My dad claimed he had no stories, but I really wasn't expecting him to tell me stories, just supply a few clues here and there about what life was like in his family and our neighborhood during the '30s, '40s, and '50s. It was kind of funny at times because I'd ask him a question, and he'd look at me like I was crazy and say something like, "We didn't have things like that back then!" or "That place wasn't even built yet!" and I had to keep reminding him that I wasn't around in those days.
My dad has a tendency to be suspicious of school assignments, especially when he's being interrogated about himself. He's not a big conversationalist, either. I did my best to reassure him by clearly explaining what I was doing. Another thing I noticed was that he seemed reluctant to answer some questions with my mom sitting right there: in particular, when I asked about his high school years and whether he had a girlfriend. It suddenly hit me that I probably should have found a time to talk to him when nobody else was around.
My aunt, on the other hand, was completely open about talking to me, and we spent more than three hours talking and reminiscing. We both like to talk, so we didn't have any lulls in the conversation. Each question seemed to trigger multiple memories that she was eager to share. A few times my aunt did get frustrated with herself because she couldn't remember certain names or facts. She said there were things she always meant to write down and figured she would get around to it, but didn't realize how much she would forget. Some of her recollections differed from what my dad told me, but that didn't surprise me because my dad admits that he wasn't always paying attention.
I interviewed my dad. I noticed that when I started talking to him I was very comfortable and it wasn’t awkward at all. It was my dad after all. I didn’t really have to change anything about the way that I asked the questions because I just talked to him like I would anytime. It was kind of weird because I was asking him questions about me so I felt that he might have been holding back so as not to offend me. My mom was about the same way. However I did notice that I was a little more nervous talking to her than my dad. My mom kept giving me long answers-which are helpful-but were a bit overwhelming. I eventually got more comfortable with asking personal questions especially when the questions are about me. I thought my interviews went well and I got some interesting insight into what my situation only how it affected them as my parents.
ReplyDeleteMy informant was my friend, Christine Mitchell, so we did not really have to create much of a rapport to start. What originally got me interested in her home schooling was when we first met and she told me that she was going to New Zealand over break. I have always wanted to go there and I asked her why she was going; she replied, "Oh, I go there every winter, sometimes for two months at a time". Two months? I wondered aloud how she managed with school and homework before. One thing led to another, and soon we started talking about her home schooling and I came to find that it was so different from my schooling that I wanted to hear more about it.
ReplyDeleteMy first interview was with the President of the Gay Rights Club here at Ball State, Spectrum. I was wanting to 'get inside' his head and get him to express his opinions and emotions for growing up gay/how to help those who do not understand homosexuality accept it. I asked him some personal questions such as 'is it a choice?' He seemed very off-put by these questions, but I don't think he knew the psychological approach I was wanting to take for my interview. He replied, "Obviously it's not a choice, who would want to be made fun of all their lives?" and I noted his defensiveness which probably stems from years of public humiliation over his sexuality. The rest of his answers were quite short, no more than one sentence long, which didn't really give me much to write about for my paper.
ReplyDeleteI decided to interview a second informant, a friend from high school who I have always known to be very open and opinionated about his sexuality. He was very happy and proud to do the interview and hopes it will help people understand how homosexuals feel. I explained to him my focus on the project and why the psychological factor is an important one when looking at sexuality. He agreed and made a point to answer my questions as honestly as he could.. He thought long and hard about many of the answers with frequent pauses, trying to captivate and explain his thoughts on the subject. His wordy answers really got me 'into his brain' and gave me a lot of great ideas to write about. It was also easy to think of more questions based on his answers.. I was very glad I had the opportunity to do a second interview.
My informant was a friend I occasionally talk to from Spectrum. Since we only had small talk before, I felt it would be really awkward to go a full conversation with him. I tried to just fly into without thinking too much about if it would be weird. I felt that because we don't really hang out or really converse often, it would make him not so open with the details of his drag queen life. One thing I told him about was how my dad used to be a club kid when he was my age. I think that got him more in tune to discuss his own club life experiences. He was already pretty open, however he did seem a little reluctant when he began talking about relationships. Overall, he was very informative and he did help me out a lot. We were able to get to the point where I didn't feel uncomfortable throwing certain questions out. He didn't seem too bothered by most of what we spoke about either.
ReplyDeleteMy informant and i are "thick as thieves" (cliche lesson got to me), anyways my informant is my father i was a little bit nervous asking some questions. Simply because he is a straight shot guy and what he says is usually 100% truth;wasn't sure what answer would come out of his mind. However once we started it was just like having a conversation with him just in much more details and it was really awesome to listen to the stories he had about his favorite memories and the expressions his face told a story of them selves as well. However the interview went smooth and we ended up causally sharing a cigar talking for the duration of the interview.
ReplyDeleteMy informant is my mom, she is a very straight forward woman. I was hesitant in the beginning to ask about specific incidents, or specific stories. She urged me to ask whatever i wanted, saying that "if names are necessary we will just use false ones". We started talking about her experiences and it was really cool to hear the types of disorders that her students had. The interview wit without problem, it was simpler than expected.
ReplyDeleteWhen beginning the interview, i wasn't sure what to expect or what kind of direction the interview would take. I knocked, walked in and took a seat, pulled out my laptop and got comfortable. The questions began and right away they were tough questions such as favorite and least favorite part of being an R.A. so that we could jump right in and very quickly a rapport was established. Conversation became much easier and because of it i spent much less time looking at my question list and more time allowing my questions to flow with the conversation. The answers and information i learned were more in depth than i would have know and everything came to the informant it seemed more naturally. I was very pleased with the status of conversation we achieved. Just tonight i did a follow up and learned some more juicy details to spice up my paper. tonight when i was talking with her i noticed the second time around i was just as comfortable as if i had already been talking to her for an hour. Ideas and information flowed easily and confidently against no real differences that may have affected the way the situation was approached. Everything was much more relaxed after rapport was established because there was a certain level of comfort we were able to attain with each other and overall the interviews ran much more smoothly than i could have hoped, in fact it was very fun.
ReplyDeleteMy informant for this first project was my great-aunt Miriam, my mother’s aunt. I have been very close with my aunt ever since I can remember, even though she lives in Pennsylvania. Every Thanksgiving we go to PA to visit my mother’s large family and we have almost always stayed with her, as she is the family my mother is closest with, and also my mother’s godmother.
ReplyDeleteIt goes without saying that I didn’t have to establish much rapport with my aunt Miriam, although this could be viewed as a way of saying that my seventeen-year family relationship with her has done this already. Being two generations older than me, there were of course many interesting parts of this interview, laid-back as it was. It was very evident that my great-aunt lived in a time much different from our own, with details from my own family history that were somewhat shocking, and not as easy to take from her memories and transfer to the pages I was writing on. Knowing her personally, and always being very open with her, she ensured me that I could ask anything I wanted to know, though the story she had to tell was glamourous by no means. This was not to say that she thrilled with every question I had to ask, taking her time to answer some questions more carefully than others, or speaking her mind on some she was not so fond of. My aunt is a very strong woman, but I knew when certain questions I had written down, or really wanted to ask after our conversation had started, were not appropriate. Family is family, but even some things are better left unsaid, as respect for the individual, close as they may be.
After talking to her for a good length of time, I realized that the topic of her early childhood and talking about a part of it that carried more tribulations than I thought was weighing too heavy on her. Taking these cues, I thanked her for talking to me and shedding light on a story I had only heard bits and pieces of. Though it wasn’t easy to get all the information out of her, I gained a better understanding for the time she was living in, how she viewed living how she did, and how this helped to mold her into who she is now. Though my relationship with her didn’t change much, my respect for her and the life she had grew leaps and bounds. It’s so interesting, the things you learn by talking to a person who may be close to you but lived in a time so different.
My informant was a friend and musician from my hometown. I chose to interview him over other friends that played music in Columbus because he is still in high school, while many others have left for college. I felt that the fact that he still lives in the town we grew up in, and had not had a chance to extend his musical reach would better pertain to my topic. The interview went very smoothly, though I wouldn't have expected otherwise. I didn't feel like I had to be too careful about the kind of questions I asked, and he was more than willing to share his thoughts and feelings. When writing the questions, I made sure that they were all open ended. Some questions, even, I left open for interpretation. He answered them clearly and insightfully.
ReplyDeleteI had planned to interview a second informant as well, though I wasn't able to get ahold of him. Hopefully I'll have a chance to ask his thoughts on the subject before the first draft is due.
My informant was my friend, Lindsey, what i first noticed about myself is that i was nervous about talking to her about her byofriend, who is in the army since it was a sensitive topic. I wasn't quite sure where to start. There weren't any problems with talking to her, she has been my friend for about 5 years now and we never have problems talking to each other. Over the course of the interview it got easier for me to talk to her, i barely had to ask questions since she jsut opened up about everything and was able to tell me everything i needed to know.
ReplyDeleteMy informant was my father. There was absolutely no hesitation at all when it came to the subject at hand. This is primarily due to the fact that we talk about how things have changed in the sport of waterfowl hunting seemingly every time we are in the field together. Ever since i could remember, my Dad has always been telling me stories about how the sport had been back when he was first introduced. I think one of the other things that made this interview go so smoothly was the fact that i could relate to a lot of the things he was talking about. I have been an avid waterfowl hunter my entire life so I got an easy grasp on the things that he was saying. I think that having my dad to interview for this particular topic was one of the easiest decisions to make.
ReplyDeleteWhen I began the interview with my great Uncle Jerry, I felt surprisingly comfortable. This interview is a bit a formal activity and I sometimes become nervous with something of this caliber. Since my uncle is a huge business man I should’ve been even more nervous right? Wrong. Because I have already had many discussions with my uncle, I was completely comfortable. In fact, this interview was more of a catch up than anything. It was two men, one was the obvious elder of the two and much more wealthier, just talking to each other it seemed like. The only semi-awkwardness in the conversation, was the transition of catching up to the actual interview. Our rapport was virtuous from the beginning. Fortunately, I did not have to strengthen my rapport with my informant like some of my fellow classmates may have had to.
ReplyDeleteWhen I interview my Dad I felt somewhat comfortable. He didn't take any offense to my questions, so that made it easier on me. We just sat on the couch with my tape recorder. After I pulled the recorder out, I think that made him a little more nervous, but he handled it well. We sat and talked for about 30 minutes about his time in the Marines. I never really knew all what he did in the Marines, so it was an interesting thing to talk with him about. It was surprising to hear how similar he was to me growing up. I didn't realize how much he wanted to make his Dad proud and that gave me a close bond to my Dad that I didn't realize. After the interview I checked to make sure the recording worked. We soon watched a T.V. show after the interview.
ReplyDelete1. My informant was a young talented freshman named Paul Lorenzo. I realized that even though this was a professional matter he and I were both informal and relaxed as always.
ReplyDelete2. My informant is about the same age as me, is the same gender, is the same social class, so there were absolutely no barriers that would come between us.
3. I acknowledged that we were the same in many ways and nothing would inhibit my effectiveness. Even if there were differences, we are friends and differences are good and celebrated.
4. As I knew him better through his backgrounds and experiences I gained a little more appreciation for his knowledge, however the amount of respect I have for him didn’t change much. He is a good friend and he already had it.
If anything I gain a better sense of how to communicate in a more direct way in comparison to our usual banter. We work well together and doing this interview has solidified that in my mind.
My first informant is one of my roommate, Aaron. Although we live in a same house, we haven't talk much before. Because of the lack of communication, I didn;t know much about him. He actually is a talkative person. He had lots of stories to share with. I really want to go into his mind and see what was it look like. The topic of interview is the foreign language learning. As being a non-native English speaker, I feel like pleasant and interesting when talking about that. We talked a lot as if it was a common conversation between two friends other than an interview. So that way, I even lost some points important for my paper in the interview.
ReplyDeleteI decided to interview a second informant, a friend of mine here in bsu. She has been made an appointment with me tomorrow. I am trying to put forward more interview questions besides the questions I have asked Aaron about. And also I would like to append these questions to Aaron to get more information.
The person I have chosen to interview is my nana. Because she lives about two hours away from here, I have not had the time to travel to see her for a face to face interview. Luckily we have a really good relationship and I can just call her up whenever I need and chat for how long and whatever we can both think of. I was kind of nervous at first to ask her questions for some reason. It's not that I felt like she didn't want it, I just kind of feel like she was nervous and wanted to give me the best answers that I could work with the information she gave me. She is a lot older than me so a lot of my questions were how have things changed from when you started to present day for example. I got a lot of good information out of her from how things have changed, what she has learned, and what she goes through for her career. For some reason I guess I never really thought of my nana truly wanting to work at the bank, but after interviewing her I realized she actually love it a lot. She didn't just make that her job, she made it her career and something she enjoyed doing every day. It was great to hear her tone of voice about how enthused she was that I wanted to know more about her as a worker. I'm glad I chose her to interview because I now feel like I have something to connect and talk to her about now that I know a little bit more about it. It didn't take long after I interviewed her that we veered off and started talking about other things in life instead.
ReplyDeleteI call my grandparents every Sunday, so calling them today was nothing out of the ordinary. I have actually called them a couple of times to interview them for other classes and they never have any reservations and are always happy to help and talk. I am very close to my grandparents, so we were all very open and comfortable. They tell me whatever comes to mind and do not hesitate, and have never said, “Don’t tell this or that”. Interviewing is more like just talking with them and hearing stories, it wasn’t formal.
ReplyDeleteI got a chance to interview my grandparents about their life. They have a unique rags to riches story. Since my brother and I are their only grandchildren, we are a very close to them. They’re like a second set of parents to us. Because of this close bond it made it very easy to interview them. They seemed excited that I was interested in their past. I could see they’re proud to tell how far they have come. My grandmother loved to talk. She rarely let my grandpa chime in until I started directing questions straight to him. My grandpa gave shorter and answers, but gave stories to go along with his answers. After interviewing my grandparents I realized that they had a tough past. I came to the conclusion that I wouldn’t be where I am today if they hadn’t worked as hard as they did.
ReplyDeleteI got the opportunity to interview my roommate. His name is Tony and he has recently gotten back from basic training. He was stationed at Fort Sill, which is in Oklahoma. He informed me about why he joined the Army and what he was planning to do when he was there. He has signed up to become an EMT. EMT training is different than other training because it requires you to go to school and get an EMT license before you can become one. You can take the course up to three times. If you do not pass the course one of the three times then you will not be allowed to become a certified EMT. He said that one of the hardest parts of basic training was learning how to deal with the heat. He said it was good training though because he is expecting to be stationed in the Middle East. A normal day for him began at 4:30 a.m. and went straight through to 5 p.m. He says that he is excited to go to a different region and protect his country.
ReplyDeleteI interviewed my mom, and I didn't feel any hesitation or nervousness since it was just my mom and the interview was more like a conversation with me asking a lot of questions. I interviewed her about her childhood growing up with foster kids; my grandparents took in foster kids as my mom and her two brothers were growing up. The interview went as I thought it would, and besides being a little rushed I learned a lot and found what my mom told me to be very interesting. After the first few questions my mom started elaborate and go into more detail in her answers and started to get a feel for what information I was looking for. I really enjoyed learning about her childhood and about the foster kids, and despite the differences in how we were raised and the time period, I didn't find it hard to relate. I wish I could have interviewed her face to face, but we could only set up a phone call, but just hearing about the foster kids and about my grandparents gave me a new perspective on my grandparents and about foster children.
ReplyDeleteI ended up interviewing somebody different than my first interview. I got the privilege to interview a professional drummer by the name of Mike Johnston. (you all should look him up) Myself and about 2,300 other people from all over the world take lessons from him. I'm sure you are wondering how. The format is online "live" lessons that are streamed from his facility in Folsom, California, directly to our home computer. We don't have a camera so it's just all of us looking at him. He was in the Modern Drummer Readers Poll for Best Educator. His Business entitled "Mikeslessons.com" has exploded from him doing a couple videos online for a couple of private students, to a global online drum education powerhouse. To make it short he is endorsed by all the major companies and is one of the most famous educators in the world.
ReplyDeleteI feel very special because last summer, I visited one of his professional drum camps at his facility, along with 7 other drummers who I have become great friends with. Because of this camp I have become great friends with Mike Johnston and being able to facetime or call him shows how generous and caring for his students he is.
The interview format was facetime, due to the distance. We have a great friendship like we are brothers or I am his protege. The interview was based around about seven questions that led to conversations that surpassed the standard procedure of questions and answers. The questions I asked involved his experience and journey as a professional drummer living the touring lifestyle to becoming a world class educator. His journey was long but it consisted of small, vital, consistent steps that grew and grew like a great fib.
Friendliness and generosity show an ego-centric musician from a humble, and caring musician. This is why I look up to Mike Johnston.