“Everybody Was There” An Interview with Brittany Smith ’17
(Photo of Brittany Smith and Lydia Belden in front of Washington Monument. Photo owned by Lydia Belden) When we think about the Muhlenberg Community and who is represented within that, it’s important not to forget those that came before us. Young alumni are a powerful resource are a window into life outside of the ‘berg. Our class put out a call to community members via social media and received a handful of respondents. One of these was Brittany Smith, an alumnus from the class of 2017. Immediately recognizing Brittany’s name, I reached out to her within the week via email to see how she would feel about being interviewed for the archive. Brittany was an enthusiastic participant who became an awesome narrator to work with. I had to conduct the interview via phone, as she no longer lives in the Allentown area. But I actually didn’t mind the effect that the telephone quality added our interview. I thought it better illustrated the far-reaching efforts of forming a holistic archive. This being my second interview, I was somehow simultaneously more confident and more apprehensive. Having gone through this before, I knew what to expect, and yet I had now subconsciously set a higher stander for myself as an interviewer. I wanted to scale back on the dead space that would be present on the recorder. I also wanted to be cognizant of the order in which I was asking the questions and that I was actually listening to the answers. Last time, I struggled with both of these. I felt not only did active listening enhance the relevance of my follow-up questions, but it also enabled my to go off-script and opt for better, more specific questions that I hadn’t necessarily thought of. For my next interview, I need to work on quieting my urge to interject when the narrator is talking. Even the affirmative “Mm Hmm” and “Yeah” is so second nature that I don’t even realize that I’m doing until I am writing the transcription and have to copy and paste “gotcha” twenty times. Thanks again, Brittany! #DomainsResist http://archivesandactivism.rebeccamackillop.bergbuilds.domains/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Oral-History-Assignment-2.mp3 Powered by WPeMatico