forgot to post as well.

I interviewed two of my dance professors of very different backgrounds.. one a 70 year old brooklynite whose jewish family came over from Russia... she has some wonderful stories about growing up in New York, and how her family has shaped who she is today.

the other a 32 year old black man who grew up in Virginia in a huge family... He's also gay and has a gay brother. Both of his parents are dead now, but mostly the family unit remains tight.

What makes both of these families similar? They both had an extremely strong work ethic, to make their children's lives better than their own, and to find happiness outside of lack of wealth.

This was such a great assignment!

Okay, completely forgot to post. So I thought whether to even do it, but I didn't want to appear to be a total loser. So, I'm planning on interviewing my roomie & a friend of mine (who works right across from Ellis, so it will make for a short walk after class).

My roomie comes from an interesting family situation where she is the only girl and her parents are divorced. A situation that is similar to my family, but still rather different.
My friend is currently having some family issues right now, & I will be able to find out more about that, without being too intrusive.

I'm looking forward to this assignment, I'm sure that it will be extremely interesting & very insightful.

I've decided to use two of my friends for my paper. it should be fairly interesting because they are both from different backgrounds. One of them goes to school here as an engineering student and has a rather unusual set of parents. the other friend is an Itallian-American (dual citizenship) English major in Boston.

This assignment excites me. It will give me a chance to find out about other families besides my own and also a chance to test my "interview skills." I think I've decided to interview my boyfriend and his brother. They came from a family where divorce came pretty early in their lives (One was 9 years old and my boyfriend was 7). Their mother lived alone and tried to raise two rambunctious boys while holding down a full-time, minimum-wage job. From what I've learned so far, she did a pretty good job of it, too. Did sitcoms play any role?--I don't know. It will be interesting to find out. Sounds like everyone is itching to get out there and suss out whatever information is available. But please, be careful, it's a jungle out there! (HA!) Happy hunting, everyone! See ya Thursday!

Well, I'm trying to decide on who to interview. I only know one pair of siblings that go to school here and I don't think I want to try to interview either of them. I think maybe I will interview my roommate (and friend) and then call home to her family and interview her sister and even her parents if they are interested. It would be nice to interview her family. They're a great family and I would enjoy hearing more about how they get along and their personal lives. This is going to be a nice assignment to work on. I hope it goes well...for me and for everyone else. Have a great weekend everyone!!!!

This week I have found chaper 7 to have some ineresting reading (not that the previous are boring!) It seems that Coontz, thinks on the same line as many others in this 'rush rush' world of materialistic values and social status judgements. She describes the role of the American homemaker, but does not lift it up to any importance at all. She talks like it it a low self-esteem role for a woman to hold. Coontz tells about how marketing played games with housewifes, and made them feel important with the items they purchased, and with detailed directions on how to use them, but she doesn't stand up for them. Personally, I think that a woman who is a homemaker, is just as good as a woman in the corporate world. So why does Coontz not say this instead of taking the defense on putting women in prestigious outside jobs? A women who runs a home must be multi-tasked, balance budgets, keep appointments, prepare meals, make phone calls, and lecture children. The only differnce is, she doesn't receive a paycheck from her husband, but the self-satisfaction on knowing she is taking care of the ones she loves (assuming she does.) As for the interviews? Well, I have no family or relatives near me, so I will have to make a bold attempt to confront a stranger! I may go to the mall and look important-like a survey taker, and hope I don't get arrested!

Well, I think i'm going to try an interview my friend and his sister from home. They have a very different type of family from any that we have discussed in class. Their father left when my friend was 5 years old and now their mother is in a lesbian relationship. I would like to interview both children to get each of their perspectives on their family because i'm sure they will be totally different.

As for myself, I have chosen to interview two of my close friends. One is my best friend and roomate, and the other, my "across-the-hall-mate" who lives, obviously, across the whole, but we interact with as if she was our roomate. They are both from the same city, approximately the same social class, and have similar living situations. Of course, this is from MY perspective. I am sure that the stories that they have to tell will be quite different. I am looking forward to finding out.

After giving it much thought, I have decided to interview two of my friends from across the hall. I have chosen them because they are both form different social backgrounds. One of the girls is from a bigger city and is pretty well off. The other girl is from a much smaller town, a farming community, and is about middle class. I am interested to find out what the two have to say about their families, and how much different or possibly the same their answers may be.

After thinking about it for a while, I've decided to ask my roommate and her twin brother the questions we came up with in class yesterday. He is coming to visit this weekend, so it works out well. It will be interesting to hear what each of them has to saying considering their biological father left when they were two years old, and they've only met him a couple times. My roommate lives here, her brother lives in Cleveland, and her parents (Mom and Step-Dad) live in Las Vegas. Their family structure is quite different than most I've ever encountered.