Interviews

The process of collecting interviews was a neat challenge, and admittedly, a little scary. The very first interview I collected was actually completely unplanned, and that may have been the best thing that could have possibly happened to get me over my interview jitters. I was out to dinner with my parents, when suddenly the topic turned to the sports they both played in high school. I whipped out my little voice recorder, and just let them talk. Every now and then, I’d probe for a little more information when I felt they weren’t quite dishing all the details, but for the most part, all I had to do was let them talk.         

As for my on-camera interviews, all but two of them were my students. For some reason, the two that were not my students, Jeremy Dugan and Jake Hassler, were the best of the lot, or so I consider them. Perhaps this is because Jeremy and Jake are familiars of mine, rather than my students, and so were more comfortable and open with me. Perhaps it’s as simple a thing as they’re more comfortable on camera. Whatever the reason, I feel like these two interviews have been especially valuable, at least from the ones I collected. However, that’s not to say my student interviews were useless. Each of them offered a perspective I hadn’t considered - for example, Clarence Jackson provided some serious insight into what it’s like to be a student athlete on scholarship, and Andrea Araujo taught me a little somethin’ somethin’ about soccer, a sport I know absolutely nothing about.

The interview process has proven itself as a really valuable form of research, and I’m so glad we have so much interview material at our disposal!

-Lauren