On Friday, February 25th, I flew to Sacramento to attend the wedding of one of my oldest dearest friends, Mary -- a woman I’d met in 6th grade honor band because we both played the flute, and when we sat down next to one another, I complimented her culottes. (It was, after all, 2006). We became fast friends, and Mary and I were constant figures in each other’s houses growing up. My whole family was invited to Mary and Justin's wedding, and the experience was a total and complete delight. It was a laid back and love-fueled day, complete with nostalgic cornerstones of my childhood: there were melting, half finished Dutch Bros drinkers all over the venue from the tired wedding party, the taco truck vendors and wedding photographers were old classmates, and the flower girl got a hold of the wedding’s balloon supply and spent the entire evening letting full balloons loose like torpedoes into crowds of people laughing, dancing, and mingling.
In light of our good mood and cheer, I asked my mom and dad on Sunday, after the wedding, if they would be willing to be interviewed for a class project. They agreed, though with some hesitation. While I would consider neither of my parents to be shy people, they aren’t ones who feel compelled to bestow their opinion onto others or hog the spotlight. But given that I think they are both smart people with well-informed opinions, and that I don’t live in the same state as them, I felt compelled to seize the opportunity to interview them.
To prepare for the interview , I had written some questions and notes on the plane ride to Sacramento, and meditated on the pros and cons of interviewing them together or separately. I decided to interview them together, as I thought it might be interesting if they disagreed or countered one another (an act I’ve never witnessed them hesitate to do). Additionally, I wanted the conversation to sound as organic as possible, and I thought if the three of us were talking, as opposed to a 1:1 interview, it might flow a little easier.
So here it is! I rather doubt anyone will listen to the whole conversation, but it was a real joy to interview my mom and dad, and I’m grateful they entertained my request. I only asked about half of the questions I had planned, but the questions were meant to be generative 'points of entry' anyway. More than anything, I am grateful to have my mom's infectious giggle and my dad's compelling presentation of talking points captured forever on an mp3 file. Also, just as a note, this whole project took me about 8 hours to complete (from thinking of the questions, to interviewing, to editing, and trying to find the best format for uploading) so I will probably choose a much shorter project for this upcoming week to make up for the time.
I really enjoyed listening to the audio. Since I also had an interview with my parents, I realized how we came up with questions for them differently and how our parents brought their various perspectives based on different countries and backgrounds. There was also a huge difference between our conversation styles. Thanks for sharing such a rich conversation with us.
Question I have after listening to your conversation with your parents: is something only worth doing if there is data collected and used?
I loved this, and wanted to join in multiple times while listening! I am also wondering how the relationship you have built with your parents facilitated this type of conversation and how to have similar conversations with people who have different relationship histories (ie colleagues or families of students that teachers work with).