Hello.

Hi.

Hey. Thank you for joining me today. Could you tell me a little bit.

About yourself, including my name?

Absolutely.

Oh. My name is Marceline Mann, and I am a grandmother, mother. I just. Well, I didn't just retire. I retired about eight years ago from Milwaukee public schools, where I served as everything that they had to offer. Teacher, teacher, assistant, technology coordinator, etcetera. And I just recently moved out of my home, which I was in for over 30 years. Raised all my kids there and everything.

And my son purchased a home, a side by side townhouse. And I'm on one side, he's on the other, and it's working out really well. I'm really happy to get out of the neighborhood. Kind of rough over there, but I'm really enjoying the scenery, the neighborhood, the neighbors, all that stuff now. So basically, I don't do any. I haven't picked up any work yet. I'm actually looking for something, volunteer or something to do to get me out of the house.

Okay.

So that's pretty much it. My story for now.

For now. For now. What are some of your interests and activities you enjoyed?

Well, that's kind of sad, because I really don't have any activities that I can think of. I hate when people ask me that, because I'm like, this is ridiculous. I have no hobbies. I have no activities.

Well, what do you do every day?

Lay around on the couch and watch television and be on. I'm online a lot, doing a lot of stuff, but cleaning up my house. I cook dinner basically every day for my son and my granddaughter, who are next door. And other than that, I really don't do much, which is bad. I know.

No judgment. No judgment. Looking back, what are some life experiences you think have shaped you the most?

Good or negative?

Yeah, positive.

I think. I can't think anything when I was younger, except I wanted to be a ballerina. My mother stopped my ballet lessons because she couldn't afford it. I grew up in Chicago. Moving from Chicago to Milwaukee was something that shaped my life differently, because here it's totally different. And I raised my kids here. That, and I think my mother's death or being a caregiver for her and navigating the system, getting the things that she need, that was a rude awakening for me. And I learned a lot.

So I've been able to pass that along to some other people that needed it the most recent awakening was finding out when I did my DNA, that my father, that I thought was my father was not my father. It was actually the man that I thought was my stepfather who raised me was my real dad. And I just found this out a couple years ago. So I'm like 73 years old. I found it out when I was about 70. So that was, you know, something that kind of turned things for me.

Yeah, okay, that's interesting.

Yeah, don't do that DNA thing, that ancestry.com. i might not.

I might not. Going back to what you were saying about your mother being her caregiver and kind of learning, you said you had a rude awakening and just kind of like learning how to navigate all of that, what were some things that you.