DOCUMENT THE HOLIDAYS
This past holiday, with the support of the entire family, I applied design thinking tools to organize the Lepore Hagan family around a shared sense of purpose. I shot and edited this video as a testament to my family and to show you where I come from. Our Italian-American family celebrates Christmas like no one else.
My grandfather, James Lepore, told our family why Christmas Eve and the Seven Fish Dinner matter to him. Growing up in the 30's, his quotidian routine consisted of labor and sameness. Against a backdrop of surreal industrial skies, life in a steel mill town heaved forward as "chore;" a doldrum of school and work. But Christmas Eve was different. Christmas Eve was full of crunchy "cumbet" confetti candies and pungent far-flung relatives misplacing coins in the couch; a night of exotic sauces and temporary abundance. Upright people misbehaved, slightly, and food was conjured as if by magic. In these moments, life appeared bigger than it was; mystically gigantic. As grandpa said: It was extra.