Mary Parrett
Written interview of Dawson available in Appendix 3.
My artifact is an interview I am going to conduct with a fellow peer I have known for a very long time. I have asked him if he would be willing and he is ok with it! I met my friend probably back in the second grade, at our old school Randolph Southern. He goes to IU East as well and identifies as gay.
The story he can tell I’m hoping will be a true account of what it was like being gay and growing up in a small minded town 20 minutes north of Richmond called Lynn. I want to know how life was there and how it is different than it is here if it is even different at all. I really want to get his story out there too because he has been a great friend and I want to really “honor” him in a way. I think that people can learn a lot about him as an individual as well as about the area and it’s views concerning the LGBTQ+ community.
A visual that I could gather from this would be maybe a picture with him or something that he carries that represents him. I also think that a picture he has drawn or something that really shows who he is. I just want something representative that I can show or have a picture of to go with his interview.
I wanted to include some other questions like, hobbies/interests and siblings because I want to give a backstory before getting right into his experiences and being gay. I wanna give some more about him and his likes to really set a great foundation for the rest of the account.
I want to ask these first even though they are on the bottom, because they are kind of like ice breaker questions. They will hopefully help him feel more relaxed and ready to really get to the real roots of the interview. Some words that really resonate with me about the interview would be thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
I also have some more people in mind to interview. I have 2 other friends who identify as gay and bi, and one also does drag. I am excited to get to know more about my friends, and about the community!
How- How Is this helping the LGBTQ+ community? This is spreading awareness that there is a presence here in the Wayne and surrounding areas of LGBTQ+ individuals. It is giving advocacy to those whom may not be heard, or just haven’t had the platform to really get their voice out there. This gives the community a chance to really give information to inform and teach people about themselves. This can help to spread positivity, and most importantly show support to these individuals. How does this particular interview help? It helps because it helps get a voice out there. It helps to shine life into their life and really inform people about their experiences in this case being gay. It will evoke pathos because it is real life, it is about someone real and their experiences.
Why- Why do we do this? We are doing this to really establish a queer archive here and IU East and in Richmond in general. This will be representative for the surrounding areas as well. We want to really teach people about the community and give them a special spotlight. I think this will bring great knowledge and positivity.
