Here Comes a Regular

Lauren Leone

Interview by L. Valena

Can you please tell me what you responded to?

Yes. I responded to a piece of writing. It was about payphones- the decline of payphones, and what was lost with payphones. Really focusing on anonymity. There was a focus on using a payphone from a bar if you were trying to avoid your spouse, and needed more time at the bar. Or calling someone for phone sex. So I just got the vibe that it was like, this dude in a bar.

I was kind of thinking about the other side of that equation. If you're avoiding going home for some reason, if you're pretending you're still at work but sitting at the bar, chances are that someone at home is relieved that you're pretending that you're still working. I thought about that a lot, and then I thought about this song by The Replacements called "Here Comes a Regular", about this dude in a bar, being a regular. So I listened to that a bunch, but nothing visual was really coming to me.

I was thinking a lot about payphones- I think aesthetically they're pretty cool. So I started looking at photos and doing some research about this idea that payphones aren't as relevant anymore because of cellphones. What I learned, is that their decline wasn't just because of cellphone use, but because some cities strategically tried to phase them out. There was this longstanding association with payphones and criminality.

Oh my god!

Yeah! So then I started reading more about that, and different cities that had legislation to remove payphones from the streets, or to forbid them from certain locations- like in public housing or outside liquor stores. And then reading who was still using payphones as they were being phased out, and who needed them. And looking at how that was impacting people in low-income neighborhoods, and also immigrants. It was easier for immigrants to call internationally using a payphone than using cellphones- even if they had a cellphone they might rely on a payphone to call home.

I was thinking about this whole history of cities trying to reduce the use of payphones because of their association with drugs, gambling and sex work. And how that disproportionately affected minorities and people of different marginalized identities. I learned about all these laws about loitering, soliciting, and vandalism, and how they're all written for this era of payphones, but that they're still impacting people now. How they sort of forced communities to do their own policing, because of racial bias, and suspicion of illicit activity. Shop owners not wanting payphones outside. So it just became a really different thing- I went down a rabbit hole. I started with this idea that payphones were old, antiquated things, and still thinking about that idea of anonymity (which I learned from my research is not true- they are traceable). And then thinking that there are people who, until recently (and probably now still), rely on them. An article I was reading was talking about payphones outside of jails- what happens when people are released and they don't have anything with them? All the layers to this. It moved it from this song from the 80's, and me thinking about this dude in a bar blowing off his wife, to the present, and looking at how people are impacted by that association with illicit activities that payphones still have.

So there are two images, they're two different payphones, and they're both broken. The one on the left is used with this grey variegated thread, so it runs from a dark grey to almost a white, so parts of it fade into the fabric and parts of it stand out. I was thinking about that one as kind of this idea of it being old, not relevant, fading out of use or out of need. The one on the right is in a dark grey, and easier to see. That's sort of to reflect that there's this need, but that one's also broken.

I love that. We totally think of payphones as these retro objects that are kind of quaint, something from the past, and it's not true. They shouldn't be a past thing, they should be something that people should have access to.

Yeah. One of the things I was reading about was when Hurricane Sandy happened. How many people in New York were using payphones, because cell towers weren't working and landlines were. They were useful then. So even in terms of natural disasters, people need them.

Right now we're in such a moment of rethinking so many things in our society. It's such an opportunity for major systemic change. It's so interesting to consider things like this, which I know I never thought of as being part of a just society. There should be equal opportunity for communication. It's not just about wifi for everyone. Have you ever used a payphone yourself?

Yes. I was talking to my husband about it. We were talking about life pre-cellphone, and how we used payphones without paying for them. Making a collect call and yelling a message before the person had to accept the charges.

Yes! I remember that!

That's one thing that came up. And then I was trying to think, when was the last time I've used a payphone? I have no idea, but I found this website that was cataloguing all of the numbers of payphones so you could call them. I thought it would be awesome if I could just call a ton of these numbers and see if anyone answered. But then a lot of places have laws that there could be no incoming calls. You can't just hang out at a phone and receive calls.

This makes me feel like there's a need for some kind of movement. Restore the payphone! There are a lot of them that are still out there, they're just broken. All of the stuff is probably still hooked up, they just turned it off somehow.

Yeah, it's interesting. It all just comes down to capitalism and consumption. In my reading, I found out about different phone companies, and how they tried to keep payphones going, and incentivizing cities. But then as cellphone use increased, some of them stuck with that and some of them didn't. I went deep.

I just imagined what it would be like to pitch a payphone start-up to bunch of investors. That would be so absurd.

"So hear me out..."

What else do you want to talk about?

I work pretty slowly. I think if there hadn't been a deadline, it probably would keep evolving, and I might keep working on it. I tend to work in layers. I'll think about things a lot, and some material will come to me, and I'll create that imagery, but embroidery is a pretty slow process. So sometimes things change even as I'm making it. Then I do another round of research. So I might keep working on this, but this is where it ends for the purposes of this project.

I'm an art therapist, and so this idea of responding to art is something that's really familiar to me. But, it's really different when you don't have the context of a person. Usually response art in an art therapy setting is created in context of a therapeutic relationship or a group or something, where a person is attached to it. There's additional context. So it was really interesting to just get this piece of writing, and use it as a prompt without more context. I thought it would be easy- I do stuff like this all the time! But then I got it and was like "what? I don't know". That part of it was really interesting.

Do you have any advice for someone else doing this project?

I guess don't overthink it, which I totally did, because that's how I do. But then I went back because I was looking to see if you had specified what format to send the photos in or something. I went back to your original email, which said "this is not your magnum opus", and I was like gosh. That's right.

It's easy to forget.

Well, there's the pressure of wanting to do right by the people on either side of you in the process, you know?

I know. And kudos for just seeing it through. Not everyone does- some people just ghost! So, good job.

Alright, I get a cookie after all.

Absolutely.

Call Number: Y34PP | Y35VA.leoHe

Lauren Leone is an artist, educator, and art therapist living in Somerville, MA. She uses fiber art, drawing, and mixed media to explore themes of connection and communication. Lauren is an assistant professor of art therapy at Lesley University and works with art therapy participants in private and community-based settings in Somerville and Boston, MA.