Journal Entry: Experience with Memory Project Interview.

May 19th, 2015

Yesterday I finally had my interview with my Uncle. We met up at a Starbucks after class. I was really looking forward to this particular part of the project mostly because I had never had a real in depth conversation with him, as we had only met in January. When I arrived he seemed happy to be meeting with me, which made me feel a lot more comfortable about the interviewing process.

After we ordered our coffees we began our discussion. I pulled out my ipad to record, he looked down at it and made a joke about how the interview would have jazzy background music to it since Starbucks had their radio on pretty loudly. He began by apologizing to me in advance, as he told me he had a bad memory and couldn’t recall most of his childhood. He told me that he believed his bad memory was due to the fact that both his parents and sister had passed so he never got the opportunity to talk to them and recall the good old days.

He said it had been twenty years since they had passed, and every year it just got harder and harder. I told him it was alright, that although he couldn’t remember a lot that this could almost have an interesting spin on the memory project.He agreed and continued by explaining to me some basic facts about his life, such as where he was born, when he was adopted, and when he met his wife. It was really hard getting him to elaborate on any details of his life. I could tell he was really contemplating but really could only remember specific times things happened that were major stepping-stones in his life.

I think my favorite part of the interview was when he went on to explain the moment my grandpa called him for the first time and how unbelievable he found the circumstances could be. How excited he was to have new family and a new opportunity to discover his roots.