Words from Bogey

If you will remember, we were tasked in my Intro to PH class with completing an oral history assignment on a subject of our choosing with some sort of state or national relevance. I chose to interview my grandmother.
Granny was raised literally in the woods. Her father worked independently logging for individuals and companies in the post-depression era. When Granny says she grew up dirt floor poor, she means it. They were living high if they had a floor, most of the time they were lucky if they had walls and a roof. Her family were just one of many that followed the logging. A culture and mindset specific to the transient lifestyle developed. This period in Mid-western history was short lived, but significant in the development of many rural cultures in Missouri, Arkansas, and Illinois. And it has rarely been explored. My intent with the interview was to explore, on a micro level, that history.

Ultimately, the purpose of this particular post is a self review of what I would do differently the next time around.

First off, I wish I had prepped my subject better. I had explained, multiple different times, what we would be doing, but it quickly became apparent I didn't explain on a level my subject could understand. That was my failure, not theirs, and led to a bit of a kerfuffle starting the interview.

I also wish that I had explored a few more specific details to the area and time-period we discussed. I had, of course, done my research, but during the interview a point would come up and I would think," Durn! Why didn't I research that?" Eventually, I went and completed a second interview to flesh out these queries (separate from the interview submitted for class, of course.)

And finally, I wish I had put my phone on airplane mode. I used a recording app on my phone that I adore. I use it for recording all of my songs because it picks up vocals great, without any additional vibrations, it balances itself, and you hardly ever have to worry about your subject being to quiet or too loud as the app auto adjusts. What is does not do, however, is block calls. In the middle of the second interview my sister called, which killed the app and I lost about three minutes of good material before I realized the error. We were able to pick up where we cut off, but it was highly irksome.