I found it very interesting to hear what others had found out during the interview assignment. Within our small class we were able to hear so many different versions of 'family' and how people view their own. If each student in our class heard two versions of 'family', and each use uniquely and distinctly different, then the possibilities of what a family is or can be, are endless. Family may come in all shapes and sizes, colors and creeds. I think of my own family, and know that no other one in the world has experienced life the way we have. Thats amazing to think about. Out of millions of families on the earth, no other is like mine.

What Larae said is true. What I found out to be true about the family I interviewed is that each perspective is unique to that person. At the same time, they combine to make a family a family. Family means different things to different people, but mainly it means comfort, caring, sharing of whatever life sends their way. It's interesting to know that no matter who we might interview or just talk to, they are going to have diverse ideas that come together to make a whole. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but as Russ said, "It is what it is." Family is family no matter what that means in any given situation. Thank you, Ms. Fisanick, for giving us all a chance to look closely at such an interesting topic!

I agree with what both Rose and Larae said. I thought it was extremely interesting to hear each person talk about the two people they interviewed because it reinforces the idea that everyone has different perspectives on family, life, and really, everything. It is just mind-boggling to think that millions of people can look at the same word, family, for example, and yet no two people would come up with the exact same idea or picture in their head of what family is to them. And that idea can be applied to everything, and yet, even though people are aware of this, we still stereotype almost everything around us. It's ironic.

This was by far one of the best assignments I've had in a while in college. I had such a good time interviewing my professors and finding out what made them who they were. It is quite telling that two people from very different backgrounds had many similarities in their upbringing. I think it really says something about humans as a race and that we aren't so different when you get down to the root. It was amazing for me to hear the stories each of them had about the trials and great times of growing up in their families, their neigbhorhoods, and within the context of history. I tell you, I learned much more from listening to their stories than I ever did in history class. I think, at least for myself, that finding a connection to history through other people is essential. It has made a world of difference to me to hear the stories that each person had to tell.

Doing this project has really made me want to interview more people about these same topics. I especially would like to interview older people who have seen history and remember things I have never seen. I have always been one to snub history, but now I feel like I've really figured out why we study it... I am now planning on interviewing my grandparents and other people who I come across that I feel may be open to telling me their own stories.

It has also definitely made me look at my upbringing and how important that is to all of us!!

This week I have really enjoyed the interviews. I personally enjoyed interviewing two people that I thought I knew pretty well, and finding out more about them. I also enjoyed listening to everyone elses feedback in class on Thursday. It sounds like everyone really enjoyed the interviews as well. I feel that everyone learned something from this and are closer to some of the people they interviewed as well.

Edited by author 05-03-2002 03:00 PM
I have to agree with Larae about the small class we have, as it allows us to better understand our lessons. In a large classe, we could never spend the time listening to what other classmates have to say and what they may have experienced. The interviews were interesting, and it was surprising as to what some people told of their private lives. My interviews were with women, and strangers at that. I knew they may be sort of on the spot, but as mentioned in class, that is where and how we receive much survey data that is thrown at us today. After my business to business marketing class, I became aware of how misleading statistics and survey data can be. You have all heard the famous line; 4 out of 5 dentists recommend? Well, 4 out of 5 dentists where, or is it those dentists over 60, or those dentists in Milwuakee, or on Main Street USA? This tell us nothing of the true statistics we seek. The same may be true with my interviews, they may not tell you all the details, only what they feel confident in revealing. Granted, there are probably many interviews like mine conducted everyday where the interviewed are honest in the answers, but it should make us aware not to believe all we read when it comes to statistics, even in Coontz's books.

I think this was a good assignment to have because it gave everyone the opportunity to find different definitions of the word family. The people that got the chance to interview siblings, were able to get more insight into the families, because they got the information from 2 perspectives. As with Kara, I thought the twin brother and sister would have had answers closer together, than just a regular brother and sister. I found it interesting that although we interviewed completely different people, most said the sitcom family had no baring on their individual families.

I just really can’t be enthused by this project. Don’t get me wrong, I can see where the results and the method in which they were obtained would be interesting to most people, but I just didn’t enjoy the whole process. Perhaps it is because I tend to keep most of the things that I think as well as most of the aspects of my life to myself, but I just feel strangely about asking personal questions of people whether I know them or not. If they volunteer the information, that’s one thing, but to just start asking them questions about one of the most personal things in their lives feels strange to me.

I have found this assignment fairly original (unique) and interesting. I like finding out what makes people tick so being able to ask my best friend and her mom these questions and finding out their answers was....fascinating. I guess that's the word for it. I was also interested to listen to the things people had to say about how they went about their project. I was surprised to find out that some people actually refused to answer any questions...like it would make them think about things they didn't want to think about.

I thought that this assignment has been very interesting. When I signed up for English 308J I thought to myself, "Another writing intensive course, it'll cover boring topics like writing resumes!" I am glad that we are covering a topic that takes up the entire quarter. I think it is sometimes hard to learn in a class where you cover so many topics within 10 weeks. The topic of family is great. I enjoyed interviewing people. I think I interview two very different people. I asked them both "what is a normal family". Their anaswers were very different. One said a nuclear family the other said communication is normal. I liked going around the room and hearing about the different people. I especially enjoyed hearing about the professor who lived in New York during WWII. It is important to listen to the people who are in their 70's 80's and 90's. They are the last to tell you history. I volunteer at Nursing Homes just to listen to stories. It helps me appreciate the world if you know what I mean. My grandfather was in a camp in Europe and held by Nazi's, he has past, but his stories live on inside of me to pass on to others. I really enjoyed this assignment. I asked both the people I interviewed what nationalities they had. I like asking that question.

This assignment proved enlightening to me in the way I look at my family and the way I look at others'. I think the amount of time we spend in class talking about how media has affected people's views of the American family has made it very easy for us all to compile various sitcoms and famous families to creat the image of a family similar to our own. However, people who have not been privaledged to sit in on our class sessions do not have the insight or care to be able to associate their families with those on TV. This was demonstrated in the six or seven surveys I took when only one of the surveyed was able to produce a media family with which to compare their family.

I thought the assignment was really interesting, but difficult too. I found it difficult because I had to almost "pry" into my close friends lives. Now I know that it was a class assignment & they were very understanding about it, but still I felt like I was prying in a way. I know that if I was answering the questions, even if it was for a class, I would still feel a bit awkward about answering. However, I thought it to be great fun to be able to organize the answers & dig deeper into my friends emotions and memories. So overall, good assignment fun & challenging.