Jan Canty
speaker
98 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Mar 2025
last heard Mar 2025
Jan Canty’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
That evening, one of the strangest things happened. I looked in the mirror and I said out loud, he's not coming home. And I thought, my God, am I being dramatic? And I dismissed it.
I loved growing up in Detroit. It was a very historical time. I was very active in the women's movement. Even as a teenager, I was in demonstrations. I wanted to make a difference, and I did not want to grow up and be a housewife and have kids. But I lacked role models for how to do that, because everybody that I knew that was a woman stayed home and had kids.
Hated high school with a big passion. Hated it. Capital H. I thought it was a complete waste of time. I just saw it as babysitting. It turned me off to school, and I said I was never going to set foot in the classroom again.
So I just went from one crap job to another. I didn't like any of them. Got really bored. So I kind of started out really floundering, not knowing what I wanted to do.
To me, there's nothing more basic than thought. They can take away your family, your health, so on, but they can't take away your thought. And that intrigued me. It still does.
My apartment cost me $80 a month. It had rats. It had about six locks on the door. It had no kitchen. It was a hot plate, a bathroom, and a bedroom. I remember putting my mattress on the floor away from the window so the gunshots outside wouldn't pierce through the window because there was always gunfire at night. But it was home to me and it was proof that I was on my way.
When she pulled up to the office building, I noticed they had to pay for parking. I did not have $2.50 on me to pay for parking. So I thought, I'm going to have to ask for a loan from my future employer.
It was staggering. It had marble and bronze and three feet long chandeliers in the corridor and arches and paintings and you name it. Very, very, very elegant. And so I remember walking through the doors and instantly I felt out of place. I'm like, I don't belong here. This is fancy. I don't have any money. I'm a phony. I was so nervous. And I had on my best clothes, which I bought used.
And I remember watching people, how they got to the elevator and how they used the buttons, so I wouldn't know how to do it.
When I got off on floor eight, he must have heard the elevator gong. He stuck his head out way, way down at the end of the hall. He said, oh, I'm down here.
He had a golf shirt on. His pants were too short for his shoes. He was bashful and he was very welcoming. He laughed easily.
On my way out, I said, oh, by the way, can you deduct $2.50 out of my paycheck?
He pulled out of his pocket a roll of cash and peeled it off and seemed more than happy to give it to me.
My impression of him was one of respect, given his station in life. I knew I could learn a lot from him in terms of the field of psychology. Before long, he started treating her to lunch.
He was the first person to ever express belief in my goals. The idea that of course you can go to college, of course you can graduate, of course you can do that. I had never had anybody tell me that in my life. It really made a big impression on me. And I was so pleased that he saw potential in me that nobody else acknowledged or validated.
They gave me a raise and I was so grateful for that because I was really barely paying my own tuition. And one term I had to sell my car to make tuition and I had started to walk to class in those neighborhoods, which was a challenge to get home before dark in the winter.
The windows were boarded up, and the grass was overgrown. The only sign was a little tiny yellow and green sign that said Lely's. That's it. But as they drove around back... The aroma coming from the kitchen was beyond description. And they had a man with a violin in the parking lot.
And we talked and talked and talked until we realized we were taking up too much time. Like the waiter was kind of like, come on, guys.
I liked how he treated me with respect and he always helped me with my coat and opened my car door and never interrupted me and was always eager to hear about my day. And he'd ask follow-up questions, you know, like, what did you think of that class? And what'd you think of that book? And tell me more about your parents or why do you like that singer or whatever it might be.
I felt very lucky because a lot of my friends were floundering. You know, their idea of a date would be to go to McDonald's and ride up and down Woodward Avenue. And I was like, I'd rather go to the museums. I'd rather have an intellectual discussion.
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