Resumen de entrevista

The interview went extremely well. Since I have had previous experience interviewing, I can say this was the best interview I have done yet. I had a feeling that it would go good because when I scheduled to meet with J.S., she was already calling me "mijita" and telling me that she couldn't wait to meet me.

As soon as Camile and I arrived, she welcomed us and offered coffee and home made desert. Immediately it was obvious that she had high interest in doing the interview and having us there. For the interview I had just taken the recorder, consent form and my list of interview questions, which i didn't even have to reference. The interview lasted an hour and ten minutes. I ended up just hitting the record button shortly after we sat down because already J.S. had shared plentiful information. The conversation flowed so well that only a few times I had to ask a question in Spanish because she tended to veer off and speak English for too long. Many times without having to ask her, she would begin speaking about a subject I already had in mind. J.S. discussed subjects relating to her family history and how they ended up living there, how the community used to be and how it has changed presently, stories about only speaking Spanish and its consequences, her family giving up on speaking Spanish and how newer generations have not continued the language.

The information she gave on Sawmill/Wells Park community was especially interesting because she lived through many major changes that occurred in that community, such as: the people not having rights of their property, banks devaluing their land, crime and violence setting in which also contributed to land devaluing, the city ignoring work that needed to be done to the community, roads and sewage. She spoke about how because of this, community members united together and learned the laws and their rights to be able to fight back and eventually getting their voice heard. J.S. also mentioned that the community was once a simple place where she left comfortable speaking Spanish, but now the community's language has changed because Spanish speakers from Mexico, Puerto Rico and Cuba have moved in and they make her feel ashamed of her Spanish. She discussed instances where people will stop speaking to her simply because they feel she doesn't know how to speak Spanish well. Not only do people make her feel ashamed of her language, but she also mentions that the community itself is no longer as friendly as it used to be. Because of this experience of losing her own language, I think, is more of a reason why she was so excited to contribute to this study. J.S. shared that she is currently writing a book of memories that she wants to leave with her family, and in addition to that she wants to do whatever it takes to try and keep her language alive as long as she is alive.

Overall, the interview process was very exciting, entertaining and it even reached an emotional level for me to hear in person so much history from such a welcoming person that in no sense was greedy in sharing it with complete strangers.