Experiment 3

 

Proposal

 

            Going along with the theme of my other experiments which have to do with telling real stories of people through their first-hand experiences, I wanted to choose an issue different from my other ideas, as well as use a different format of writing.  I think for many people, September 11, 2001 is a day that they will never forget because of all the trauma, heartache, and fear that ensued. I do not remember this day because I was only four years old at the time and my parents would not have wanted me to know what was going on, and even if they did, I would not have understood. Other people my age that are now in college were as young as me and even younger, and so I think it is important to hear about that day from people that were old enough to remember and that will never forget. For my third experiment, I am going to interview my aunt over the phone about 9/11 because she was working in Manhattan when it happened. With that, I am going to write up an interview about that day as if I sat down with her and had questions prepared.

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Genre Analysis

 

            Since my experiment is an interview, I researched a few works that were published that use that type of format. One of the models I am using to help write my interview is Stud Terkel and his radio and book interviews. When Terkel begins his interviews, he praises the person being interviewed in a way that makes the listener want to know more about the person and to listen to the interview all the way through. In one of the interviews I listened to with a woman named Simone de Beauvoir, Terkel starts out by asking her about her family life and background. This practice makes the interview sound more like someone telling a story rather than a bland interview with is quite literally just question and answer, and the interviewer is controlling most of what is said. The way Terkel performs interviews feels like more of a casual conversation. I think that using this kind of informal style will make my interview more interview and feel less forced.

            In addition, another model I am using to write my interview are “The Paris Review” which contains multiple volumes of interviews with famous writers. Similar to the Terkel interviews, the interviewer starts off with a brief description of the interviewee’s life to ease into it. In many instances, the interviewer does not simply use question and answer. Often times the questions are formulated in a way that is a continuation of the conversation or adds on to what the interviewee just stated. I think that this definitely makes it easier to read as it is a conversation.   

 

 

Sketch

 

• Notes from phone interview:

  • I like to get into work pretty early in the morning so my office was in midtown between 9th and 10th and at that time I was a developer and we used to sit in big open bays. One guy who smokes on the roof told them that he saw a plane fly into the world trade center. They went up to the roof and as we were watching the 2nd plane fly into the towers, we all looked at each other and said “its time to get out of here” we grabbed all of our stuff and ran down the street into Penn station and got on the first train we saw that was leaving New York. It was probably the last train that left New York because after that the whole city was shut down. We were all scared getting out of the tunnel because we didn’t know what would happen. We saw the smoke from across the river as we pulled out. My boyfriend I was dating at the time worked right by the world trade center and I couldn’t reach him because the lines were busy. I couldn’t reach him and he said he was down there when it happened and it was kind of like a war zone. He was still there when the building started to collapse. They all ran into the subway. People were walking over the Brooklyn bridge to get out of the city.

• If I were to use this as my final project, I do not think I would just finish the interview and be done with it. It would have to take some form of a collection of interviews titled something along the lines of “Life Changing Experiences”. My project would be made up of 4-5 interviews about topics such as natural disasters, having a child, marriage, death, etc. All the interviews would be about something important enough that is changed the way that person is today.

• The models I found to help me create my interview seem to be about more than one thing. Many times highlighting a person’s life and achievements. While I am using similar formats, my interviews will expand upon one moment.

 

Sample

 

Interviewer:

 

Today I will be speaking with Dara Sanderson. She grew up in Queens, New York and worked as a developer in New York City soon after graduating from the University of Virginia in 1996. She was working in Manhattan on September 11, 2001, a day that many Americans will never forget.

So, Dara I hear that you are from Queens. How was your experience growing up there?

 

Dara:

 

I think I enjoyed my childhood there for the most part. I was around my older sister a lot growing up. I think once I got to college I enjoyed being away from home and starting my own life. I actually stayed in Virginia for another year after I graduated college and then lived in New Jersey, then Atlanta, Georgia, and then California for about 10 years and I currently live in New Jersey. So yeah I’ve moved around a bit. I was living in New Jersey at the time I was a developer working in Manhattan.

 

Interviewer:

 

Can you describe what it was like working in Manhattan on 9/11?

 

Dara:

 

Well actually, when it first happened, I was not aware that I was in any danger or really what was going on. My coworkers and I saw smoke in the distance and thought there was some sort of accident.

Interviewer:

 

So you thought it was an accident? When I think of that day I think of people running around all over the city and fires starting everywhere. Hard to imagine just being there and not knowing what was happening.

Dara:

 

Well you should think of it in the perspective of the people in that area who were some blocks away from the Twin Towers. No one would think that a terrorist attack could happen in that way…That someone would really fly a plane into the twin towers.

 

Interviewer:

 

I could understand that…So when was it that you figured out that you were in actual danger?

 

Dara:

 

One of my coworkers likes to smoke up on the roof and he came down and told us that he saw a plane fly into the twin towers. When he first told us, we didn’t believe him and my coworkers and I went up to the roof ourselves. As we looked over, we watched the second plane fly into the towers, and that is when we decided it was time to leave.

 

Interviewer:

 

Were you able to get out of the city?

 

Dara:

 

I grabbed my things and ran out of my building and down the street to Penn Station as fast as I could, and I got on the first train I saw that was leaving New York.

 

Interviewer:

 

So, you didn’t even check if it was going towards where you live? You just hopped on?

 

Dara:

 

There are certain situations when your survival instincts just kick in and you do anything you have to in order to escape. I think I got on the last train out of the city because soon after that, they shut the whole city down. When a train pulls out of Penn station, it usually has to wait in a dark tunnel underground and goes through it for about five minutes or so before it can come up above ground. That was probably one of the scariest moments of my life. Everyone was standing on the train squished up against one another completely silent. We could not see what was going on above us. You always see in movies where there are attacks and bombs go off and things of that nature… We just didn’t know what to expect. Luckily we got out of there. As I looked out of the window I saw smoke in the distance across the river.

 

 

Reflection

            The process of gathering information in order to do this experiment was eye-opening for me and helped me to understand how 9/11 could have impacted people even if they were not at the exact location of the Twin Towers. When I called my aunt on the phone to tell me about that day, I did not have questions that I prepared for her beforehand. I thought it would be helpful to have raw content and to let her say anything that came to her mind so that I could make the interview as believable as possible. It was also helpful to do it that way because there may have been some information I got from her that I would not have if I created questions that did not bring out what my aunt found most important for that day and how it affected her.

            Although I think that hearing the story of how it was like to be in NYC on 9/11 is important and can help people know how it felt to be there and all the terrible and frightening things that happened, I do not think I am going to continue with this interview or with any others. Even though this is not going to be my final project, it was still a learning experience and therefore was beneficial to me regardless.