[middtube envs0350a-f08 mp3: leastman_abaker_092708]

Timestamps:

0:00 – 4:30 Description of Yarmouth, Maine. Community feel

4:30 – 5:45 and 15:00ish = School descriptions

5:45 – Dad’s work (mention of Dad’s travels and sailing)

7:45 – Wonderful description of walls in her house

10:10 – Mom’s interesting background

11:00 – Description of connection with her Mom’s English side

20:15 – 21:00 Description of why she chose Middlebury (because it was in the middle!)

21:11 – 22:10 and 23:45 – 25:45 Decision about quitting basketball for last year at Midd

22:30 – End Experience and activities at Middlebury, plus future plans

My Response:

The interviewing experience was completely new to me. I had never given or been the subject of an interview. The interaction is certainly different from a regular conversation. It isn’t quite as free flowing – I was afraid of going a tangent, although it seems the most interesting stories come from the tangents. I noticed that some of the genuineness of a normal conversation is lost – the rapport isn’t quite as high. But at the same time, I was talking at length with a relative stranger, and we were revealing things about ourselves that probably wouldn’t have ever come out in any other situation. This makes for a curious and delicate balance between the interviewer and interviewee. As an interviewer, I was thinking, “should I probe in this area, or would that possibly offend my subject?”. And as an interviewee, I was cautious to open up completely about certain aspects of my life, and didn’t know if I should open up to someone that I barely knew at all.
My interview of Aylie revealed many interesting themes and details. I found Aylie’s description of her hometown very unique. She grew up (and still lives) in a small coastal town in Maine.    She described a wonderfully supportive and idyllic community, with small but quality schools. A small community, for Aylie, meant long-standing friendships and familiarity, but some feelings of claustrophobia. Overall, she was very pleased with the education she got in Yarmouth public schools.

I noticed the theme of travel influencing a lot of what Aylie said about her family. Her mother was born in England, spent her childhood years in Tanzania, and then moved to Scotland. Her Dad was in a military family that traveled all across the US. Aylie’s parents sailed together for three years, and plan to sail some more now that Aylie’s sister is out of the house. The exploratory and peripatetic tendencies of her parents contrast with the fact that Aylie has lived in the same town her whole life.
One of the most intriguing anecdotes of the interview was Aylie’s description of the process and aftermath of her decision to quit the Middlebury basketball team after three years. She struggled with devoting her full attention to either basketball or other academic and extracurricular pursuits, and finally decided to give it up. She has found that she misses her teammates, but feels liberated to do what she had previously neglected.