Something I'll Never Forget

I ask people, "What is something I'll never forget about you?" These are their answers. It started with a few hundred Lyft and Uber drivers, and I now ask others too.

[somethingillnever]

“I was a bounty hunter. You need patience, timing, and intuition. It’s a lonely job. You’re always on the road, and your schedule is sporadic.”

—Honolulu, Hawaii

[somethingillnever]

“Kauai is the most forgiving place.”

—Kauai, Hawaii

[somethingillnever]

Will Smith voice

“I’m from Venezuela. I learned English by myself, watching TV everyday with subtitles. When I see a word I don’t recognize, I’ll pay attention to it – I learned one or two words a day. Seinfeld and Friends were my favorite. Not Fresh Prince or Save By the Bell though. Those were translated into Spanish. So when I watch those shows here, the voices sound weird. I’m used to the Will Smith voice I grew up with.”

–Houston

[somethingillnever]

Massachusetts

“I lived in Massachusetts for most of my life. Well, I did spend 28 years in Florida. I hate Massachusetts. It’s the greed of America. And the winters are too cold and too long. I’m going to move back to Florida. I think this is my last winter here.”

–Boston, MA

[somethingillnever]

Puttering around

"I just retired as the CEO of a roof covering manufacturing company. Everyone is mad at you about something when you're CEO. Board members, employees, customers. Oh my god it's a nightmare. Don't get me wrong, I was good at my job, but I'm glad to be done. Now I'm so happy puttering around fixing people's plumbing and electrical. People are so happy when you're done." —San Francisco, CA

[somethingillnever]

Out of the equation

"I was in the fourth stage of prostate cancer eight years ago. And I'm still here at 70. I haven't had sex for eight years. Don't have the desire to. At first it was horrible because it's taking away something that's a part of you. Then you see how women manipulate men with sex and then it was out of the equation. Before, sex was a horrible thing. Now it just doesn't... but it took some time." —San Francisco

[somethingillnever]

Green explosion

“I love Sweden, but it's not important for me to be Swedish. It's very beautiful. Forest, big forest, beautiful forest, cultured forest. Archipelagos. When the spring comes, it's such an incredible power in nature. It's a green explosion. Everything starts to flower. When I was a little  I used to spend my summer holidays sailing along the islands.”

–Stockholm, Sweden

[somethingillnever]

Got a pass

"I lived here my whole life. I'm still in school, and the others here are all in university. My mum has lived here her whole life. My dad escaped here here from Liberia. When he was 14 there was a Civil War or something. He was forced to join the army. He escaped and lived with a guy for the lot of a few years. He hid him. From there he got a pass to come here." –Oxford, United Kingdom

[somethingillnever]

Ripples

“If you’re in the middle of the ocean, you can’t really make any ripples. You can’t affect culture from the mainstream. To do that, you’ve got to go to the edges.”

—London, United Kingdom

[somethingillnever]

Croatian War

"I'm 59. I was Croatian army soldier. Five years in the Croatian war. Yugoslavia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro. It was terrible. Catholics, Muslim. It was not good. It was difficult. No have guns, no have tanks, no have plane, no have nothing here." –Dubrovnik, Croatia

[somethingillnever]

Hearts

"Croatia is nice, but the people are stupid. They're peasants. The politicians, if you give them money, they do what you want. Everything you see here is beautiful, but it's poison in people's hearts." —Zadar, Croatia

[somethingillnever]

Anderson Cooper

"My parents died really young. I've pretty much been on my own since I was 17. I paid my own way through college and got my own apartment. I have two sisters and a brother, but we're not that close. So I want to marry a guy who has a huge family. And good looking of course. And rich. So basically Anderson Cooper." "Being gay and being a person of color I'm only comfortable in a handful of places. And I don't like to be land locked. So San Francisco or New York are the two places I'd go." —San Francisco, April 2017

[somethingillnever]

The first time I saw my daughter in the hospital, I'll never forget that. She's four years and ten months old now. Three months ago my wife gave me another child. The first time was different, the emotions were bigger.

London

[somethingillnever]

My name. Cleverson. I’m clever. You’re gonna remember, ‘That Uber driver, he’s Brazilian, his name is Cleverson.’

Boston

[somethingillnever]

Every place in London is a place of interest to somebody.

London

[somethingillnever]

"I work at home, that's like jail with keys. I'm kind of addicted to Uber. I'm a single dad with two teenage sons, and if they don't need something, I'm doing Uber." —Memphis, Tennessee

[somethingillnever]

Live our lives like we drive our cars

"I love Memphis, and it'd be perfect if it could get along with itself. There's a lot of underlying racial tension. I keep thinking that we should live our lives like we drive our cars. We don't judge cars based on their color. We trust other drivers, and even though they could kill us in that car we trust that they won't. If someone cuts in front of us, we don't hate all Toyotas. Just that one." —Memphis, Tennessee