Our Regulars
Wisdom from TYPE Junction regular, Afra
During my recent and hectic apartment move from Roncesvalles to Weston, I happened into a U-haul to rent a truck and the person at the counter was TYPE Junction regular, Afra. It was nice to be with her but on the opposite side of the customer service desk and it was an opportunity to invite her to do this interview that you’re about to read. I already knew Afra came into the store with a taste for romance novels and I knew she also worked as a butcher. But I was also curious: What keeps her so enthusiastic about TYPE Junction? What has her feeling so welcome here? And, what is it like being a butcher? Afra also helped me reflect on what this place can mean to immigrants and visible minorities; on what I can better do in my workplace relationships with colleagues with neurodivergence; and the hidden impacts people working in customer service can have on individuals in their community.
- Max
Some of Afra’s recent reads:
Wash Day Diaries by Jawila Rowser and Robyn Smith. Especially because I didn't see Afro-Latina representation for a long time. And I feel like those people who are Afro-Latina will finally get the representation that they deserve. I really want to see more Afro-Latinx community works. In the book, every weekend these girls go and they wash their hair, and they conversate and they're a cute little friend group, you know, and it becomes like a communal thing, and they live in New York City. There are some real life issues, such as depression and dealing with abusive relationships. I've never seen comic books touch on that, because they always keep trying to keep light and cheerful, or if they do have romance, it revolves around something very frivolous. Like, Oh, I wonder if he likes me back. They never really talk about the gritty stuff, somebody using certain words in order to hurt them and manipulation tactics. And I feel like the book actually properly represented that.
Halal Sex: The Intimate Lives of Muslim Women in North America by Sheima Benembarek, I definitely really recommend that book. I feel like she did a proper representation of all kinds of Muslims, LGBTQ Muslims, those dealing with sex work, etc. And she really opened up a perspective on the whole idea that it's taboo to be Muslim and talk about sex, and she actually normalized it which is refreshing to hear because as somebody who grew up in a very Muslim household, we didn't talk about that. It was like, Oh, that is something that shouldn't be done, that's so sinful, you don't talk about that until you get married and then when you get married, there's like this intense pressure. And before I had my divorce, everyone was having so much anxiety about it, and all my friends were like, okay, I don't know what to say. So I feel if I could go back in time, this book would have definitely helped me.
On what brings her into TYPE Junction:
Honestly, I feel really comfortable when I walk in here. I felt like it's the first place I've been exposed to literature where there's more multiculturalism. What made me feel comfortable about TYPE Junction is because I feel like all the books I was seeing before were just written by white authors. Growing up, there were very few books that I saw that were written by Black authors, very few Black characters. Occasionally, you might see like an African American, or you might see a Somali character, or you might see like a South Asian character. So the fact that I was getting exposed to this literature, it was like, whoa, new experience. I love it here, you know. I definitely see that in the store.
On her dad as inspiration for her reading life:
My dad is where I got my love of books. I remember my father, when I was a really small child, on Sundays, it was his thing. Like he would just be out hanging out in his room with just a stack of books. My father was into philosophy, like I would see him with Plato and Socrates. And I'm like, you read a lot about Greek democracy and philosophy. He'd read stuff like The Davinci Code. He loved Jason Bourne and action novels, you know. He also used to like books by Khalid Hosseni, A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner. I got my curiosity because of my father. He wouldn't say a word, just be there in his room, chillin with like a coffee and some sweets, legs crossed, just reading his book. You know, you always imagine immigrant dads just being like, let me sit on the couch and read the news or something. But my dad was there pushing up his glasses, just reading his book. He'd just be so silent and so absorbed. It's the time that he would just de-stress and detox away from the whole entire world. His entire mood would transform. You know, I mean, that's the one time in his life he didn't have to be an immigrant and think about his struggles, about how he had to pay the bills tomorrow. It took him away to another world. And I was like, I want to be there.
On being a butcher:
It's a very interesting form of line of work because it's a predominantly male field. So when I went into it, even my friends were like, with the way that you're soft-hearted and you're a very eloquent individual, really? You want to be somewhere where you're doing 'men's work'? And I was like, Yeah, you know, this will be good life experience. And the first couple of months, I just really chopped off my fingers. Yeah, like I have like scar marks and everything like that. I was just cleaning a blade. I just nicked myself, partially I was clumsy. Or I'll be cutting up drumettes and I'll just nick myself because I cut a little too hard. It took me a little while to just get into the flow of it. Like I said, it's a predominantly male field so I was one of the few female staff, maybe we're only three or four there. And it was super awkward because everybody there is just like, oh, you can do it. You know what I mean? You just get the hang of it. You should know by now and I'm like, I don't think I'm cut out for this. But I'm going to continue to try and eventually I got the hang of it. I got pretty good at it. I was actually able to teach a lot of my new colleagues who came on board so it was really cool. And it was a really fun experience.
On the community-work of butchery:
With butchery, it was more about community. It was in the heart of Kensington Market. And there were like tons and tons of people coming in a day. There were regular customers who lived around the market. Some have been coming for 30 years plus. And so it was always about requiring both fresh and quality meat but it was also at the same time interacting with the customers knowing what their favorites are, what they like and they don't like. And also learning to be patient with them because no two people are alike, you have to get accustomed to different personalities, as well as with your coworkers.
I actually really miss working with this one gentleman who had Crohn's. So like, he was very particular, like, he has to get chicken bones every single time he comes. He'd make really hearty ramen out of that, which I think is really dope, because I don't know jack-nonsense about making ramen. And so we were always making sure that was packed for him. We would constantly talk about that because I could relate to autoimmune suffering. I also just have this other regular customer, his son had diabetes. And I have an aunt I grew up with, who basically raised me, and I watched her get diagnosed with diabetes, she had a lot of highs and lows. So me and that customer, we definitely bonded over that. He has like a small toddler, and he's like, “Oh, my God, I'm too scared to feed him because he's like, What about sugar content? What about this? I want to make sure that his diet is healthy.” So I would always prepare our specialized packets of food whenever he came. And I would tell him, This is good. That is good. This is good. This is what you don't want to get, you know? So he really learned to appreciate me so every time. He said, whenever I come in, I'm gonna ask for Afra.
On supporting those with neurodivergence in the workplace:
I have ADHD. Being neurodivergent, I was like, I don't get things that quick, you might have to slow down a little bit. The other butchers were kind of like, No, you kind of get on it and figure your way out. I noticed that men have a tendency to like, pat their boys on the back and be like, Oh, you got this. And I’m like, I don't got this. So they kind of treated me like everybody else in that field in the sense. But I'm like, I'm not like you guys.
The problem with ADHD is getting more organized. And sometimes people can get fixated on a certain task. I found one of the ways I cope with it is making literal lists. If I write it down, it's not hard for me to forget. If I have like a schedule or a board I look at every single day, it's easier for me to remember. But if it's on a digital calendar, or something like that, it's easy for me to forget. It's important also with young people with ADHD and other neurodivergent challenges to teach them in a really hands on way. Because if you're not showing us how we can apply it in our physical life, we're not going to see the value of the words, you know. We're very hands on, that's our learning style.
I think it's important to really show co-workers and colleagues that it's okay for them to learn and to take their time, because we often feel way more pressure than other people when it comes to these things. I've also had some friends who have autism, BPD, and not just ADHD. And it's like, Yo, I feel the pressure, I got to get it done by this deadline. And it can feel like there's consequences upon consequences, right? So you kind of just have to like remove the environment of, you're in trouble mister, like the finger wagging. Instead it should be, it's okay for you to take your time. There's no pressure, even though I do want you to learn by a certain standard, like after a certain while. But right now, I expect you to just slow down and learn the process, as opposed to like, Oh, get it done and get it done right and quick and efficient. Like slow and steady wins the race.
That's actually how I found myself in butchery because I needed something that requires me to be hands-on. Like all this computer work, which is what I was doing before, after a while I lose my concentration sitting at a desk. I need to get up. I need to walk around. I need to do something with my hands. And it's not even in like an agitated sense. You're just like, there's something that clocks in your brain, I need to make something more useful with my time. And you get a little restless.
On what she wants more of in TYPE Junction:
I would love to see more autobiographies. I think I've seen like a couple here and there. But I'd love to see more of that. I’m also really interested in Rupi Kaur, kind of want to see more of her books here. Yeah, well, like some improvements on the minor scale.
