Blog 3

Blog #3: September 11th, 2001 Interview:

You were instructed to note what was said by both, the timing and sequence of the unfolding information, how the speakers interacted, and descriptions of "what happened" as the interview progressed. You were instructed to write down as much as you could as you were talking, and you were given several spaces of time during and after the interview to add your "head notes" (what you remembered) to your notes. All of these notes taken together should be posted on your blog. IN ADDITION - Blog 3 should include (at the end, or added to the main post in a different color font) and other stories, observations, "quotes" conversations that you remembered as you thought back on the interview. 

Interviewer: Shana Giannotto

Subject:  Josh Howard

·      Where you on 9/11? 

·      What were your thoughts regarding the attack?

·      How were the people around you reacting?

·      What were you doing?

·      What can you remember from that day?

·      How did it affect you?

·      How has it changed your life today?

As I re-read my notes I noticed that a lot of my questions as well as answers fit into each question that I generated. I don’t think that I asked all of these questions, but here are the responses that I received when asking Josh about his 9/11 experience:

·      Where you on 9/11?

“I was in my 4^th grade spelling class in South Plainfield. I heard it over the intercom.” He mentioned that he remembered hearing that the twin tower had been hit and then hearing the world trade center had been hit at the time not realized that they were the same buildings. I mentioned that I was in my 6^th grade library class when I heard names being called over the intercom for dismissal.

·      What were your thoughts regarding the attack?

“I was hoping we were getting out of school early. I didn’t realized the severity of the issue at the time.” I mentioned that I was confused on what was going on and I just noticed that my classmates were leaving early.

·      How were the people around you reacting?

“Some kids had a better understanding. I knew it was a big deal when the teachers looked worried and fearful because when we had a prayer service it meant that there was a problem.” I didn’t know what was actually happening, the teachers didn’t speak too much about it. I heard more about it when I got home.

·      What can you remember from that day?

“After school I remember sitting on my mom’s bed watching the news. It aired on every channel—the planes crashing into the twin towers over and over again, the same video. I mentioned that I remember watching the videos of the crash over and over again, but not so much when I got home that day, but a couple days or years after.

·      Any other stories you would like to add?

“My neighbor had broken his ankle so he was aggravated that he had to stay home from work. It was a good thing that he did because he was one of the many window washers for the twin towers. His ankle saved his life.” I remembered having a spaghetti dinner at school a couple weeks later to raise money. I also made patriotic beads that people could hang up in their cars to represent our country, which I raised over $1000 in doing so.

As I thought back from this interview Josh and I realized that we had many similarities. We didn’t remember much from when we were in 4^th and 6^th grade but we did remember what class we were in, the reactions of our peers and teachers and the videos that aired on the news over and over again. We shared our experiences from that horrible day and we gained experience with this interview.  We classified this interview as an open interview, meaning open for discussion. It seemed as if we went back and forth responding to the questions rather than a more formal interview process. We pretty much branched our responses to questions from the question before it. We paused a couple of times to discuss some things about the interview itself, what we were expected to take notes on, what we noticed between our stories, etc. As the interview progressed we got comfortable with one another so we added more and more information about whatever we could remember. I don’t think we had too much of an order going on but we still answered a majority of the questions in the interview.