Teneka Weah
I have this pillow that I am absolutely obsessed with. It is made out of feathers and it is grey and black. This pillow is nothing extravagant just a small, simple, square shaped pillow. It is device [by Prown's categories] because it doesn’t do anything, but it serves a purpose when I lay on it. When I was younger I used to suck my thumb and rub on the pillow; I do not know why it just felt good. I do not remember who gave the pillow to me, but I’ve had the pillow for as long as I can remember.
When it would get dirty my uncle used to put a new cover over it and it would look brand new again. I could not go anywhere without this pillow. To this day I keep it in my room and sleep on it; even now I still rub on it because I enjoy the feeling so much. It reminds me of my past and how much I’ve grown up and shows me I am not as mature as I would like to think I am. I no longer suck my thumb but for some reason I cannot let go of this pillow. I do not take it everywhere anymore but it brings back so many good childhood memories.
The pillow reminds me of my uncle very much, and I do not see him anymore because he lives in a different country. I have to keep it clean now because I have no one to put a new cover on it when it gets dirty. It served as a comfort object for me when I was a child, and I believe it still does even today. Sometimes when I cannot sleep at night I will just lay in my bed and rub on the pillow and it would bring me comfort and soothe me. This pillow means a lot to me but the story that I associate with it is my childhood. There are many questions about this pillow that I cannot answer like when, where, why, and who made the pillow, but I believe its story started with me.
The thing that gives this pillow meaning was the fact that my whole family was involved in this pillow’s life. Everyone was so accepting of the fact that I wanted to take it everywhere and would keep an eye on it for me and make sure I would not lose it when I went out. If any one of my family members saw me without the pillow they would go and look for it and bring it to me. My uncle took time from his work to sew me new cases occasionally. The pillow has meaning to everyone in my family also because they know how much I love his pillow. Even now my mother and I would reminisce about my childhood and she would tell me stories about me and this pillow and it also reminds her of my uncle too. I do not know if I will ever be able to part from this pillow.
About Us
- Hilary Iris Lowe
- Philadelphia--Temple University, Pennsylvania
- Hilary Iris Lowe is the Director of Temple University’s Center for Public History and an assistant professor in the History Department. She teaches courses in U.S. cultural history, public history, and American studies. Her current research seeks to understand how humans have used historic places and literary objects to connect with literature and the past. She holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Kansas. Her first book, Mark Twain’s Homes and Literary Tourism, was published in 2012 and is part of the Mark Twain and his Circle Series at the University of Missouri Press. She and Jennifer Harris edited the collection From Page to Place: American Literary Tourism and the Afterlives of Authors (2017). She is currently working on two long-term research studies, the administrative history of the John F. Kennedy National Historic Site and a monograph, Open House: House Museums, Gender, Sexuality, and Politics of Memory, which is in early stages. She fascinated by EVERY house museum and would love to visit all 15,000 in the U.S. She has been teaching at Temple since 2012.
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