Reflection

     When first joining the class, I knew that I wanted to conduct an oral history. Although the gears have shifted to a new theme, I still planned on doing one. The more I thought about who I could interview, I realized there was one person in my house whose opinion is often disregarded. That person is my 9-year-old brother, Aaron. People often rely on the knowledge of adults or elders to document history, but considering that we are focusing on current events, it would be very beneficial for us to see the perspectives of a younger generation. Aaron has been exposed to the internet at an early age, and it would be interesting to see how this upbringing influences his knowledge of what is happening.

     This interview took two tries to make. First, it was only 22 minutes, which I thought to be short, and when listening to it, I felt like my questions were very unorganized. I had a document prepared with all the questions I was planning to ask, but I realized they were all too vague, and I didn’t have enough follow-up questions that would result in a more insightful conversation. Towards the end of the interview, I found myself asking questions that applied to topics we talked about at the beginning. Anyway, I did it again and thoroughly organized my questions so it would have a better flow and to see if I would be able to get Aaron to speak more. After all the additional work, it was about 23 minutes so, I feel like the shortness of the interview was just due to Aaron being shy knowing that I was recording him or simply because nine-year-olds don’t have a lot to say. Nevertheless, I’m still a firm believer that their inputs are necessary for further historical context in the future.