrome.
06:48.500 --> 06:49.840
- In the meantime, my husband is like
06:49.840 --> 06:51.350
Irma I\'ll be downstairs.
06:51.350 --> 06:53.560
I\'m like, okay, I\'ll be there in a minute.
06:53.560 --> 06:55.240
15 minutes later,
06:55.240 --> 06:57.660
I manage to pick out
something clean to wear.
06:57.660 --> 06:59.560
It sort of matches.
06:59.560 --> 07:00.650
- I\'ve been known to get in the car
07:00.650 --> 07:02.800
with my slipper because you
don\'t get yourself together,
07:02.800 --> 07:04.250
you get your family together.
07:16.790 --> 07:18.440
I\'m always running for the ferry.
07:20.140 --> 07:22.230
I don\'t care what time
I leave for the ferry.
07:22.230 --> 07:24.397
I always get it when the doors are closing
07:24.397 --> 07:28.906
and a famous noise is beep,
beep, you hear that sound
07:28.906 --> 07:31.637
and you going to be a jogger.
07:33.637 --> 07:36.054
(ferry horn)
07:39.486 --> 07:42.569
(seagulls squawking)
07:45.670 --> 07:47.410
- I go to the powder room to talk
07:47.410 --> 07:49.770
to women that I wouldn\'t be able to talk
07:49.770 --> 07:52.492
to regularly because we\'re all so busy.
07:52.492 --> 07:54.000
And we get to share ideas
07:54.000 --> 07:56.540
share our feelings about life, work, love
07:56.540 --> 07:57.580
and everything else.
07:57.580 --> 07:58.680
- Get to know one another,
07:58.680 --> 08:00.400
and we learn a lot from one another.
08:00.400 --> 08:03.140
And, we share makeup and we share tips
08:03.140 --> 08:05.294
and we share how to
get rid of no good men,
08:05.294 --> 08:08.223
and we share how to a
beat, other women up.
08:11.685 --> 08:13.022
In the powder room.
08:13.022 --> 08:14.060
- In the powder room.
08:14.060 --> 08:16.140
- And we learn how to get
good deals on a house.
08:16.140 --> 08:16.973
- Yes.
08:16.973 --> 08:19.750
- Oh did you just get your
deck, who did you use? You know.
08:19.750 --> 08:22.680
- We get caught up in jobs and families,
08:22.680 --> 08:25.487
and homes and gardening and husbands.
08:25.487 --> 08:26.737
- You talk about everything.
08:26.737 --> 08:29.760
I mean we get deep, deep into it.
08:29.760 --> 08:31.500
- Vacation spots. Where you been? Oh yeah?
08:31.500 --> 08:32.383
- Secret spots.
08:33.240 --> 08:34.620
- I\'m sure if I wasn\'t so tall,
08:34.620 --> 08:36.450
- We talk about sex most of the time.
08:36.450 --> 08:40.443
- And that 30 minutes. Is you and girls.
08:41.545 --> 08:44.295
(women chatting)
08:47.801 --> 08:48.900
- I had never wanted to be a part
08:48.900 --> 08:50.630
of a click in my life, but I think I am.
08:50.630 --> 08:53.393
Oh, it\'s so ridiculous, honey.
08:53.393 --> 08:55.517
But, I\'m a part of the ferry click.
08:55.517 --> 08:57.010
(women chatting)
08:57.010 --> 08:58.600
- They was very snotty to me.
08:58.600 --> 09:00.200
They was very withdrawn.
09:00.200 --> 09:01.710
You know? Cause I\'m from
Brooklyn originally.
09:01.710 --> 09:03.770
Brooklyn girls were straight up.
09:03.770 --> 09:05.620
Whatever we feel,
whatever we want to wear,
09:05.620 --> 09:06.453
we going to wear it.
09:06.453 --> 09:08.790
And we just make, we\'re statement women.
09:08.790 --> 09:12.965
Staten Island girls is more
like, I\'m pearls and champagne
09:12.965 --> 09:15.030
and blase, blase, you now,
09:15.030 --> 09:17.641
it was like this fake fantasy world.
09:17.641 --> 09:20.333
And I\'m like that (beep) ain\'t true.
09:20.333 --> 09:23.003
- I have seen people shunned
from the conversation,
09:23.003 --> 09:24.270
of kind of like, you know,
09:24.270 --> 09:26.240
like what are you doing joining in?
09:26.240 --> 09:27.840
Like, who are you?
09:27.840 --> 09:29.430
Like, I don\'t know you.
09:29.430 --> 09:31.090
- When I first came in here, it was so bad
09:31.090 --> 09:32.550
that you couldn\'t even
get to the front mirror
09:32.550 --> 09:34.483
that they had the whole line locked.
09:35.530 --> 09:38.850
There was a lot of big,
big head dogs up in here.
09:38.850 --> 09:40.130
You know, that was all friends.
09:40.130 --> 09:42.080
They was all like a little country club.
09:42.080 --> 09:46.240
Every morning these same girls
was in the same exact spots.
09:46.240 --> 09:48.203
And you could not break that line.
09:49.180 --> 09:53.863
So, you know me. I broke the line.
09:55.240 --> 09:56.890
- It\'s like a lot of the
women that I\'m friendly with
09:56.890 --> 09:58.699
it\'s because I know someone else,
09:58.699 --> 10:01.750
and I\'ve been introduced.
10:01.750 --> 10:04.820
And you know, I slowly
have been assimilated
10:04.820 --> 10:06.903
into the group, you know?
10:07.960 --> 10:10.223
- Cause I\'ve been riding the
boat for like 10 years now.
10:17.334 --> 10:19.400
- You don\'t have to wait,
10:19.400 --> 10:21.660
or know anyone to participate,
10:21.660 --> 10:24.120
you just have the balls to engage
10:24.120 --> 10:26.813
one of us who, who is
having the conversation.
10:26.813 --> 10:28.933
Once you engage one of us, it\'s on.
10:30.634 --> 10:31.750
- We would always need
something, you know?
10:31.750 --> 10:33.380
And I think I met Valerie
10:33.380 --> 10:36.410
by helping her out one day,
with her, dress herself.
10:36.410 --> 10:39.565
Like, I think her impression
of me was probably
10:39.565 --> 10:42.730
a lot different than when I
what I turned out to be for her.
10:42.730 --> 10:45.592
- I though she was the
corniest girl I ever saw.
10:45.592 --> 10:47.240
- She was stressing and
it wasn\'t fitting right.
10:47.240 --> 10:49.000
I\'m like here, come here,
come here, let me fix it.
10:49.000 --> 10:51.760
- The back of the suit had
a click on it and it broke.
10:51.760 --> 10:53.250
So it killed the whole suit.
10:53.250 --> 10:55.972
She took some safety pin. Now
I didn\'t even know this chick.
10:55.972 --> 10:58.430
Number one, she was white. Right?
10:58.430 --> 10:59.965
So she sitting and looking at me like
10:59.965 --> 11:01.771
I want to ask you, can I help you?
11:01.771 --> 11:04.363
And I\'m like, sure. Give me your help.
11:08.630 --> 11:10.580
I appreciate you with doing that,
11:10.580 --> 11:11.940
cause it took a lot of courage
11:11.940 --> 11:13.743
with my big myself to approach me.
11:18.410 --> 11:20.040
- Every now and then,
11:20.040 --> 11:22.050
is somebody that doesn\'t know the rules.
11:22.050 --> 11:23.250
- Those are my favorites.
11:23.250 --> 11:25.720
The ones who are the virgin ferry riders.
11:25.720 --> 11:28.563
Yeah. We want to pop
those cherries real quick.
11:30.070 --> 11:32.330
- The first rule is don\'t come in here,
11:32.330 --> 11:37.051
looking busted, than you
should be. Number one, okay.
11:37.051 --> 11:40.352
The second rule is you
don\'t use the toilet here.
11:40.352 --> 11:42.130
It\'s just for show.
11:42.130 --> 11:44.973
- I\'ve never seen anything
confrontational in four years.
11:44.973 --> 11:45.960
- No fights?
11:45.960 --> 11:46.793
- Never.
11:46.793 --> 11:47.902
- Yeah, I have actually.
11:47.902 --> 11:48.735
- Oh really?
11:48.735 --> 11:49.568
- Oh yeah.
11:49.568 --> 11:51.410
Yeah, this one girl spilled
hot coffee on this other chick
11:51.410 --> 11:52.620
and they got in an all out roll.
11:52.620 --> 11:55.124
We had to the police in
there. Oh it was fabulous.
11:55.124 --> 11:55.957
- Yeah, they fight.
11:55.957 --> 11:56.990
- I almost got arrested once.
11:56.990 --> 11:58.150
- What happened to you girl?
11:58.150 --> 11:59.570
- Because someone stole my seat.
11:59.570 --> 12:01.512
We have our own spot.
12:01.512 --> 12:03.993
Everyone knows you don\'t step in this spot
12:03.993 --> 12:05.280
because it is Diana\'s spot.
12:05.280 --> 12:07.076
And that\'s her piece of the mirror rights.
12:07.076 --> 12:10.040
And Carolyn always gets
a seat. That\'s the rule.
12:10.040 --> 12:12.090
- There\'s a bit of a pecking order. Yeah.
12:20.850 --> 12:23.560
- Doing your homework in
here is not a good idea.
12:23.560 --> 12:27.210
Eating your breakfast is not a good idea.
12:27.210 --> 12:29.303
You do not sit there and read a book.
12:30.410 --> 12:32.430
You do not sit there and
stare at other people.
12:32.430 --> 12:34.130
It\'s like an unwritten
rule that you can\'t come
12:34.130 --> 12:35.410
to the powder room with no makeup.
12:35.410 --> 12:38.850
It\'s just not done. So, I have these.
12:38.850 --> 12:41.910
- The biggest rule of all
don\'t, don\'t hold seats.
12:41.910 --> 12:44.710
I learned that myself being
a new girl on the boat.
12:44.710 --> 12:48.410
- Oh, saving seats. We heard about that?
12:48.410 --> 12:49.243
Heard about Valerie?
12:49.243 --> 12:50.320
- I had somebody hold a seat,
12:50.320 --> 12:51.640
and it was a big commotion over that.
12:51.640 --> 12:53.600
- She was saving and holding and holding.
12:53.600 --> 12:56.090
I could have been done with my makeup.
12:56.090 --> 12:58.963
I could have been like sat
down and done and gone.
13:02.730 --> 13:05.320
And you always have that
one person that just,
13:05.320 --> 13:07.792
I don\'t know, it\'s like
they have blinders on.
13:07.792 --> 13:10.910
And they don\'t see the chaos
around them that, you know
13:10.910 --> 13:12.350
they\'re getting pushed and shoved.
13:12.350 --> 13:15.473
And it just kind of look at
you like, yeah, I\'m not moving.
13:19.130 --> 13:22.217
- Yes. And eventually it does get up.
13:29.700 --> 13:31.330
- Just be a lady.
13:31.330 --> 13:32.163
That\'s it
13:35.040 --> 13:37.080
- Just abide by the rules.
13:37.080 --> 13:39.580
And every morning you\'ll
have a beautiful commute.
13:41.233 --> 13:43.816
(upbeat music)
13:53.464 --> 13:54.790
- The ferry is my transition period.
13:54.790 --> 13:57.120
It gets me from work,
13:57.120 --> 14:00.220
to motherhood, wife
14:00.220 --> 14:02.460
and from wife, motherhood, to work.
14:02.460 --> 14:04.580
And in between them I am Camila Hanks
14:04.580 --> 14:07.258
born September 4th, 1972, uncut.
14:07.258 --> 14:08.550
This is who I am.
14:08.550 --> 14:10.750
I am not, Mrs.
14:10.750 --> 14:11.920
I\'m not mommy.
14:11.920 --> 14:13.584
I\'m not Mrs. Hanks from,
14:13.584 --> 14:16.403
can you give me this RHD report?
14:18.330 --> 14:20.193
You, know, and, this is where is.
14:21.400 --> 14:23.233
And behind that we put on makeup.
14:24.291 --> 14:26.791
(urban music)
14:33.148 --> 14:35.460
- Makeup can be a real business, you know?
14:35.460 --> 14:37.820
And they come in with such
a narrow business about them
14:37.820 --> 14:40.133
with these big bags of makeup with them.
14:40.133 --> 14:41.530
And then you can, you can tell this,
14:41.530 --> 14:43.560
this woman\'s going into
something with that makeup.
14:43.560 --> 14:45.560
What is she going to do?
14:45.560 --> 14:47.550
- Sometimes I\'ll just watch
somebody put on makeup.
14:47.550 --> 14:49.430
How do they do that?
14:49.430 --> 14:51.346
I can\'t put on eyeliner like that.
14:51.346 --> 14:53.350
And I have a steady hand.
14:53.350 --> 14:54.183
But, wow.
14:56.030 --> 14:58.060
- Get in here and fix up the grill
14:58.060 --> 15:00.900
and get out there and
make it look like a face.
15:00.900 --> 15:02.493
I believe that\'s what it is.
15:09.640 --> 15:11.830
- They size you up and down.
15:11.830 --> 15:12.860
They check you out.
15:12.860 --> 15:14.190
First, their checking out the shoes,
15:14.190 --> 15:16.420
the makeup, and then
their checking out you.
15:16.420 --> 15:19.500
- Who got the better
job? Who kids look cute?
15:19.500 --> 15:20.760
Who husband looks better?
15:20.760 --> 15:23.190
- In a lot of ways the ferry
keeping up with the Joneses.
15:23.190 --> 15:25.480
These girls get on, and
one girl has Gucci shoes on
15:25.480 --> 15:27.510
so, you know, the next one
has to go out and buy them
15:27.510 --> 15:30.575
because she\'s flaunting them
and she\'s doing her own thing.
15:30.575 --> 15:32.420
You know, even though she
didn\'t pay her rent that month
15:32.420 --> 15:33.486
because she\'s got shoes on.
15:33.486 --> 15:35.090
And that\'s the thing about the ferry.
15:35.090 --> 15:38.010
You can be that flied wonderful women.
15:38.010 --> 15:40.090
- But it\'s all an act it\'s part of living
15:41.490 --> 15:42.510
- Just because somebody has
15:42.510 --> 15:44.500
a Louis Vuitton bag
doesn\'t mean they\'re rich.
15:44.500 --> 15:46.577
- As women, we are so caddy,
15:46.577 --> 15:48.119
that we don\'t realize,
15:48.119 --> 15:50.840
that we\'re so insecure with one another.
15:50.840 --> 15:53.580
Like one of them may be
like, well, you know,
15:53.580 --> 15:55.530
I\'m married, I have a bunch of kids.
15:55.530 --> 15:57.410
Or one may be like, I\'m not married.
15:57.410 --> 15:58.750
But the common thread is that,
15:58.750 --> 16:00.919
that person wants the kids that you have.
16:00.919 --> 16:03.669
(women chatting)
16:06.864 --> 16:08.760
- I think a lot of people
may not be comfortable
16:08.760 --> 16:10.250
with their stations in life.
16:10.250 --> 16:14.900
And so they use the powder room
16:14.900 --> 16:18.840
as a place to find their way about things.
16:18.840 --> 16:20.650
- I remember something
that Camilla had said
16:20.650 --> 16:23.830
about coming in here and
putting our faces on.
16:23.830 --> 16:26.584
And kind of like a
protective barrier against,
16:26.584 --> 16:29.320
against the world.
16:29.320 --> 16:30.210
And I started thinking about it.
16:30.210 --> 16:33.020
I\'m like, you know, that was
my way of dealing with my life.
16:33.020 --> 16:34.620
The chaos in my life
16:36.500 --> 16:39.630
- My life is so crazy
16:39.630 --> 16:42.660
that when I get on the boat
16:42.660 --> 16:46.870
I just laugh about everything
and make fun of myself.
16:46.870 --> 16:50.710
And can you believe, but maybe
I don\'t feel that way inside
16:55.870 --> 16:57.610
But you do have women in
there that are very quiet,
16:57.610 --> 16:59.560
and they put their makeup on
and they stay there all day.
16:59.560 --> 17:00.393
They just want to listen.
17:00.393 --> 17:02.170
I think it\'s hysterical, you know
17:02.170 --> 17:06.338
and that\'s a very different
need, you know, the Voya need.
17:06.338 --> 17:09.010
(laughs)
17:09.010 --> 17:11.440
- I just, this may sound like a jerk,
17:11.440 --> 17:13.240
but I, I really do love people.
17:13.240 --> 17:14.573
I love to watch them.
17:15.660 --> 17:17.760
- See, I knew Elizabeth, you know
17:17.760 --> 17:20.850
and I would always say things
and say really raunchy things
17:20.850 --> 17:22.810
and look at her face to
see what she\'s excited.
17:22.810 --> 17:23.643
I knew she was listening.
17:23.643 --> 17:24.680
And that\'s one great
thing about the mirror
17:24.680 --> 17:26.100
because you can look from here
17:26.100 --> 17:28.960
and bounce off and you see them.
17:28.960 --> 17:31.450
So I\'m looking at her and you
know, I\'ll smile, I\'ll wink.
17:31.450 --> 17:32.800
And you know, and it\'s the show.
17:32.800 --> 17:35.300
It\'s the all in the, in the presentation.
17:35.300 --> 17:38.220
And feel like, oh my
God, I was on the boat
17:38.220 --> 17:40.200
with these women, and
you should have heard
17:40.200 --> 17:42.755
what they was saying. It was so horrible.
17:42.755 --> 17:47.401
But they come back, they
come back for the 8:15 show.
17:47.401 --> 17:52.401
♪ Good morning to ya. I
hope get to see you again. ♪
17:54.440 --> 17:58.030
- To upset these women in the powder room
17:58.030 --> 18:00.410
is to wake up the sleeping dragon.
18:00.410 --> 18:03.650
- No. She was married to,
18:03.650 --> 18:04.483
- Who?
18:04.483 --> 18:05.600
- Her new husband.
18:05.600 --> 18:06.433
- Who?
18:06.433 --> 18:08.900
- The one that lives with her.
18:08.900 --> 18:10.447
- Oh I can\'t take it.
18:10.447 --> 18:13.600
- It\'s a soap opera in
the bathroom, sometimes.
18:13.600 --> 18:16.350
(women chatting)
18:18.350 --> 18:21.170
- We all knew that her
husband had had an affair.
18:21.170 --> 18:24.489
We all knew that the other one had a child
18:24.489 --> 18:26.113
out of wedlock by a man,
18:26.113 --> 18:29.350
well, she started saying it
was her husband too, later.
18:29.350 --> 18:31.100
And, this kind of thing.
18:31.100 --> 18:33.330
We never knew that that was the same man
18:33.330 --> 18:35.200
that they both been talking about.
18:35.200 --> 18:37.517
The story where, the unmentionables,
18:37.517 --> 18:40.130
was that we all was friends.
18:40.130 --> 18:42.000
- When I saw both of them in the boat.
18:42.000 --> 18:45.010
And like the girlfriend,
the lover was in the front,
18:45.010 --> 18:47.296
and then the wife was like, in the back
18:47.296 --> 18:50.270
and they didn\'t look at each other.
18:50.270 --> 18:52.460
- These two women rode
the boat every morning
18:52.460 --> 18:55.280
almost together knowing what
was going on in their lives,
18:55.280 --> 18:56.830
fighting over this one man.
18:56.830 --> 18:58.560
And ain\'t never said nothing.
18:58.560 --> 19:00.120
They never had any discrepancy.
19:00.120 --> 19:02.090
They were, I got to give it to you two.
19:02.090 --> 19:02.923
You know who you are.
19:02.923 --> 19:04.470
Y\'all was classy as (beep).
19:04.470 --> 19:06.140
- I was speechless.
19:06.140 --> 19:07.260
- They was surprising,
19:07.260 --> 19:08.093
because this one particular black girl
19:08.093 --> 19:10.463
that, that got involved with it,
19:12.338 --> 19:15.600
she was very, very looked up to
19:15.600 --> 19:18.670
for her style, her class, her physique.
19:18.670 --> 19:23.670
The way she carried herself,
she was just a real, real lady.
19:23.670 --> 19:28.670
And to find out that she
was just a skanking ho to me
19:28.730 --> 19:30.650
because you don\'t break up a happy,
19:30.650 --> 19:32.650
you don\'t break up a family like that.
19:32.650 --> 19:33.670
You know what I\'m saying?
19:33.670 --> 19:35.790
You know, I mean, how do you
sit with this girl, you know
19:35.790 --> 19:38.400
that you slept with her
husband and had a baby for him.
19:38.400 --> 19:40.290
- It\'s caused a lot of
controversy on the boat
19:40.290 --> 19:43.130
because there\'s been two
different schools of thought.
19:43.130 --> 19:45.259
Some people want us to support her
19:45.259 --> 19:47.170
whole heartedly, regardless.
19:47.170 --> 19:49.040
And other people want
us to support the wife
19:49.040 --> 19:52.020
and other people, others
want to stay on the fence.
19:52.020 --> 19:54.220
- I think everybody didn\'t
want to betray that one
19:54.220 --> 19:56.780
the black girl, because
they felt like, you know
19:56.780 --> 19:59.758
we have to stick up for her, you know?
19:59.758 --> 20:00.610
And so what her husband
20:00.610 --> 20:03.620
cause the Caucasian
girl, husband is black.
20:03.620 --> 20:05.300
So, and I\'m thinking a little bit of bad
20:05.300 --> 20:06.133
came out in these girls like,
20:06.133 --> 20:09.430
well her husband\'s black and she\'s white.
20:09.430 --> 20:10.820
And blase, blase.
20:10.820 --> 20:12.480
And you know, every black man
20:12.480 --> 20:14.140
goes back to a good black woman.
20:14.140 --> 20:16.540
And that\'s, that\'s what it was.
20:16.540 --> 20:18.160
That was the energy of it.
20:18.160 --> 20:20.410
But they took to the white girl\'s side
20:20.410 --> 20:22.990
and they went against the black girl.
20:22.990 --> 20:25.371
- I confronted the person
about it because I felt, I said
20:25.371 --> 20:27.200
I said, you\'ve been lying to us.
20:27.200 --> 20:28.166
I said, you\'ve been telling
us, you have this husband
20:28.166 --> 20:33.166
and, and this kid and this
relationship, but it\'s not true
20:33.280 --> 20:35.290
- When she started her
lie, it ended her lie
20:35.290 --> 20:36.303
on this bathroom.
20:37.257 --> 20:39.840
(upbeat music)
20:49.800 --> 20:51.050
- Race exists everywhere.
20:52.060 --> 20:53.233
Make no mistake.
20:54.120 --> 20:59.120
However, what we think
about that race has changed.
21:00.670 --> 21:03.423
- Majority of my
girlfriends are Caucasian,
21:04.320 --> 21:06.100
white girls in the powder room.
21:06.100 --> 21:06.933
And let me tell you something,
21:06.933 --> 21:09.140
these is the most downest, chillest
21:09.140 --> 21:11.563
white girls I\'ve ever met. Okay.
21:11.563 --> 21:14.493
- It\'s just personalities.
21:14.493 --> 21:16.130
I think I don\'t even think it\'s race.
21:16.130 --> 21:17.490
I think it\'s personalities.
21:17.490 --> 21:20.360
- We\'ve realized through Justine,
that white girls do fight
21:20.360 --> 21:22.107
and they will get all up in your (beep).
21:22.107 --> 21:25.172
And they\'re not going to
look at you like, you know
21:25.172 --> 21:26.770
just because you\'re black
21:26.770 --> 21:29.164
that you have any certain
type of power over them.
21:29.164 --> 21:30.850
You know, that was interesting.
21:30.850 --> 21:32.170
I was like touche, go girl.
21:32.170 --> 21:34.372
- Justine. I had a problem with her.
21:34.372 --> 21:37.073
I had a problem with
Justine when I first came in
21:37.073 --> 21:40.924
because I figured she
was this Caucasian girl
21:40.924 --> 21:43.540
but she just was really, really loud.
21:43.540 --> 21:46.363
- I thought she was loud,
obnoxious, out of control,
21:47.950 --> 21:51.130
you know, and full of hot air. (laughs)
21:51.130 --> 21:53.959
- I mean, she came in
here like, what is this?
21:53.959 --> 21:55.760
And move your stuff.
21:55.760 --> 21:58.060
And I mean, and I\'m sitting there like,
21:58.060 --> 21:59.670
oh, she don\'t know me like that.
21:59.670 --> 22:01.380
You know, don\'t touch my stuff.
22:01.380 --> 22:03.560
- With the big attitude.
I mean, she\'s a big girl,
22:03.560 --> 22:04.600
but she had a big attitude.
22:04.600 --> 22:07.050
- If somebody is louder than
me, I got to shut them down.
22:07.050 --> 22:08.060
- We had words.
22:08.060 --> 22:11.140
- Our personalities was
just too alike to get along.
22:11.140 --> 22:14.010
But one day nobody was
in here, but me and her
22:14.010 --> 22:16.810
we actually broke ground and
we talked and she was like
22:16.810 --> 22:17.643
I know you don\'t like me.
22:17.643 --> 22:19.240
I was like, no, I really didn\'t.
22:19.240 --> 22:20.740
And she was like, well, I
don\'t really like you either.
22:20.740 --> 22:22.720
She was like, but I like your opinions
22:22.720 --> 22:23.777
and the way, what you stand for.
22:23.777 --> 22:25.840
You know, we started talking, you know
22:25.840 --> 22:28.789
and that was the first time
we ever had a conversation.
22:28.789 --> 22:30.650
- When I first seen
Justine, I ain\'t gonna lie,
22:30.650 --> 22:32.200
she was the type that she was like,
22:32.200 --> 22:35.310
my first husband, I\'m
gonna divorce that (beep).
22:35.310 --> 22:39.450
And she was just, all, she
would say awful things.
22:39.450 --> 22:41.824
She\'s a mean little (beep).
22:41.824 --> 22:43.274
- I think it\'s a comfort that
22:45.770 --> 22:50.430
you know if what you say
is going to stay there
22:50.430 --> 22:53.790
within those, that circle,
with that group of people.
22:53.790 --> 22:56.290
(urban music)
23:15.556 --> 23:17.700
- But every man wants to take a peep
23:17.700 --> 23:20.043
in the powder room.
23:20.043 --> 23:24.887
- Some of them get very
daring and come in.
23:24.887 --> 23:26.390
- And we, oh they,
23:26.390 --> 23:27.223
- They run away.
23:27.223 --> 23:28.130
- Well some people came and started
23:28.130 --> 23:29.410
taking pictures of us, and ran.
23:29.410 --> 23:30.243
Remember that?
23:30.243 --> 23:32.020
And of course, everybody threw down
23:32.020 --> 23:35.110
their Louie Vuitton, and
ran after that (beep).
23:35.110 --> 23:37.190
But we couldn\'t catch him.
23:37.190 --> 23:39.280
- I think they\'re in,
like awe of this room.
23:39.280 --> 23:41.093
I think they\'re afraid of this room.
23:41.927 --> 23:46.820
I know my husband is kind of like curious.
23:46.820 --> 23:49.540
He wants to know exactly what\'s going on.
23:49.540 --> 23:50.790
- He takes an earlier than me,
23:50.790 --> 23:52.310
though whenever I come
23:52.310 --> 23:53.143
because he\'s on the 7:30.
23:53.143 --> 23:56.333
So luckily we don\'t have to
take the boat over together.
23:56.333 --> 23:58.680
- Men don\'t understand, at all.
23:58.680 --> 23:59.760
Your husbands don\'t understand.
23:59.760 --> 24:01.433
And actually the less you tell them
24:01.433 --> 24:02.740
about what goes on in the
bathroom, the better, because
24:02.740 --> 24:04.010
- They\'ll think you gossip all the time.
24:04.010 --> 24:05.543
- it\'s not even that
they think you gossip,
24:05.543 --> 24:06.647
it\'s our freedom.
24:06.647 --> 24:08.770
(whistling)
24:08.770 --> 24:09.620
- [Boat Captain] Could be anything,
24:09.620 --> 24:11.000
nothing would surprise me,
24:11.000 --> 24:12.670
what would go on in there.
24:12.670 --> 24:14.140
I would say the woman\'s room is
24:14.140 --> 24:16.280
in the heart of the
ferry and it\'s the center
24:16.280 --> 24:18.601
and the largest cabin and the Sloan deck.
24:18.601 --> 24:19.434
It has two doors to it,
24:19.434 --> 24:23.442
one on the port side and
one on the starboard side.
24:23.442 --> 24:26.960
So, occasionally a woman who will come
24:26.960 --> 24:30.170
on with a her date for the day,
24:30.170 --> 24:32.817
or something like that, which
she\'s not satisfied with,
24:32.817 --> 24:35.740
and she wants to leave
him or disappear from him.
24:35.740 --> 24:37.170
She would tell him I\'m going
24:37.170 --> 24:40.460
to the powder room and
she\'ll enter one door,
24:40.460 --> 24:43.203
and she would go in, while
he was waiting on that side.
24:43.203 --> 24:47.340
She exits on the other side
and disappears in the crowd.
24:47.340 --> 24:49.168
So that that\'s happened a couple of times.
24:49.168 --> 24:51.668
(blues music)
24:57.020 --> 24:59.780
- Successful women have a hard time
24:59.780 --> 25:00.960
making that transition.
25:00.960 --> 25:02.960
It\'s very difficult to
be a successful woman,
25:02.960 --> 25:05.250
who\'s got it going on and going home,
25:05.250 --> 25:08.880
and dealing with man
who is also successful.
25:08.880 --> 25:12.980
But you\'re still a woman, kind of thing.
25:12.980 --> 25:15.873
It\'s still, you know, the
baby\'s crying. He looks at you.
25:17.293 --> 25:19.976
Now, we both had it, the
baby, you know what I mean?
25:19.976 --> 25:22.909
The two of us, sperm, egg, we had sex.
25:22.909 --> 25:24.950
Baby cries, he looks at you.
25:24.950 --> 25:26.490
- I am a full-time mother.
25:26.490 --> 25:28.931
I\'m a full-time, I\'m a full-time wife.
25:28.931 --> 25:33.480
And I cook and I clean and
I satisfy my man, you know
25:33.480 --> 25:34.910
and he satisfies me.
25:34.910 --> 25:36.390
And if he doesn\'t, I\'m gonna let him know,
25:36.390 --> 25:38.156
and if I don\'t, he\'s gonna let me know.
25:38.156 --> 25:39.456
But for the most part, it\'s evident,
25:39.456 --> 25:41.057
that I haven\'t had that problem.
25:41.057 --> 25:41.890
- And that\'s the chapter of our meeting.
25:41.890 --> 25:43.073
- The majority of the women
25:43.073 --> 25:46.117
that I see in here are working mothers.
25:46.117 --> 25:46.950
And when you work,
25:46.950 --> 25:49.113
and you have children,
it\'s very stressful.
25:50.050 --> 25:52.000
Mornings for me are very stressful.
25:52.000 --> 25:54.320
So it\'s like if you come in here,
25:54.320 --> 25:55.450
everybody\'s venting.
25:55.450 --> 25:56.849
- My son\'s in second grade.
25:56.849 --> 25:58.893
He got suspended.
26:00.627 --> 26:01.881
- Did you whoop his (beep)?
26:01.881 --> 26:05.597
- Well, all the kids started
with him but he finished.
26:05.597 --> 26:08.580
(women chatting)
26:08.580 --> 26:10.940
- I mean, you know, I
recently got divorced
26:12.170 --> 26:15.713
and it\'s been has it been a rough road.
26:17.140 --> 26:18.373
So it was nice to talk to people
26:18.373 --> 26:21.554
who can understand what
you\'re going through.
26:21.554 --> 26:25.260
There\'s a lot of women in the
same position and you know
26:25.260 --> 26:26.850
you get a lot of advice and stuff
26:26.850 --> 26:28.920
but it\'s good because you
know, you\'re not alone.
26:28.920 --> 26:31.930
- I think the common
thread is having somebody
26:31.930 --> 26:35.110
really like you. Just for you, you know?
26:35.110 --> 26:38.440
You don\'t have to be
Tanesha\'s mom, you know,
26:38.440 --> 26:41.983
or, or Damion\'s wife for them to like you.
26:41.983 --> 26:44.330
(women chatting)
26:44.330 --> 26:46.900
People come to me and
they just start crying,
26:46.900 --> 26:47.990
you know, right in the bathroom.
26:47.990 --> 26:50.340
Or they come to me and
be like, I need to talk.
26:52.340 --> 26:54.110
I mean, I mentioned that no names.
26:54.110 --> 26:57.950
I had a girl come in here that
she had just got an abortion.
26:57.950 --> 27:00.640
One of the girls who come
in here and she was bleeding
27:00.640 --> 27:03.120
all over the place, you
know what I\'m saying?
27:03.120 --> 27:04.660
And I\'m like, how could you just come
27:04.660 --> 27:06.530
from having an abortion
and getting on the ferry?
27:06.530 --> 27:07.870
She was like, I\'m wanting to see somebody
27:07.870 --> 27:11.160
I could connect with. She
said, I\'m so depressed.
27:11.160 --> 27:12.670
I feel like jumping off the bridge
27:12.670 --> 27:14.720
or running in front of
the train, you know?
27:14.720 --> 27:16.800
And I was just glad I
was there for that person
27:16.800 --> 27:18.830
because what would she have
done if I wasn\'t there?
27:18.830 --> 27:21.510
I\'m telling you so much drama has happened
27:21.510 --> 27:23.218
in his bathroom is really deep.
27:23.218 --> 27:24.847
- You know how many hats
we put on every day?
27:24.847 --> 27:25.680
- Absolutely.
27:25.680 --> 27:27.909
But in the bathroom meet different people,
27:27.909 --> 27:28.916
and you can kind of-
27:28.916 --> 27:29.749
- You can just be a girl.
27:29.749 --> 27:31.433
- And when you get on the boat, like this,
27:31.433 --> 27:34.610
it\'s so difficult because
there\'s 20 other people
27:34.610 --> 27:36.460
there who have issues just as you do.
27:37.906 --> 27:40.610
- I have my friends, I
call them all the time.
27:40.610 --> 27:42.470
And yet I still have this need
27:42.470 --> 27:44.787
to come in here and talk to someone.
27:44.787 --> 27:49.787
You know, it\'s like, you know,
I go see a shrink once a week
27:49.850 --> 27:52.600
and you know, it\'s, that\'s not enough.
27:52.600 --> 27:55.382
- And it\'s funny because
people who have issues
27:55.382 --> 27:57.848
tend to find each other.
27:57.848 --> 27:59.190
I come from an alcoholic family,
27:59.190 --> 28:01.620
siblings, alcoholic, you know?
28:01.620 --> 28:03.383
So I have alcohol issues.
28:04.852 --> 28:07.135
And the whole big thing with me is
28:07.135 --> 28:08.880
that when I was little
28:08.880 --> 28:10.645
I was molested by my uncle.
28:10.645 --> 28:15.645
And it was something
that I didn\'t process.
28:16.320 --> 28:19.210
Luckily I was finally been able
to find a therapist to work
28:19.210 --> 28:22.050
with me on it and to help
me get through it and stuff.
28:22.050 --> 28:24.650
I think a lot of what happened
28:24.650 --> 28:28.136
in the past is what brings
them to this room here.
28:28.136 --> 28:30.719
(guitar music)
28:33.780 --> 28:34.613
- It\'s a break.
28:34.613 --> 28:36.810
From whatever they just left
before they came in here
28:36.810 --> 28:38.210
and whatever they\'re going to have to face
28:38.210 --> 28:39.750
when they leave here.
28:39.750 --> 28:43.310
And it might be the break
that keeps them going.
28:43.310 --> 28:46.130
- It\'s 20 minutes, that\'s all chicks need
28:46.130 --> 28:47.657
to get it together.
28:48.610 --> 28:50.701
Keep it moving anything longer than that.
28:50.701 --> 28:52.610
I can\'t answer that.
28:52.610 --> 28:56.070
- I consider the powder room
to be the great equalizer.
28:56.070 --> 28:59.160
Because I mean, you have
rich people from Toad Hill
28:59.160 --> 29:01.910
on this boat, hanging
out with their Mercedes
29:01.910 --> 29:03.380
and you have people from
the projects, you know.
29:03.380 --> 29:04.498
We just took the bus to work
29:04.498 --> 29:06.980
and you know managed to get here.
29:06.980 --> 29:10.315
And so it\'s funny, you
know, so we all hang out.
29:10.315 --> 29:12.980
I mean, this may be the only place
29:12.980 --> 29:13.920
that we hang out together.
29:13.920 --> 29:15.350
- No one knows that you\'re sitting here
29:15.350 --> 29:16.977
talking to a chick from projects,
29:16.977 --> 29:19.693
and you may live in
Annandale in a nice house.
29:19.693 --> 29:22.920
But you know what, the
problems that you have
29:22.920 --> 29:24.888
with your kids are totally the same.
29:24.888 --> 29:26.742
(blues music)
29:26.742 --> 29:29.492
(women chatting)
29:32.240 --> 29:33.283
- There\'s also, you know,
29:33.283 --> 29:37.274
there\'s a lop side to the powder
room, but for the most part
29:37.274 --> 29:40.074
your not gonna to come out
of there maimed, or anything.
29:41.610 --> 29:43.836
- That\'s the dynamic of the room,
29:43.836 --> 29:44.686
where we\'re supposed to be women,
29:44.686 --> 29:46.111
we\'re supposed to be comradery
29:46.111 --> 29:46.944
we\'re supposed to be, you know,
29:46.944 --> 29:48.540
all for one, and one for all.
29:48.540 --> 29:50.277
I\'m like, no, a lot of the
times, some of the things,
29:50.277 --> 29:51.592
are just dead wrong.
29:51.592 --> 29:54.425
(women chatting)
29:58.664 --> 30:00.680
- I don\'t believe in hitting children.
30:00.680 --> 30:02.920
- Yes. This one girl was
in there beating her kid.
30:02.920 --> 30:06.320
- The kid full wits of gear on,
30:06.320 --> 30:09.651
and all you hear slam, slam, slam on skin.
30:09.651 --> 30:12.530
There\'s no place for her to
hit this kid but his head.
30:12.530 --> 30:14.017
- Oh my God.
30:14.017 --> 30:16.972
- I\'m going, oh my God, oh my God.
30:16.972 --> 30:20.190
Nobody did a freaking thing.
30:20.190 --> 30:21.840
- And so, I\'m like sitting there going,
30:21.840 --> 30:22.750
should I do something?
30:22.750 --> 30:23.583
What should I do?
30:23.583 --> 30:24.416
Should I sit?
30:24.416 --> 30:25.760
And people were sitting there,
30:25.760 --> 30:27.110
you could see them watching in the mirror.
30:27.110 --> 30:28.490
They\'re like-
30:28.490 --> 30:30.740
- And I pushed the stall
door open and I said,
30:30.740 --> 30:32.940
I know you\'re not hitting that child.
30:32.940 --> 30:35.130
- This white lady who doesn\'t believe
30:35.130 --> 30:36.686
that you should beat your kids.
30:36.686 --> 30:39.420
Who\'s a friend of mine got up
and got in the middle of it.
30:39.420 --> 30:41.080
And I said, well, you deserve
to get your (beep) kicked
30:41.080 --> 30:42.810
because I was disciplining my children,
30:42.810 --> 30:46.150
and you got in my business,
you would get done in.
30:46.150 --> 30:49.200
- I was pissed because
after they finally left
30:49.200 --> 30:51.690
and they were like, you better
not go, you know that girl
30:51.690 --> 30:54.427
she\'ll jack you up or
she\'ll pull a knife on you
30:54.427 --> 30:55.400
and blah, blah, blah.
30:55.400 --> 30:56.233
And I\'m like, yeah.
30:56.233 --> 30:58.130
And why didn\'t somebody say something?
30:59.160 --> 31:04.160
And I see how people backed me up.
31:04.170 --> 31:06.400
And, oh, well we give her an eye.
31:06.400 --> 31:07.450
We gave her a look.
31:07.450 --> 31:08.530
That\'s all we had to do.
31:08.530 --> 31:10.720
She knew that we disapproved
31:10.720 --> 31:14.920
of what she was doing by, by our actions.
31:14.920 --> 31:16.483
We showed our disapproval.
31:18.010 --> 31:19.410
And if she killed the child?
31:21.110 --> 31:22.150
I mean, that\'s my response.
31:22.150 --> 31:25.300
And then would you say, oh,
I should have done something.
31:25.300 --> 31:27.750
- Women can get along, can be friends,
31:27.750 --> 31:29.950
can have a sisterhood, can disagree,
31:29.950 --> 31:34.483
and still be able to join
together in difficult times.
31:36.690 --> 31:38.895
- For me to even approach Manhattan,
31:38.895 --> 31:43.170
and it\'s not there, it\'s still unreal.
31:43.170 --> 31:45.130
From Staten Island, you
have a beautiful view
31:45.130 --> 31:46.193
of the skyline.
31:47.460 --> 31:48.293
It\'s gone.
31:48.293 --> 31:51.253
And it\'s like, well, what
happened to the skyline?
31:53.020 --> 31:55.000
- I was on the 8:30 ferry that day,
31:55.000 --> 31:57.070
and it was a regular day.
31:57.070 --> 32:01.649
We came out maybe like three
minutes before the boat docked.
32:01.649 --> 32:04.361
And there was this guy with
headphones on and he said
32:04.361 --> 32:07.090
a plane just flew into the World Trade.
32:07.090 --> 32:09.860
And when he said it, it
really didn\'t register.
32:09.860 --> 32:11.420
Cause I was still finishing
32:11.420 --> 32:12.800
up and put on lipstick or whatever.
32:12.800 --> 32:14.316
And I went on to work.
32:14.316 --> 32:16.925
People started saying
the building\'s on fire.
32:16.925 --> 32:19.850
So everyone was running towards the front.
32:19.850 --> 32:21.950
Now myself not coming from
the best neighborhood.
32:21.950 --> 32:24.269
I see people running
towards the excitement.
32:24.269 --> 32:25.102
I\'m saying, well, they
must\'ve be shooting,
32:25.102 --> 32:27.310
because there was shooting running away.
32:27.310 --> 32:30.320
But I couldn\'t figure out
exactly what was going on
32:30.320 --> 32:31.240
- People are panicking.
32:31.240 --> 32:32.790
They\'re putting on their life vests,
32:32.790 --> 32:34.754
hundreds of life vests are going on.
32:34.754 --> 32:38.110
- I got off and I was
walking towards World Trade
32:38.110 --> 32:39.160
- Wow, big fire.
32:39.160 --> 32:41.923
I was like (beep), what the
(beep) was that, you know
32:41.923 --> 32:44.280
I kept walking, walked right to it.
32:44.280 --> 32:47.127
Basically, pretty much. You know.
32:47.127 --> 32:48.290
You know, it\'s like New York.
32:48.290 --> 32:50.880
Oh, fire, still got to go to work.
32:50.880 --> 32:54.483
You know, nothing stops me
walking, but I kept going.
32:55.710 --> 32:57.800
I didn\'t think to turn around and go home.
32:57.800 --> 32:58.633
Should of.
33:00.200 --> 33:01.173
Should of.
33:01.173 --> 33:02.320
It was a bad day.
33:02.320 --> 33:05.550
- And while we were watching
the building on fire,
33:05.550 --> 33:08.030
we saw a plane.
33:08.030 --> 33:10.190
- You knew it was going to hit something.
33:10.190 --> 33:11.170
It was too low.
33:11.170 --> 33:12.940
It was going too fast.
33:12.940 --> 33:16.730
- So as it hit the second
building, I actually blanked out.
33:16.730 --> 33:18.642
- At that point, they
had completely shut down
33:18.642 --> 33:19.475
the Staten Island ferry.
33:19.475 --> 33:22.230
I couldn\'t turn my car
back around, get off.
33:22.230 --> 33:25.410
So I was literally just
stuck to watch everything
33:25.410 --> 33:27.180
- I see in the school, the kids.
33:27.180 --> 33:28.240
And I thought about them.
33:28.240 --> 33:29.640
Where was their mothers?
33:29.640 --> 33:30.840
And the kids was crying.
33:30.840 --> 33:32.980
So me and this other lady,
we just grabbed all the kids.
33:32.980 --> 33:34.460
We just kept running towards the ferry.
33:34.460 --> 33:36.040
We kept the kids running
towards the ferry.
33:36.040 --> 33:38.480
- And it was like, I
was in a Diehard movie.
33:38.480 --> 33:39.920
- You couldn\'t see
anything in front of you.
33:39.920 --> 33:42.110
I mean, you would actually,
it was like we was
33:42.110 --> 33:43.870
in caveman days, you was
feeling on each other.
33:43.870 --> 33:46.870
I mean, people was grabbing
my shirt, feeling on me.
33:46.870 --> 33:48.444
I popped my strap on my shirt,
33:48.444 --> 33:51.200
breasts out, everything. Did not care.
33:51.200 --> 33:54.500
- When everything cleared
and you see shoes and bags
33:54.500 --> 33:58.080
and people just laying in the streets,
33:58.080 --> 34:01.870
just, I mean, trampled
from people running,
34:01.870 --> 34:03.103
you just,
34:07.010 --> 34:09.743
you realize what really happened.
34:15.890 --> 34:17.610
- Everybody was just embracing each other
34:17.610 --> 34:21.560
white, black, Chinese,
old, young, crippled.
34:21.560 --> 34:24.480
And to me, it was just
so overwhelming to me
34:24.480 --> 34:26.210
you know like, wow
34:26.210 --> 34:28.549
the city is really coming
together right now.
34:28.549 --> 34:31.132
(guitar music)
34:32.550 --> 34:35.166
- The room felt so different
34:35.166 --> 34:37.593
in the weeks following September 11th.
34:39.090 --> 34:41.570
It almost, in a way became
like the unsafe zone
34:42.540 --> 34:45.177
because you didn\'t know who
you were going to run into.
34:45.177 --> 34:46.780
You know, are you going
to run into the person
34:46.780 --> 34:50.037
who saw people jumping off the buildings?
34:50.037 --> 34:51.620
Or are you gonna run into the person
34:51.620 --> 34:53.100
who happened to lose someone?
34:53.100 --> 34:54.910
Or knew someone who lost someone?
34:54.910 --> 34:57.993
And emotions were really high.
34:59.310 --> 35:01.040
I just didn\'t want to deal with it.
35:01.040 --> 35:03.135
I wanted that to be my escape from it.
35:03.135 --> 35:06.680
And some people would just talk about it.
35:06.680 --> 35:09.130
- People trying to outdo
each other with stories.
35:10.010 --> 35:11.870
Oh, my friend was there and they did this.
35:11.870 --> 35:16.330
And you know, try to compete
for who was the most effective?
35:16.330 --> 35:18.170
Or who lost the most people?
35:18.170 --> 35:20.913
Or who was closest to the
actual physical building?
35:24.040 --> 35:26.110
- I think whenever you
talk about something,
35:26.110 --> 35:30.540
the more you speak about it,
the less power it has over you.
35:30.540 --> 35:34.570
- We really kind of take
for granted the community
35:34.570 --> 35:37.272
of the ferry, of the powder room,
35:37.272 --> 35:39.770
and when it happened
and we were all kind of
35:39.770 --> 35:42.150
all over the place and we
hadn\'t seen each other.
35:42.150 --> 35:43.650
When we finally saw each other,
35:43.650 --> 35:45.703
those of us that make up there,
35:45.703 --> 35:46.536
it was like, oh, how are you?
35:46.536 --> 35:48.320
We\'re hugging we\'re crying,
we\'re kissing each other.
35:48.320 --> 35:49.760
- People are more like, like
35:49.760 --> 35:51.240
if they see us, seeing people, like,
35:51.240 --> 35:52.680
you wanted? Do you want?
35:52.680 --> 35:55.310
You know, we\'re more considerate.
35:55.310 --> 35:57.480
Yeah. We\'re considerate to each other.
35:57.480 --> 35:58.880
And it\'s like, when people leaving
35:58.880 --> 36:00.450
I think that\'s more touching to me.
36:00.450 --> 36:04.240
Cause people like have a nice
day, be safe, get home safely.
36:04.240 --> 36:05.980
We never had to say that before.
36:05.980 --> 36:07.970
See you later. Bye. I\'m out.
36:07.970 --> 36:09.830
You go the other way,
we all just fly our way.
36:09.830 --> 36:12.380
It\'s like, you have to
say have a safe day.
36:12.380 --> 36:14.523
- It became more of a family in a way.
36:15.690 --> 36:17.600
It, it\'s weird.
36:17.600 --> 36:21.263
It\'s like people started to
really care for each other.
36:22.960 --> 36:25.120
- If this isn\'t a kick in
the pants, it\'s telling me
36:25.120 --> 36:28.593
that I need to pursue my life
in a way that makes me happy.
36:29.920 --> 36:32.580
- If one is honest with themselves
36:32.580 --> 36:35.570
I don\'t think you can ever
live the same life again.
36:35.570 --> 36:38.140
It doesn\'t mean the same thing.
36:38.140 --> 36:41.020
I can\'t be afraid of the things.
36:41.020 --> 36:43.290
I guess I have a new set of fears.
36:43.290 --> 36:45.737
I looked at some of the fears
I did have and I realized
36:45.737 --> 36:49.500
you know, I always thought
I was going to grow old.
36:49.500 --> 36:53.110
And now I don\'t know, I don\'t
know if I\'ve got 20 minutes,
36:53.110 --> 36:55.007
or 20 years.
36:55.007 --> 36:57.507
(blues music)
37:09.381 --> 37:12.131
(women chatting)
37:13.770 --> 37:16.940
- It\'s like being in a
group, like a witches
37:16.940 --> 37:20.200
and conjuring up a spell
and the spell comes up
37:20.200 --> 37:22.500
and it grows, and it grows
and it grows and grows.
37:22.500 --> 37:25.030
We like conjure up this mood.
37:25.030 --> 37:27.004
I mean, it\'s electrical.
37:27.004 --> 37:29.380
- As long as there\'s mirrors
and seats, we\'ll be here.
37:29.380 --> 37:30.470
- I tried to talk to my daughter.
37:30.470 --> 37:32.299
My daughter was like, I didn\'t
want to put on no makeup
37:32.299 --> 37:33.860
because she, you know, she\'s a kid,
37:33.860 --> 37:35.000
you know how a kids get.
37:35.000 --> 37:36.910
But, you know, one day she will be sitting
37:36.910 --> 37:38.140
in one of these seats.
37:38.140 --> 37:40.500
She will be on her way to
Manhattan putting on some makeup.
37:40.500 --> 37:43.560
She will be talking about how
my mom is driving me crazy.
37:43.560 --> 37:45.270
Or how I can\'t stand my man,
37:45.270 --> 37:46.924
and how I want to get rid of my kids,
37:46.924 --> 37:48.703
if I couldn\'t get arrested.
37:50.690 --> 37:52.120
(ferry horn)
37:52.120 --> 37:53.800
But it\'s funny, cause as soon as you hear
37:53.800 --> 37:55.656
that bump against the boat,
37:55.656 --> 37:58.213
everybody transforms
into the working woman.
37:59.139 --> 38:01.889
(women chatting)
38:04.480 --> 38:07.300
- It\'s like bye, bye, bye.
Conversations stop instantly.
38:07.300 --> 38:10.354
And whatever, stop that day,
it starts the next morning.
38:10.354 --> 38:13.600
- In the moment it\'s an in the moment type
38:13.600 --> 38:18.530
of thing that you can\'t duplicate
from one day to the next.
38:18.530 --> 38:23.447
But it\'s addictive, it\'s really addictive.
38:24.620 --> 38:27.080
- It seems like there\'s a little space,
38:27.080 --> 38:28.791
but to us it\'s so big.
38:28.791 --> 38:31.374
(upbeat music)
38:40.700 --> 38:45.313
- In my mind, you know, every
day is really fairytale,
38:46.740 --> 38:47.640
because you wake up
38:47.640 --> 38:50.000
and you really don\'t know
what\'s going to happen.
38:50.000 --> 38:52.960
So you have the opportunity every day to
38:52.960 --> 38:55.157
create a new fairytale for your life
38:55.157 --> 38:59.582
and a reality for yourself,
a new truth for yourself.
38:59.582 --> 39:02.310
- You get the chance to love somebody.
39:02.310 --> 39:04.870
You get a chance to
interact with somebody.
39:04.870 --> 39:08.069
You get a chance to give
something to somebody.
39:08.069 --> 39:10.103
You get the chance to receive.
39:11.880 --> 39:13.390
It\'s really what you want to do
39:13.390 --> 39:14.980
with that opportunity that\'s going to make
39:14.980 --> 39:17.263
or break your day or your life in general.