Erin Lessin Mahone (Photo courtesy TEDxCrestmoorPark)
If any lesson comes out of Erin Lessin Mahone’s “If You Could See Me,” it’s that problems and plans go hand-in-hand. One such instance occurred when her scheduled book release event was interrupted by snow. But lucky for you, you can go at 7 p.m. on Thursday to the Hofheimer Building to get the whole Mahone/"See Me" experience.
“Nobody on earth was born with an instruction manual,” she declares. “Nobody knows what the hell they’re doing.”
First there was a cabaret show, “It Runs In The Family,” and that evolved into a photography exhibition with Dean Whitbeck, also named “If You Could See Me.” The show and associated programming brought people with mental health issues and their caregivers to the forefront to tell their stories. "This is what it’s about," she says. “We are all broken, in some form or fashion, and it’s OK." In a world that expects perfection that nobody can meet, people who fall short of that bar often get overlooked. "If we can make peace with ourselves, have compassion for ourselves," she says, "that allows us to have compassion for others. And that's when real societal change can begin."
She speaks about her anxiety and depression issues. “I live life in caps lock. JUST LIKE THIS. ALL THE TIME.” Words parade out of Mahone in well-formed paragraphs; reading her book is like listening to her speak — with a rapid patter and a sense of humor and the absurd.
Her story begins with paternal grandparents Marlene and Lenny, her "Bubby" and "Zayde," married for 47 years, during all of which Lenny lived with schizophrenia. Friends and family urged Marlene to institutionalize him, but this was in the 1950s, and Marlene wasn’t going to lock up the man she married. His entire life had been one of subterfuge and hiding his true self. Despite great obstacles, they had four children, one of whom was Erin’s father, and 14 grandchildren. And it was on the fireplace hearth of her grandparents' home where her interest was sparked in singing and performance. Until recently, she was the director of cultural arts and Jewish education at the Weinstein JCC. She’s now working in mental health case management for Chesterfield County.
The book, then, is a mixture of memoir, self-help and inspiration, all wrapped up in a wry sensibility that people who may have been through a wringer or two can appreciate. And I suspect that’s more than a few of you.
“My story is just like yours,” Mahone writes in the book's introduction. “Mundane, really, there’s marriage and divorce, and marriage and divorce, middle school, amputations, cars rolling over people, birth, death, sickness, hypochondria, bad hair, bipolar disorder, enormous glasses, schizophrenia, guilt, religion, singing, laughter, tears, parenting, anxiety, Wheel of Fortune, yelling, crying, yoga, duct tape, produce, musical theater, Vick's Vapor Rub, ADHD, drinking from the dog bowl, and so much more … I’m just like you.”
You can find out more about “If You Could See Me” here. It’s available wherever your finer reading material is sold, including Chop Suey Books and even Amazon.
