Mass Communications at Lincoln High School

By: Ainsley Webb For my StoryCorps Interview I talked with my mom and the things she said were very sweet. At first it was awkward to ask the questions because I didn’t really know what to say after she answered the question. Once we got through half of the interview it got less awkward but still hard to sit still and be attentive.  I learned alot about interviews because in this unit I never realized how hard the interview process is. For example, you couldn’t really hear our voices and I didn’t really know how to respond to an answer and move on to the next question, which was hard.  Also you never really think abut how your parents had a life before they had kids, and it’s cool to hear about their past lives. Overall I loved doing interviews not only were they fun but they were very compelling to listen to.

By Lulu Kashiwbara Image courtesy of "Tools of the Trade"   by  nwxiang  is licensed under  CC BY-NC-ND 2.0  The subject of my interview was my uncle, Richard Gil. He didn’t have very much to say, but still answered all the questions in a clear and easy to understand way. In addition, he was very concise and made an effort to stay on track when speaking. I learned through this interview that transitioning from one question to the next can be very difficult, and planning out transitions is probably a good thing to do before interviewing someone. Also, I learned that there are many different ways people can answer questions, and none of them are good or bad. If someone talks a lot during an interview, that’s just how they answer questions. If they don’t talk much, that’s OK too. In general, the interviewing process is different for everyone and there’s no right or wrong way to interview someone or answer questions.

Article by Abby Yium 1. I interviewed Patricia Yium, who is my grandma on my dad’s side. 2. The interview went well, except for one part in the middle of the interview. My uncle who lives in Spain facetimed us while we were recording our interview. We have little opportunities to call him because of the time difference, and because it was Thanksgiving, we had to pause the interview to talk to him. My grandma didn’t get to finish answering the question that was asked when my uncle called, resulting in a cut and a pause in the interview. Other then that, the interview went smoothly. 3. I learned more about my grandma and her life as a child and an adult. I never knew that she went to the Olympics in Lake Tahoe, or what her experience was like there. I learned about important people in her life, including her husband, my grandpa Tom, that passed away and her Spanish teacher in high school that shaped and changed her life.

Interview with Dad By: Ben Joshi For the StoryCorps Interview, I chose to talk to my Dad. I chose to interview my Dad because he is someone that I've been pretty close too throughout my life. I also chose to interview my Dad, because I know that he has a lot of insight on what it takes to be successful, especially in the business field. Due to the fact we were in the car there was a little bit of background noise in the interview, but other than that, the interview itself ran pretty smoothly. The app was easy to use, and made the overall interview process easier. Having the questions present and already on the app helped make the interview progress. From the StoryCorps assignment, I believe I have learned a few valuable tips and tricks to use when interviewing somebody. Overall, the biggest take away that I had from this activity was learning how to make an interview run smoothly, and how to make it seem less unnatural.

By Janie Phillips Anne Griffin and Janie Phillips For my Story Corps interview I decided the interview my grandmother. She lives in upstate New York and because of the distance we only see each other a few times a year. The process of interviewing her was to some degree difficult because I'm not used to taking to her in such a formal way, so it took a bit of adjustment in my own head, however overall it was very positive. My grandmother had good responses to all my questions and there wasn't a lot of interruptions or distractions, even though it was happening in a very busy house. I learned some about my grandmother that I didn't know but I also just enjoyed having a little bit of time to talk to her one on one, as we usually spend the limited time we have together with the rest of my family as well. What I learned about the interviewing process was that it can be difficult to seem engaged while not interrupting the speaker. Overall it was a really fun process and...

By Bailey Armstrong Unfortunately, my final interview was lost and therefore I decided to use a draft interview. I interviewed one of my classmates and peers, Kevin. I used it as an opportunity to get to know a classmate that I did not quite know as well. My interviewee, although he was very entertaining, was not very cooperative near the end of the interview and often turned the questions around and asked me them to me instead. At one point in the interview, the interviewee was asked “Do you have any other fun stories about your childhood you would like to share?” he responded first by saying “what kind of question is that” and that he never shared any stories so why would the question say “other.” Finally, he turned it and asked me if I had many stories to share. Although I did not learn much about Kevin through this interview. I now know one of my classmates and peer a little bit better.

ByTabitha Lee For the StoryCorps interview, I decided to interview my mother. I chose my mother because I would feel like it would deepen my connection with her and my don’t typically talk to her about the type of questions I was asking in the interview on a regular basis. My mother was cooperative while I asked the questions, though I felt like there were times where she didn’t know what to say and was forced to give an answer that was less in depth than what she could have given provided she had more time. During this interview, learned a lot about how the loss of my grandmother had affected my mother, and how much it had really changed her life. My mother doesn’t typically talk about her mother's death as it’s not an easy topic for her and talking about it does not bring back pleasant memories. However, in this interview, my mother opened up and talked a lot more about how the loss of someone so important to her had affected her life. Talking with my mother was a real...

Skylar DeBose Story Corps Interview with my Aunt On November 30th, 2019 I interviewed my aunt for my StoryCorps interview. My aunt lives in Chicago, so this Thanksgiving was the first time I saw her in five years. Even though I hadn’t seen her for awhile, it was easy for us to make a good time out of her visit. During that weekend I connected with my aunt more than I ever have, and the StoryCorps interview added more to her visit. The interview was really successful. Although we stayed focus it was also enjoyable and a great bonding experience. I learned a lot about my aunt’s childhood, and how important family is to her. She told stories on how she grew up and the values she was raised on. I learned that her parents are the people she has always looked up to, and looks up to the most. I found the StoryCorps project important, and something that everyone should contribute to. By interviewing someone you create a stronger bond with them, and can even develop a bond that you nev...

StoryCorps Interview By Anabella Wilkinson For my interview project I decided to interview my maternal grandmother who lives in Mexico City, Mexico. I decided to interview her because she is by far one of the happiest and most interesting talkative people I know. However, I mainly decided to interview her because she is constantly talking about interesting stories she's lived through. Although the interview was difficult to conduct over the phone it also went very well. We were both cooperating and she would answer every question with a detailed answer. It was also easy to focus because I was in a quiet place at home while conducting the interview. Learning about the process I not only learned more about how to conduct an interview but also much more about my grandmother's life although I knew most of what she had already said. For example, I learned more about my grandmother's parents (my great-grandparents) and all the thoughts she believes in. I also learned m...

By Ava Rispler I interviewed Roni Berger over Thanksgiving break, who is my grandma. I don’t get to see my grandma often because she lives in Florida. My subject was cooperative. My grandma was really happy to do this interview because she wanted me to learn about her childhood some more. My grandma gave me a story for every question and went into great detail for each one. Some stories were hard to hear, however, others were a laughable moment between us. I learned a lot more about my family history than I would learn in a normal day. It was really interesting to just listen and hear what she had to say about her childhood. I also learned that you have to be careful of what questions you ask because when my grandma was previewing my questions, she said that one would make her too emotional.

By Henry Rueland I interviewed my grandmother, Kris Reuland, who lives in Rochester, New York. I really enjoy it when I get to be around her because we don’t get to see her very often as she lives 3,000 miles away. My grandmother was very cooperative during the interview and it was really easy for her to answer the questions in depth. She was focused the whole time and her answers did not drift off away from the questions. I learned a lot during the interview. I never really knew about her childhood before the interview and it was very interesting to hear about her life and her parents who I never got to meet. The stories she told help me connect with her on a deeper level. I also learned about the interview process and StoryCorps. I had heard of StoryCorps before the assignment, but I never really explored it in depth. Middle in Picture

I interviewed a family friend, Bob Arnold, who I’ve known for three years. My family meet his family in 6th grade when his son joined my soccer team.   At the start, Bob didn’t answer the questions in much detail, but after a little prodding, he began to give more detail. He answered every single question I asked and even told me personal information without any prodding. We stayed on topic and doing the interview was an enjoyable experience. I learned that he was a hippie and protested the Vietnam War. He was drafted and narrowly escaped being shipped out. His parents died when he was in his 20s and his wife, Jayne, is the most influential person in his life. While he was a hippie he rejected a six-figure furniture salesman job for six years until he realized his family needed to eat. The most difficult time of his life is when his son died of cancer and that’s why he adopted three foster kids.

By Leela Moreno On December 4, 2019 I interviewed my friend Tabitha Lee. We became friends this year after both switching to Lincoln from private schools. I found that this was an incredible bonding experience because it brought up questions that otherwise wouldn’t be asked. She was extremely easy to interview. It felt like more of a conversation than an interview. I was comfortable asking her questions, and she answered them with ease. I think that this interview made me more aware of what it is like to interview someone. I did two interviews prior to this one, but they had felt different. With Tabitha, I felt like there was less pressure to not stumble on words whereas in other interview settings, I felt stressed. I really enjoyed asking her the question, “What is you favorite family holiday and why?” Personally, I find that Christmas is a great time to come together with family and connect with people that you don’t normally see, and it was cool to learn that she thought t...

By Kate Haddon For the StoryCorps Thanksgiving listen interview I decided to interview Julie Haddon. Julie is my mom who although I did not spend Thanksgiving with her this year, I have many years in the past. I wanted to interview someone not only related to me but also significantly older than me so I could learn about their experiences over time. Overall the interview went very well. The app was easy to use and provided a lot of deep and insightful questions that were on the topic of giving thanks and looking back on fond memories. My subject, although cooperative, could have given more of an answer for each question and gone into deeper detail in her responses. It was not hard to focus, but hard to get more of an answer that satisfied all aspects of the question. I learned a lot in this interview not only about my mom, but also about the process of interviewing someone, especially when it comes to more emotional topics. I learned who was kindest to my mom growing...

By Kelsey Nelson I interviewed my mom. It went well and my mom answered the questions honestly and opened up to me about things I don’t think would ever come up in a regular conversation. My mom saw at 9-years-old, that her parents getting a divorce was a good thing because they fought a lot. My mom always stayed close to her dad even after he left because he still cared so much about them. She never felt super close to her mom because her mom was always busy with stuff, but she got really close to her in high school and college. My mom got angry with her mom and her step dad because they paid for her freshman year of college but they didn’t tell her they had money issues so at the end of the year they told her they couldn’t pay for the rest of her college, so she had to take a gap year and work for the money to pay for college. This is where she thinks she gained her independence from. She told me about the time she got in the most trouble is when she was 10. She was with her frie...

by Magdalena Rahtgens Linda Brown and her husband in Disney world, Florida Photo by Mandy Mock  For my StoryCorpse interview, I talked with Linda Brown, my host grandma and also my mom's host mom. She was and exchange student from Germany like me. The interview went without any complications, but the beginning was a little awkward and neither of us really knew what to say. But after the first question, we just fell right into it, sitting in an airplane.  During the interview I learned a lot about Linda, how she grew up and how she met her husband, which was a great gift, but I also learned that an interview seems a lot more authentic when you really engage in the conversation and not just ask the previously prepared questions. 

By Natalia Bermudez For my StoryCorp interview, I interviewed my dad, Guillermo Bermudez. Overall, it went well. I had to pause frequently because it would take him a while to figure out what he wanted to say, especially in the beginning, but once he got the hang of it, it went a lot smoother. His answers were detailed and personal. It was a pretty emotional experience, to be honest, because he stated talking about hardships I never knew he had faced and he also said a lot of very sweet things about me and our family. I learned more about my dad was when he was a kid, which I had never really fully known about before. Hearing what his parents were like so long ago was also interesting, because my grandma has obviously changed a lot and I don’t really remember my grandpa. I also found out more of his immigration story from Nicaragua, which I had always wondered about but never really directly asked for.

StoryCorps Interview Reflection By: Maris Toalson For my StoryCorps interview, I interviewed my mother, Kamra Toalson. I asked my mom questions about her childhood, growing up, what’s she’s most proud of, what she’s learned through life and more. The interview went well, and my subject was cooperative. My mom was eager to recount some of the moments and memories from her life. She enjoyed telling her story, and I enjoyed listening to it! Through this process, I learned how to conduct an interview as a conversation. StoryCorps uses a more conversational and less formal style, therefore, the interview flowed well. Rather than asking my mom formal questions, I was able to discuss the questions with her and go deeper into her answers. I was also able to learn a few new things about my mom by listening to her tell her story as well! https://archive.storycorps.org/interviews/the-great-thanksgiving-listen-interview-w-mom/

By: Tara Subramaniam I interviewed Bailey Armstrong, my classmate, speech partner and friend for my StoryCorps interview project. Armstrong was very cooperative and focused on the questions. By doing this interview, I realized how the amount of background noise can truly make or break the quality of a recorded interview. Of course, part of this had to do with the technology being used, but next time I will make sure that the place of the interview is as quiet as can be. I also learned multiple things about Armstrong by conducting this interview. For example, I learned how skiing is a big part of her life, and how she aims to be a politician (hopefully secretary of state) in the future. All in all, interviewing someone, whether it’s your friend, family member or stranger, can be a truly illuminating experience because you get to see another perspective.

By Elle Knofczynski My mom Tracy Knofczynski, pictured in her favorite spot to be: on the water. Photo by Elle Knofczynski For my interview, I talked with my mother, Tracy Knofczynski. Overall, the interview went really smooth. My mom has always been my best friend and it is not unusual for us to dive into deep topics, so it was relatively easy to talk without discomfort. However, this was a bit different than most of our conversations since we do not typically discuss her past or how it was like for her growing up. I think it can be hard for her to reflect upon how difficult it was for her as a teenager and young adult. I think doing this type of interview helped me understand that an interview does not have to be a direct Q&A where the subject can only answer the questions posed. It was nice to see that an interview can truly be more of a free-flowing conversation; an interview does not necessarily mean it has to be formal. It was especially interesting doing this int...

By: Ainsley Webb I created this editorial cartoon because many people think that global warming isn’t real, like President Trump. California shows that global warming is real because there are high winds, dry land, and huge fires.  The process I used for creating this editorial cartoon is just coming up with a concept, which was pretty easy. Then I just drew what came to mind while thinking about how to incorporate symbols and other elements. Then, I came up with this editoral cartoon. In this unit, I learned that it’s difficult to create editorial cartoons and it takes good political ideas to create them.